This past weekend, with my brother J and his family in tow, I enjoyed the first true in-person Ottawa Tulip Festival since 2019. COVID-19 meant it was cancelled in 2020 and it was a pretty quiet affair in 2021.
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| Tiptoe through the tulips... |
But this year...wow...! A lot of people got the memo that the festival was back on because it was jammed packed.
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| Taking a break from the crowds with J's baby K |
Still, the crowds didn't prevent us from enjoying the 100,000 or so tulips that are sent annually to Ottawa from the Netherlands as a thank you for Canada’s hospitality towards the dutch royal family during World War 2.
In fact, one member of the royal family, Princess Margriet, was actually born in Ottawa during the war at the Ottawa Civic Hospital, which is just a few blocks away from my house. Back in 2020 Princess Margriet was supposed to visit Ottawa to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Netherlands...but well...COVID.
Well, flash forward two years later and Princess Margriet and her family finally made it to Ottawa and the city honoured her visit by renaming my local Fairmont Park after her. I didn't realize ANY of this was going on by the way until I passed by the park a couple of days ago and noticed the sign had been changed.
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| Margot honoured the princess by playing really good tennis |
While I will miss good ol' Fairmont Park, it's kindof cool that the new name certainty comes with a bit of history.
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