Articles tagged with: Snapshots of Ottawa
Snow & Slush
Since I’m back to a 9-to-5 schedule, I take my week-ends rather seriously. Unfortunately, the powerful Canadian weather Gods conspired against me. It is March, really? Doesn’t feel like it. I know we skipped most of the winter but this doesn’t mean I wanted to experience it in March!
The Phone Booth
When I first came here, I found Canadian payphones really cool. France already didn’t have many public phones left because the cell phone market was booming. The few phone booths left were often dirty or out of service. Beside, to make a call, you first had to buy a phone card from a retailer, even for local locals, and you paid per minute.
The Rideau Bus Stop
I have a love and hate relationship with Ottawa’s transit system. I take the bus but the bus hates me.
Taking public transportation is a second nature to me. I grew up in a city and I took the bus and the tramway a lot. In France, we only drove if we had to get out of the city. Gas is expensive and cities are made for pedestrians, not cars: narrow one-way streets, weird signs and traffic laws and traffic jams are a strong deterrent for drivers.
Fall Rhapsody
The weather was better this week and the light was perfect. We first drove to Hampton Park in Westboro, close to Island Park Drive and its huge mansions. There was a nice mix of trees and leaves of different colors, green, yellow, orange… I even spotted two teddy bear buried under piles of fallen leaves. I felt like a CSI agent when I took pictures of the “bodies”!
Inside CBC Ottawa
Of all the free activities scheduled in Ottawa for Culture Days, I chose to visit CBC Ottawa, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s local T.V station. I worked on Sparks Street for a year, one block from the CBC Ottawa Broadcast Centre. I saw the flurry of journalists and T.V crews every day, and I have always wanted to see what the headquarter looked like inside.
A Rainy Day
In Ottawa, it doesn’t rain, it pours. You barely get any warning at all: one minute, the sky is grey and you feel a drop of water, the next one you are as soaked as if you had taken a shower. Similarly, thunderstorms can be quite impressive in the area: flash floods and power outages are not that rare. It’s part of our severe weather-prone country, I guess.
The Byward Market
The Byward Market is somewhat of a fixture in Ottawa. It is located downtown, close to the Rideau neighborhood, between Sussex and Rideau St. There is a main market building (very similar to Kensington Market in Toronto or to The Forks in Winnipeg), surrounded by an open-air market on George, York, ByWard and William Streets.
Warm Summer Night
On a warm summer night, I grabbed my camera and headed to downtown around sunset. I hadn’t been around the Byward Market area at this time of the day in a while. It was close to 10 pm and the sun had barely set.
I stopped by to see my favourite sculpture in Ottawa, “Maman” the huge spider by artist Louise Bourgeois, stuck between Notre-Dame church and the National Gallery of Canada.
