Let’s Go Ottawa

Check out this video (yes, filmed on a windy day, sorry about that!) of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Musical Ride Centre. This is where the 32 horses and riders of this famous cavalry-drill-set-to-music are trained.

The video was taken in April as the RCMP Commissioner inspected the Ride before it took off on its summer tour schedule, taking it throughout Canada and the U.S. They will return, though, to perform at the Sunset Ceremonies at the Centre. That’s scheduled for June 23-27, 2010. And they’ll be performing on Parliament Hill on Canada Day, July 1. Don’t miss it!

If you visit while the Ride is on tour, you’ll still be able to learn a lot about the history of the RCMP, the evolution of the Musical Ride and you’ll be able to see some great artifacts like the landau (carriage) that Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip will use during their visit this July (yes, they’ll be at Canada Day celebrations in Ottawa this year!).

You can also visit the stables and see the horses. Sometimes you can see the new recruits practising. And if you’re driving on the Rockcliffe Parkway on your way to the Canada Aviation Museum, watch for the beautiful black (actually really dark brown) horses gamboling in the fields adjacent to the stables.

Love those Canadian icons!

If you’re like me, you can’t wait until the Pop Life: Art in a Material World exhibit opens at the National Gallery of Canada on June 11. And while it runs until September 19, you may want to get a preview of what you can expect from this exhibit, which makes its only North American stop in Ottawa, after mesmerizing people at the Tate Modern in London.

So, head on down to the Gallery this Thursday night at 6:30pm  (free admission, after all, from 5:00-8:00pm on Thursdays!) and hear Jack Bankowsky, the co-curator, as he discusses contemporary art, commerce, media and celebrity.

Then, on Sunday, April 11 at 2:00pm, Jonathan Shaughnessy, Assistant Curator of Contemporary Art, will trace the connections between the artists featured in Pop Life and their art historical ancestors. NOTE: this presentation is in French in the Lecture Hall, with free admission.

He’ll repeat the presentation — in English — on Thursday, April 15 at 6:30pm in the Lecture Hall.

Check out this video (taken last month) during a hardhat tour of the Canadian Museum of Nature. The grand reopening of this impressive structure (and the unveiling of the new Water Gallery, Earth Gallery, Animalium with creepy critters, theatre, new group entrance and new cafeteria) is scheduled for May 22, 2010. Check out the work so far: