Correr Es Mi Destino

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In June 2007, UNESCO designated the Rideau Canal, a landmark in Ottawa, a World Heritage Site. So we did what Canadians do best in the summer: we celebrated.

Every year, Sparks Street in downtown Ottawa is smokin’ hot. For five days in June, about twenty teams from Canada and the United States compete for the top rank of best rib choice, best rib sauce, best chicken choice and best chicken sauce.

Yesterday was Canada Day, our national holiday. And what better place to celebrate than Ottawa, the nation’s capital?

Every year, once the snow has melted, tulips are displayed throughout the city of Ottawa.

It isn’t the result of luck though, but of the fruits of labor. Indeed, Ottawa is home to the largest tulip festival, thanks to history and… the Netherlands.

When I’ll take the oath of citizenship, I’ll have to swear that “I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second”. Yes… even though Canada is a sovereign country, it is a constitutional monarchy with Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada, as head of state, and a parliamentary democracy with a federal system. Sounds complicated, doesn’t it?

Here we go again… this is my entry for Graham’s March Photography Challenge! The theme for March is “destruction” (lucky me, it could have been “spring” and I would have been fucked… still a few meters of snow on the ground here!) and I thought this picture would illustrate it nicely.

In Ontario, we have relatively small ice sculptures, but in Quebec, they were made of snow… and huge! Granted we had quite a lot of snow this year so building material was cheap.

After another winter storm (where I, among others, sat on a bus that got stuck in the snow for an hour and shoveled about 50 cm of white snow to be able to open my door), we decided to make the most of the season and we headed to Winterlude, the annual winter festival which opened last week-end.