A Little Bit of Paris in Ottawa
For our one year anniversary, my wife and I decided that we wanted to recreate part of our honeymoon. We achieved this by going to the Metropolitain Brasserie Restaurant, a Parisian Brasserie themed restaurant based in the heart of Ottawa.
The decor was very reminiscent of a few brasseries that we ate in during our stay in Paris. The colors of the establishment and the decor, the style of the tables and bar, the decorations can be found in many Paris neighbourhood brasseries. The only exception is the room. I didn’t encounter any brasseries in Paris that had so much room between tables and sections, but that’s not at all a bad thing.
The menu is similar to what you would find in a Paris brasserie. I started the night with a salt cod croquettes appetizer, followed by a coq au vin. My wife had a steak frites as an entree and profiteroles for dessert. The salt cod croquettes were very tasty. The fish was cooked perfectly and the bread coating showed no sign of grease even though the croquettes were fried. The coq au vin was the best that I’ve had on this side of the Atlantic, and was served with some asparagus, carrots, mashed potatoes and smoked pork belly. The chicken in the coq au vin was moist and cooked to perfection, and the accompanying red wine demi glace sauce was succulent. The steak frites comprised of an 8oz ribeye that just melted in your mouth, home made french fries that were tasty and not greasy and were accompanied by a homemade garlic mayo dipping sauce. Though I didn’t try the profiteroles, the look on my wife’s face said it all. These cream puffs were served with some vanilla ice cream, berries and a heaping of chocolate sauce.
We were not at all disappointed with our visit to the Metropolitaine Brasserie Restaurant. My wife and I have decided that we will go back to this little bit of Paris on a regular basis.
Metropolitaine Brasserie Restaurant is located at 700 Sussex (corner of Sussex and Rideau).
Luc "Sandman" G. 
Pickpockets can be found in every country on the globe and they can ruin a vacation. There are steps you can take to limit the chances of falling victim to pickpocketing. This article will shed some light on ways to protect yourself, your money and your belongings, to help ensure that they remain in your possession instead of falling into the hands of thieves. I will also cover some of the various scams used by pickpockets to try and steal your belongings.
On our last full day in 
Our next destination was the 
The Rodin museum was to be our last sightseeing stop of the trip. With wallet in hand, Erin was eager for our next stop, the 
Our 8th day in Paris wasn’t much of a day. We checked out of the hotel at 6:30am and made our way to the airport via the Metro and the train. We left a little earlier because of the possible disruptions of the metro system due to the partial strike, but we still managed to get to the airport fairly early. We arrived there at 8:30 with our flight not departing until 11:30. Our flight departed a little late and unlike our flight to Paris, this one was pretty uneventful, save for some major turbulence that hit as we were about to land in Montreal. My parents were there to greet us as we arrived and drove us back home to Ottawa. The ride home consisted of discussing our trip and the many sights and experiences that we had.
For the first time since we arrived in Paris, the sun was out, the sky was blue and it was warm. For our previous 5 days, it was always very cloudy, grey and cool, which is perfect when you’re doing a lot of walking around. The weather was perfect as we were going to be spending the majority of the day outside. We arrived early at our first destination, the 
The guided tour over, Erin and I then made our way to the basement where the mausoleum is found. There we saw the tombs of Voltaire, Pierre & 
Our next stop was the 
Crossing the street to our next destination, we were again accosted by the same gypsies. They are very persistent! Erin was now in heaven, as we were at the famed 
Sunday was the day we chose to go to 
But I digress. Once in the palace itself, we walked around the many rooms admiring the level of detail, the richness of the materials and the beauty of the architecture. Every ceiling was covered in gold ornaments, statues and was beautifully painted. All the chandeliers were made of crystal. The beds adorned with ostrich feathers and very fine linen. Paintings and busts of the royal family hung in every room. More often than not, the paintings revolved around Louis XIV. The bedroom walls covered in fabric. Old tapestries hanging in some rooms, covering entire walls. Each door knob and window handle handcrafted to perfection Even the chapel was covered in gold. This was 17th century extravagance at its finest.
Suffering from a bit of painting and statue overload, caused by all the previous museums that we saw so far on our honeymoon, we only stayed in the palace itself for about an hour and we headed for the famous gardens. The gardens and landscaping was the main reason why I wanted to see the Palace of Versailles, and I was not disappointed. The craftsmanship and horticultural work of the gardens is nothing short of stunning. Fountains adorned every corner, flower beds could be seen for miles. The trees heading down to the artificial lake formed a maze that took you to various gardens on the estate. Within one of these mazes contains a small open air restaurant where we had lunch. It was quite something to eat on the Versailles gardens itself.
With lunch out of the way we walked the mazes and and viewed the multitude of gardens. We rested along the banks of the artificial lake, where we watched people rent canoes and go out on the lake. I was tempted to go, but with all the electronic gear that I was carrying we decided against it. The afternoon almost over, we walked back towards the castle while enjoying an extremely delicious ice cream cone. Just as we arrived to the yards to re-enter the castle, the fountain water show begun. Seeing dozens of water fountains go off at the same time was a stunning sight. We decided to walk the gardens a little longer to enjoy the water show. Upon re-entering the palace, I zoomed into the souvenir shop and picked up a book on the gardens, as well as a CD of the music that we heard all afternoon while visiting.
The train ride back to the hotel was uneventful. The trains were nearly empty so I luckily was able to sit for the ride, allowing my aching feet to rest. We got back to the hotel at 6, had a small nap and headed out to supper at the Canon de la Nation restaurant. I ordered duck confit, which was my first try at eating duck. The duck itself was delicious but I couldn’t eat the skin. I found the skin too thick, very greasy and having a texture that I did not enjoy. The duck meat itself was delicious. We made our way back to the hotel for 10pm, where once again we rested our aching feet and slept soundly from all the day’s walking. Little did we anticipate how much more our feet would hurt the next day…