Secret Ottawa: The Unique Guidebook to Ottawa's Hidden Sites, Sounds, & Tastes [Paperback]

Laura Byrne Paquet (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2000

Takes you behind the scenes of the official tourist sites—Parliament Hill, the Rideau Canal, the National Gallery of Canada—and into the places only locals know. From restaurants where Cabinet ministers do lunch to Canada’s only Cordon Bleu cooking school, from Elvis Lives Lane to a bog carpeted with Arctic wildflowers, and from outlet shops for lingerie to dim wine cellars awash in live jazz, this guidebook shows you how to dig under the government-approved surface to find the city other tourists—and many residents—miss.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Think you know everything there is to know about the nation's capital? Think again.So you've seen the Peace Tower and the Sparks Street Mall. Think you know everything about the nation's capital? Think again. Secret Ottawa takes you behind the scenes of the official tourist sites - Parliament Hill, the Rideau Canal, the National Gallery of Canada - and into the places only locals know.Any guidebook will tell you about tours of the House of Commons: SecretT Ottawa points you to the restaurants where Cabinet ministers do lunch, and shows you the bunker where John Diefenbaker planned to hide from Cold War missiles.Any guidebook will point you to the National War Memorial: SecretT Ottawa takes you to Elvis Lives Lane, and the statue Mackenzie King put up to honour his dead roommate.Any guidebook will describe the city's historic sites: SecretT Ottawa invites you to visit Canada's only Cordon Bleu cooking school, a bog carpeted with Arctic wildflowers, and the stables where the horses of the Musical Ride learn their trade.Any guidebook will list the big chain bookstores: SecretT Ottawa shows you where to buy the cast-off tomes of the Rockcliffe elite, indulge in a poetry reading, or find landmarks brought to offbeat life by local fantasy author Charles de Lint.And any other guidebook will tell you Ottawa is a bureaucrat's town: Secret Ottawa uncovers the passionate heart beneath the pencil-pushing facade. You'll learn about outlet shops for lingerie and candles, dim wine cellars awash in live jazz, and the best park benches for moonlit romance.Secret Ottawa shows you how to dig under the government-approved surface to find the city other tourists - and many residents - miss.

From the Author

LAURA BYRNE PAQUET has lived in Ottawa since 1983. Her articles have appeared in more than 40 publications, including Ottawa City Magazine, the Ottawa Citizen, the Globe and Mail, and National Geographic Traveler.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: ECW Press (October 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1550224352
• ISBN-13: 978-1550224351
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,583,004 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #16 in Books > Travel > Canada > Cities > Ottawa

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For People Who Want to Do More Than Visit Parliament, August 17, 2002

By 

"iciclelady" (Ottawa, ON Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Secret Ottawa: The Unique Guidebook to Ottawa's Hidden Sites, Sounds, & Tastes (Paperback)

"Secret Ottawa" has provided me with tons of mini-adventures in this city of mine. Adventures that I would never have known to undertake, had it not been for this book. I have visited the Mer Bleue Conservation Area bog (see "Bog", p. 32) and marvelled at the unique landscape. I've been to the Diefenbunker (see "Bunker", p. 37) and walked down a blast tunnel meant to protect key civil servants from nuclear attack. I've toured Laurier House (see "Mackenzie King", p. 108) and learned that two Prime Minister's have the same bathroom tiles as I do.

There is so much more that I have personally done and still have left to do! I have no excuses to be bored. This book has 207 pages of excursions and ideas of things for me to do. This book is a gem.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Secret Too Good to Keep, April 15, 2001

By 

Jonathan Burgoine "bookseller" (Ottawa, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Secret Ottawa: The Unique Guidebook to Ottawa's Hidden Sites, Sounds, & Tastes (Paperback)

This wonderful little book (perfectly sized for a pocket) about Ottawa, "Secret Ottawa," does what most travel books fail to do: it tells you about the out-of-the-way, low fanfare places that are probably better than the tourist traps to begin with.

From bookstores, to candle stores, to statues with mistakes, to swans in the river, and cats on Parliament Hill, this book is a gem for those wanting to explore some of the real side of Ottawa, not just the stuff on postcards. This book tells nearly everything that makes Ottawa beautiful, instead of just another city.