Canada’s Capital City Offers You Waves of Tulips With Love

Even without the rainbow waves of tulips and lilac bushes the size of boxcars that lace canal banks and boulevards here, this city has to be one of North America’s most beautiful.

While the lilacs and their heavenly scent come naturally, Ottawa’s love affair with the tulip came about in a most unusual way.

Holland’s Queen Juliana, fleeing the havoc wrought by the Germans in World War II, took refuge in Ottawa and gave birth to Princess Margriet in an Ottawa hospital, her suite given embassy status as Dutch territory by the Canadian government to protect Margriet’s possible ascension to the Netherlands throne.

In grateful thanks, the queen has given Ottawa 10,000 tulip bulbs every year since the war, many of which multiply to create an artist’s palette of radiant color across town during springtime and early summer.

But what strikes one most forcefully about the town is the lush greenery within and surrounding the city. When Queen Victoria chose Ottawa as Canada’s capital in 1865, disgruntled citizens of Toronto, Montreal and other contenders said that it was purely for defense purposes: No invading army could find the place amid all that foliage.

Ottawans are involved with a year-round whirl of cultural events and festivals and eight national museums, and take justifiable pride in Parliament Hill, surely the most impressive array of Gothic buildings in the Western Hemisphere.

Here to there: Air Canada will fly you there with a stop in Toronto, Canadian International with one in Vancouver. Take airport bus to major hotels for $3.40, a taxi for about $12.

How long/how much: Three days for the city, at least one other for the gorgeous forests and farmlands on the Ontario and Quebec sides of the Ottawa River. The favorable exchange rate makes lodging, dining and shopping a considerable bargain.

A few fast facts: Canada’s dollar was recently worth only 75 cents U.S., or ours buying $1.33 in Canada. Late spring to late fall perfect for a visit, mid-summers rather humid, dead of winter heavenly for snow sports. Walk the downtown area, bus rides less than a dollar, $3 day-tickets.

Getting settled in: Lord Elgin (100 Elgin Blvd.; $49 double), a family-owned hotel at city center that succeeds in being dignified and homey at the same time, has a library-lounge-bar off the lobby with chairs and couches to get lost in. Moderate-size rooms, full restaurant, attentive and oh-so friendly staff.

Doral House Inn (486 Albert St.; $44 double with full breakfast) is a lovely 1879 Victorian that fairly sparkles after a recent renovation, color TV in every room, all three meals in a dining room where each table is an antique, the coffee pot hot around the clock. Owner Frank Baker insists that guests have most of the amenities of a big-city hotel, including use of Holiday Inn’s pool and health club nearby. Charm, definitely our kind of place.

Roxborough (123 Metcalfe St.; $62-$69 double with continental breakfasts and daily paper) has also been given a recent face lift into a contemporary marvel at mid-city, five blocks from Parliament Hill. Another sparkler.

Regional food and drink: Ottawa gives you a choice of English-Canadian or French food, yet the city can claim few dishes as its own. One is the beaver tail, offered at street stands in either donut or whole-wheat dough, deep-fried into the shape of a beaver’s tail and covered with anything from cream cheese and chives to brown sugar, cinnamon and lemon juice in the Killaloo Sunrise version.

You’ll get mixed opinions on poutine , French fries smothered with melted cheese and gravy. Some consider them delectable, others see them as little short of a culinary disaster. Yet all seem to agree that the tortiere , a pork pie spooned up at any meal, comes hot from heaven. Sugar pie is made with maple syrup, sort of a pecan pie without the pecans, or treacle with a crust.

Moderate-cost dining: Perfect spot for Ontario’s largest section of brews is the Elephant and Castle pub-restaurant (Rideau Centre). Full menu of such as cock-a-leekie soup, shepherd’s pie, Cornish pastie plus chops and seafood in a Soho setting. Watch the red-coated and shako-clad changing-of-the-guard troops stride by from pub’s outdoor terrace.

Courtyard restaurant (21 George St.) began life as a log tavern in 1827, became an inn of quarried stone a few years later, had ups and downs through the past century and is a marvelous series of delightful rooms hung with tapestries of historical scenes that resemble stained-glass windows in their brilliance. Continental menu top to bottom, veal Oskar and chicken Kiev, fillet bearnaise in the $10 range. In good weather you can also dine in the cobbled courtyard.

Ritz 3 (Tin Court in Byward Market) is one of several in an Ottawa chain, each specializing in a different type of cuisine, this one noted for its imaginative pizzas and calzones. We dined outside in Tin Court, named for an early tinsmith who adorned the facade of his home with tin, the entire front now hung from a courtyard wall like a fine painting. Try the Calabrese sausage and mushroom pizza, or the Brie and sliced pears on braised onions version. Carafes of wine and good desserts that bring the whole town here.

Going first-class: Two of Ottawa’s best hotels give you a choice of styles. Chateau Laurier (1 Rideau; $90-$124, weekends $60-$97), the city’s traditional leader, is a palace of carved-oak lobby panels, marble floors, huge bedrooms, indoor pool and Grill Room with Sunday brunch a joyful time of mimes, dancers and jugglers. The chateau’s stately architecture and copper-roofed towers seem an extension of Parliament Hill beside it.

The new Westin (11 Colonel By Drive, $105-$135, 50% off on weekends) is a palace of another sort, all soaring lobby, expanses of glass, lovely furnishings and west-facing rooms with spectacular views of Parliament. The indoor pool is on the top floor. Little is spared for your comfort.

On your own: Start with a turn through the Parliament buildings, then take in as many of the national museums as possible, giving preference to the Museum of Civilization with its superb history of the Prairie and Iroquois Indians as well as marvelous totem poles and handicrafts of West Coast tribes.

Then stroll through colorful Byward Market, stopping for a drink or snack at one of the many outdoor cafes.

We particularly enjoyed a day in the countryside with Ottawa Valley Field Trips, an imaginative and beautiful drive and picnic with owners Madeline Kallio and Martha Webber. They might whip up a salad for you of wild grape leaves, wild leek, heart of cattail, day lilies, dandelion and violet flowers, fiddlehead and French sorrel. Reach them by phone at (613) 831-1835 or 839-5217.

For more information call the Government of Ontario Ministry of Tourism and Recreation at (213) 622-4302, or write (700 S. Flower St., Suite 1420, Los Angeles 90017) for brochures on what to see and do in Ottawa, hotel accommodations and restaurants, maps of the city and surrounding area, and a beautiful 116-page magazine on Ontario’s sights. Ask for the Ottawa package.