I visited you recently, Ottawa, and I just want to say, Thanks for being such a great place to explore.

Thanks to the Mnt Hotel for leaving the door to its swimming pool and sauna wide open.

Thanks to the Mrrtt for its formerly revolving banquet floors, with their beautiful views. Two of these floors are accessible to anyone at anytime (just take the elevator!), and the topmost floor is accessible to the determined by service elevator.

Thanks to the guys renovating the old Mpr Theatre on the top floor of the Wrld Xchng Plz, for propping the door open with a fire extinguisher.

Thanks to the guy who let me in to the War Museum at 4:50 for free. It was a whirlwind tour, unfortunately; and unfortunately the emergency exit doors were alarmed. (I always act bewildered when I set one of these alarms off, and back away from it muttering. But since most of these alarms stop once the door is closed again, I really should step through them first.)

Thanks to the National Gallery, which looks pretty easy to just stroll right in to. (I'll test this next time I'm in town.)

Thanks to the Prlmnt Bldngs, for being so easy to infiltrate. And it's a good thing, because the official tours are cloyingly bad.

Aside from some guards posted at the halls leading away from the public areas, and some serious security outside the Senate and House galleries (which you might as well just visit through official channels), most of the deterrents to self-guided tourists are psychological: cordons and "No Unauthorized Access" signs. I went in late on a Sunday and probably could have wandered the halls all night. I admit that I wimped out after about half an hour, worrying that the later I stayed, the angrier the guards would be when they inevitably saw me leaving. (They didn't care.)

Can't see this on the official tour!

The dining room on the 6th floor is a bit expensive for me. There are loaner jackets available for the shabby.

Weird interstitial space.

But my heartiest thanks go out to the Cht Lrr, whose upper floors are shockingly accessible.

You can grub around in the dusty attics, former guest rooms, storage areas, and sweltering engine rooms for hours. You can get onto the roof at a number of places -- great views of Prlmt across the street! Everything seems abandoned and unused, but must not be: doors that had been locked were open, and doors that had been open were locked when I returned a couple of days later. But the number of lockable but left-unlocked doors is still magnificent. If the stairwells don't get you where you want to go, try the service stairwells or elevators, which can be found behind unmarked doors with half-ring door handles. (Go after hours or pass the 7th floor quickly, which seems to be filled with half occupied offices.) Thanks are also due to the refreshing Gold Members' Lounge on the 4th floor, where complimentary candies, nuts, coffee, soda, and newspapers can be found.

Ottawa, je t'aime!