How a half-dozen tourists spent Christmas Day in Ottawa

What started as a late-night Christmas Eve Toronto bar crawl for old school friends Wriju Ghosh and Amit Biswas led to a spontaneous decision to hop on the next available bus and spend Christmas Day in Ottawa.

Hours later and running on very little sleep, the two friends left Toronto at 6:30 a.m. on Christmas Day and arrived in the nation’s capital shortly after 12 noon with much of their itinerary for the day still up in the air.

“We had no idea it would be this cold here,” Ghosh said with a laugh.

Originally from India, Ghosh moved to Canada about four months ago. He hopes to explore more of the country’s major destinations.

Starting their day in the ByWard Market, Ghosh said Christmas Day seemed like the perfect time to explore Ottawa for the first time before returning to Toronto later in the day.

“I always come up with the weirdest ideas, and (Biswas) always says yes,” Ghosh said of the spontaneous holiday adventure. “He told me, ‘It’s on you to make me say no.'”

Ghosh and Biswas were far from the only people with the idea of spending as tourists in Ottawa. While there were fewer indoor locations to escape the frigid temperatures than normal with many stores shuttered for the holiday, that didn’t deter many bundled-up sightseers.

Tanya Padilla and Meredith Castillon said they also decided to do something a little different for Christmas this year. While visiting family in Ottawa, they decided to get out and go sightseeing.

After arriving in town on Wednesday evening, they started Christmas Day by bundling up in thick jackets, earmuffs and mittens and heading to the ByWard Market.

With the massive Ottawa sign as a backdrop and big smiles on their faces, they performed a synchronized dance to the song “Opalite” by Taylor Swift as a relative recorded the sequence.

Originally from the Philippines and now living in Toronto, Padilla was visiting Ottawa for the first time, and Thursday marked Castillon’s first time back in the city in more than 10 years.

“It’s much colder here than it is in Toronto, and much more snow,” Padilla remarked, referring to windchill that made it feel as cold as -12 C in Ottawa on Christmas Day.

Padilla said she’d post the synchronized dance video on social media as a way of spreading holiday joy to friends and family.

Monica Olivares and Christian Rico were visiting Ottawa from Mexico City. They started their trip in New York City, and Rico then surprised his girlfriend by extending their holiday with extra stops in Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal.

They arrived in Ottawa on Christmas Eve and had dinner at the Fairmont Château Laurier hotel before walking around downtown to enjoy the holiday lights and decorations, including the Christmas giant tree in the ByWard Market.

In her first-ever trip to Canada, snow and cold temperatures weren’t what Olivares was used to. She said she was thankful for the salt on the sidewalks to keep her safe when walking.

“For us, it’s crazy,” she said. “You guys place salt down and everything, and you can see your taxes (at work) here.”

Olivares and Rico said they looked forward to spending one more day in Ottawa before continuing their Canadian holiday with Montreal as the next stop.

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