Royal Canadian Navy Monument

 Richmond Landing is older than the city itself. After the War of 1812, veterans of that war, with their families, landed here on the shores of the Ottawa River and made a trail inland to found the village of Richmond, which today is within the city boundaries of Ottawa. Here on the other side of an artificial channel of the river that serves to be a home for white water kayaking is another monument, this one to the Royal Canadian Navy.

There is a naval yardarm here, with a low wall of names of ships and navy stations from the long history of the Navy.

Many of them were named after cities and towns across the country. If they've been used repeatedly, the number is listed after the name. I wasn't sure about the markings on the stone, but this spot is relatively low in relation to the river, and I've seen the aftermath of high spring waters get in here.

The other portion of the monument is this large stone wall.

Inscribed on it are theatres of war and military operations the Navy has served in- many of them from the Second World War. The only one without a date refers to the Persian Gulf. Canadian ships were part of Desert Storm, and have been on duty there on a regular basis ever since.

I went down to the river itself. Quite a view downstream.

One last shot. The dark shape before the monument is that of a dog, patiently waiting for its human to stop doing what I was doing- taking photos.

Within Artifact Alley

 Continuing where I left off yesterday, more inside Artifact Alley.

This is a boundary marker.

Some old fashioned tools are seen here.

Here we have an amphicar, a unique vehicle capable of going into the water.

Steamships and sail ships are represented here in model form.

The bikes overhead caught my eye.

Mounted above, a very old computer console and a robotic arm.

While below them is an electron microscope dating to the 1950s.

Relics of another time- models of satellites and missiles. The time of the Cold War.

Cold War Firepower

 The M109A4 self propelled howitzer looks like a tank, but is in fact a Howitzer cannon mounted onto the body of a tank- much bigger than a tank's normal weaponry.

More vehicles over this way.

The BRM-1K was a reconnaissance vehicle used by the Soviet Union throughout the Cold War.

Beside it, the Chieftain, the main battle tank for the British into the 1990s.

Side by side, two Leopard tanks, mainstays of the Canadian military from the 1970s into the current day, and used in Afghanistan. I've been in one once. As big as they are, they're confined within. If you have a problem with claustrophobia, this would be problematic.

These two are throwbacks to the Second World War.

Fighter-Interceptor

 A reminder to members of City Daily Photo that the theme for April 1st is Entertainment. 

This is an emergency van, used as a mobile canteen in Britain, both for civilians affected by air raids and for Allied servicemen during World War Two.

The Voodoo fighter-interceptor jet is mounted above Lebreton Gallery. A standard for the Canadian military during the Cold War, it dominates the space.

Kurt is the name of a weather station that was installed in northern Labrador during World War Two, dropped off by Germans from a u-boat. It functioned for a short time before going offline, and was forgotten for decades until a German researcher going through naval records found mention of it. It was recovered and now resides here.

These memorial plaques are from the flagship location of the old Eaton's retail store chain. They commemorate staff members who died in both World Wars.

Two dioramas of the same general location are found close by. Passchendaele was the name of a ferocious battle of the First World War, won by Canadians at great cost. This depicts a German bunker cutaway; at right, a Canadian soldier is about to throw a grenade at the doorway. Sergeant Tommy Holmes is the man who won the Victoria Cross on the 26th of October, 1917, for what he did at Passchendaele.

The other diorama shows a much larger section of the battlefield, and thus the soldiers are much smaller. But they are seen on either side of the river flowing down off the ridge through the ruined landscape. Arthur Currie, the commanding general, set forth a methodical plan to take the ridge section by section. Against all odds, Canadian soldiers did it.

The Voodoo looms overhead. It is an impressive jet.