La Bottega, Ottawa

Ottawa is beautiful in the fall time. The leaves turn colour, and the air is fresh and crisp.

This past weekend, my sister, Beebs, and I decided to head to Gatineau park to enjoy the beautiful scenery and nature. Ten minutes north of downtown Ottawa and sitting on the edge of the Canadian shield is Gatineau park, a park full of hiking trails and beautiful lakes. It is especially gorgeous during the fall season. If you come at the right time of the year, all of the leaves are bright red and orange, and the entire park looks reddish pink.

We decided to pick up some lunch at my favourite sandwich place, La Bottega, before heading to the park. There is a city wide debate on who actually serves the best sandwiches: La Bottega or DiRienzo...that is another post altogether.

La Bottega is a fine Italian food store that sells olive oils, balsamic vinegars, pastas, coffee, espresso machines, cheeses, deli meats, etc. At the back of the store, they have a small kitchen, and a sandwich stand where they make fresh sandwiches on the spot.

For $4.39, you get to pick your bread, cheese, meat, and condiments.

I ALWAYS get the turkey on soft panini with tomatoes, lettuce, onions, hot peppers, olives, spicy eggplant, and both dijon and regular mustard.

When we got our sandwiches, we were so hungry that we debated on whether or not we should eat half of our sandwiches before heading to the park. We took one bite instead, and sped to Champlain lookout. I bought a guava nectar to go with my sandwich, and it was a perfect combination.

This was our spectacular view while eating lunch. It was a cool day, but the hot sun shining on our backs warmed us up quickly.

Afterwards, we did a small hike around Pink Lake before heading home. Pink Lake is not actually pink as the name seems to imply. It is a green coloured lake that was named after the Pink family who settled here in the 1800's. I know, disappointing. I have always wished for a better story than that.

For those of you that are wondering, Beebs is not my sister's real name. It is our way of calling her the 'baby of the family'.