At the Château

Charles Melville Hays

Château Laurier pool

The Château Laurier, Ottawa's grand hotel, is 100 years old this year and on June 1st, current and former hotel staff are going to have a private party there to celebrate its birthday.

The man whose project the hotel originally was, Charles Melville Hays, never lived to see the its opening in 1912 because he perished with the Titanic that same year. His portrait hangs in the lower lobby near the pool. I saw the hotel pool, filled with salt water, on Friday, and it appeals to me, but if I want to indulge myself by swimming in it, a one-off visit to the obligatory Health Club would cost $20 plus tax, and a month's membership $125 plus tax. Maybe for the sake of keeping fit ...!

A corner of the Karsh Suite

Another impressive part of the guided tour was to the suite on the 4th floor where the world-famous, Armenian photographer Yousuf Karsh used to reside. It's preserved in the original style of furnishing with a chandelier donated by Karsh's wife, with Chinese cupboards and of course with photographs by Karsh hanging on the walls. More of these are on display in the entrance lobby and in Zoe's lounge (named after PM Wilfred Laurier's wife) with its grand piano.

Carpet in the foyer

More than 70 lady diplomats or wives of diplomats had turned up that day, as well as their Canadian friends in the Diplomatic Hospitality group, and the hotel had set aside the western end of the ballroom for coffee / tea and scones and jam, etc. to be enjoyed at round tables after our tours. Before we tucked in to the magnificent spread we were also treated to a Fashion Show of equally magnificent proportions, with fourteen tall and slender girls poised on tall and slender heels modelling Elena Hinke's flowing creations (turn your volume down before clicking on that link!) in black, royal blue, turquoise, mustard, olive greens and scarlet: smart, elegant and sophisticated clothes. Silks and black lace predominated. The audience was thrilled, and not a price tag in sight.

Ms. Hinke, left, with one of the models

Voices and faces

I mustn't keep my sister waiting to hear what on earth I've got to say about Bryan Adams, not the sort of person she expected to see me mention in my blog. I only intended to mention him in passing actually because I saw a photo of his face (taken by Yousuf Karsh) in an exhibition at our National Library and Archives as I was on my way to make myself acquainted with another kind of singer, Georg Ots. Both Adams and Ots had handsome faces, but it's the voices that people swoon over. Ots, recordings of whose voice were used in the musical parts of the film Georg sounded to me like Dmitri Hvorostowski, singing the sort of music that Richard Tauber used to sing, only in a lower register. Yes indeed, very different from Bryan Adams.

It struck me as interesting that Adams as a young man had one of the faces that appealed to Karsh along with such luminaries as Pablo Casals, Lawrence Olivier, Jessye Norman and Jean Sibelius! Because he (Adams) was (still is?) an object of adoration for Canadians, perhaps.

Another Canadian icon that may not be so well known outside Canada is k.d. lang. Chris and I were at a house warming party the other week where the host rounded off the evening by improvising on his new electronic piano, and the music he chose to play was Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah", most famously (so I gather) sung by the barefoot Ms Lang. Vija, a professional musician friend of mine, also present at the party, told us that this woman "has the best voice in Canada!"

I googled her when I got home, and although I don't exactly feel at home with Country and Western music I must admit k.d. lang has quality and what looks like integrity. I also took a closer look at the lyrics. I found them rather foreign to me, too, am obviously not 100% Canadian yet.