For some reason, I had zero motivation to go to the Tulip Festival this year. It’s been a tradition since I came to Ottawa, and I usually enjoy the colourful flower beds. I even occasionally attended the events.
Now that it has grown to become the largest Tulip Festival in the world, it has been a victim of its own tourism success. It used to be a low-key event, you know, just tulips for everyone to enjoy after the endless winter. Now busloads of tourists come over, you can’t park anywhere and you almost have to queue to take pictures at Dow’s Lake. I realize I sound snotty—I love tourists, I’m a traveller too! But tour groups are hard to manage. Besides, many attractions have nothing to do with tulips (why do people line up for fudge?) and there are too many “exclusive ticketed activities”—read, “please, spend money.”
Ah, don’t mind me. Maybe I’m just a cranky old lady.
But do you know who else doesn’t care about flowers? Mark. We can no longer take these “baby in front of flower beds” pictures. He ran straight to the amusement rides and then spent ten minutes playing in dirt (and the following ten minutes complaining about having dirty hands—duh…).
So I feel this year’s set isn’t as good as some other years. Besides, it was very windy and getting sharp shots was a challenge.
The flowers are still pretty, though!
Wonderful shots! Tu as bien fait d’y aller 🙂
Ça valait quand même une p’tite visite!
Your photos are brilliant!
We also had a small tulip festival here, in a public park. I tried snapping some photos, but they aren’t as amazing as yours!
Aw, thank you. This is the one time where using a prime lens makes a difference!
Lovely shots!
My friend visited the festival this year for the first time and really loved the tulip festival.
Next year… 😉
Hoping so 🙂 fingers crossed
You will. You’re almost here!
🙂
Ah Ah ! Tu as bien raison sur ce festival ! 😉 Je me suis complètement retrouvé dans tes propos et sur le fait de baptiser “festival” des choses qui n’en sont pas vraiment. Ceci dit, c’est l’occasion de faire des photos sympas. En voici quelques unes également :
A bientôt !
C’est sûr, toujours une occasion de sortir l’appareil photo et de voir des couleurs.