Ottawa's Tulip Festival

It's tulip time here in the city. Spring arrived early this year - so the flowers bloomed earlier than usual, and are ending their season earlier too. Which is unfortunate, because visitors from all over the world come to Ottawa for our annual Tulip Festival.














The tulips - more than a million planted in large flower beds throughout the city - are a gift from Holland, given annually to thank the city for hosting its Royal Family during the Second World War, when Holland was under occupation.














The tulips come in many shapes and colors...














Do they have as many different kinds and colors in the hillsides of Turkey, where tulips originally came from? I often wonder.














But there were other events downtown as well.














When we passed by the Parliament Buildings, we noticed a Girl Guide rally.














Hundreds of Girl Guides listened to an outdoor concert as they sat on the grass on Parliament Hill...














The weather was overcast...














After admiring the tulips in Confederation Park, we stopped to listen to a different outdoor concert - polka music at an outdoor stage, part of a series of multi-cultural presentations.

And then...mmm - we got a parking ticket - because I thought that nobody would be checking on the weekend...

Lesson learned!