The Rideau Neighborhood
The Rideau neighborhood in Ottawa is probably the busiest, the most dodgy (by Canadian standards!), the most polluted and the most central neighborhood in Ottawa.
Located downtown nearby the Byward Market, Parliament Hill and the University of Ottawa, it’s basically a three-levels indoor shopping mall stuck between Mackenzie King’s Bridge and Rideau Street. It’s above all a hub: when you go downtown, you go to Rideau. Since the city is basically based on an East — West line, pretty much all buses transit there, either on the bridge, either on Rideau street.
The Department of National Defense, a huge 1960s building, is located right beside. It’s very common to see employees, dressed in military camouflage clothes or navy blue to hang around, going for lunch or on their way home.
Rideau is also home to a lot of panhandlers and homeless people: the Mission and the Salvation Army are located nearby. By night, it’s not so safe with a bit of drug dealing and prostitution (although it’s a bit cold for the latter, it seems).
The shopping center is a major hub, especially during the winter since it’s indoor and has a footbridge to The Bay, a big department store located across.
 From MacKenzie’s King Bridge |
 The Rideau Canada From The Bridge |
 National Defense Building |
 Crossing The Street… |
 Caution: Traffic |
 Huge Buses Queue |
 Towards Rideau Street |
 Rideau Street |
 Work In Progress |
 School Bus On Rideau |
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[…] in the way and makes for a cool focus point to capture all the different people hanging around this colourful neighbourhood. These last few weeks, I took a few shots while I was waiting for my […]
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Ottawa is obviously bigger that I was imagine. It’s hard to compare with Norway where even our capital Oslo, would look just like a district (only 580 000 inhabitants in Oslo).
Nice pictures to document — it gives you a great impression — just like being there so thanks for the tour!
.-= RennyBA’s Terella´s last blog ..Gutenberg House Art Gallery and Graphic Museum in Mariestad =-.
The skies in Ottawa always seem to look so marvelously blue and shiny.
Panhandlers you say?… I hope you guys have room for one more, b/c I’m moving on up to Ottawa!
.-= Seb´s last blog ..Lightning Strike! (featuring lightning boy) =-.
You’re right, Zhu. It’s the busiest, and also the dodgiest (is this a word?). Your pictures, however, showed the most beautiful side of it!
.-= Gabriel´s last blog ..PhotoHunt #54 — Words =-.
Dodgy? I believe you, but the pictures you show somehow make me want to go and visit. Either you’re lying or you just know how to make places more beautiful than they are!
.-= Linguist-in-Waiting´s last blog ..Lying and Parenting =-.
Looks like a beautiful area. Very interesting to explore! By the way, there are 4 official languages in Switzerland and I think they also have to be on every label for foods. You can only imagine what that looks like!
.-= expatraveler´s last blog ..Words =-.