Outskirts, Ottawa Attractions

The Canadian Museum of Nature is Canada's natural sciences and natural history museum. Its historic museum building (the Victoria Memorial Museum Building) is the birthplace of Canada's national museums. Construction on this castle-like building was completed in 1910 and the Canadian Museum of Nature had its 100th anniversary in 2010. The Museum's West Wing was completed in 2006, with new galleries: the Talisman Energy Fossil Gallery, new Mammal Gallery, new Bird Gallery and Discovery Zone (with HD movies and progarmming). In 2010 a new Water Gallery, Earth Gallery, special temporary exhibitions, a 19.8 metre glass "lantern" were unveiled.

The National Aviation Museum is at Rockcliffe Airport, on the northern edge of town, and dates from 1988. Telling in detail the story of Canadian civil and military aviation, among the aircraft on display are a replica of the Silver Dart, which in 1909 made the first flight in Canada, fighter planes from the First and Second World Wars, and some of the seaplanes and other aircraft that helped open up Canada's uncharted northern wilderness. The Royal Canadian Airforce Hall of Tribute commemorates the exploits of the service.

On the eastern edge of Ottawa, the Canada Science and Technology Museum is a museum worth visiting. Exhibits include a Nova Scotia lighthouse, old boats and farming equipment, a whole series of vintage cars and an Atlas rocket, vintage steam engines and steam locomotives. There are also special exhibitions about communications and modern physics, and an interesting collection of timepieces. Astronomy and space exploration are also covered and the museum has an excellent observatory for stargazing on clear nights.

The Canadian Ministry of Agriculture's Central Experimental Farm, now the Canada Agriculture Museum, on the southwestern edge of Ottawa, dates back to the 1920s. The farming museum shows farming as it was in the past, and also providing guided tours of the kitchen-gardens, seedbeds and arboretum.

The Rideau Falls are a series of cascades, with Green Island in the middle, where the Rideau drops down into the Ottawa River. They are a particularly impressive spectacle when the torrent is swollen by the melting snows in spring.

Rockcliffe Park, northeast of Parliament Hill, is a popular recreation and picnic area with a fine view over the Gatineau River valley.

At the south-western end of Wellington Street lies the southern end of Portage Bridge. Here there is a little park by the rapids of the Ottawa River containing a number of panels showing the development of industry in the Ottawa area, alongside an aging hydro-electric plant, and some unsightly industrial buildings and old mills.The Portage Bridge spans the Ottawa River and connects the cities of Hull (Laurier/Taché Streets) and Ottawa (Wellington Street) via Victoria Island.

Laurier House, halfway between the Rideau Canal and the Rideau River, stands on Avenue Laurier. It was the residence of a number of Canadian Prime Ministers including Sir Wilfrid Laurier, Prime Minister from 1896 to 1911, and William Mackenzie-King, Premier from 1921 to 1930 and 1935 to 1948, and also contains reminders of Nobel Peace Prizewinner Lester Pearson, Prime Minister from 1963 to 1968.

Rideau Hall is the residence of the Queen's representative in Canada, the Governor General. Every Governor General has worked and lived at Rideau Hall since Canada's birth in 1867.The structure was built by Thomas MacKay in 1838. In addition to the building itself, the grounds are also impressive with gardens, paths, and a winter skating rink.

Billings Estate, in the south of the city near the Rideau River, is one of the oldest estates still left in Ottawa, and was built by Braddish Billings in 1828. His descendants lived here until the 1970s when it was made into a museum tracing the life history of four generations of the Billings family.

The Canadian Prime Minister's official residence is just north of the Rideau Falls in Ottawa.Located at 24 Sussex Drive, this street is one of the oldest streets in Ottawa. All Prime Minister's since 1951 have resided here.

The Pearson Building, a gleaming glass tower on Sussex Drive near the Rideau Falls, houses Canada's Foreign Office, the Department of External Affairs.