Day: October 2, 2019

August 21, 2019

As I walked from where I had parked the car Wednesday morning towards the art museum I went past the entrance to the United States Embassy.  On many of the streetlight poles along that street there were colorful flags celebrating many of the provinces of Canada.  I won’t post them all but many were very interesting and though I’m not sure all provinces were represented, the vast majority were.  I later found more flags in another part of the city and I imagine the “missing” ones were probably there although I didn’t take the time to track each one down.  There were also sets of “double flags” (4 flags on each pole, 1 in each main compass direction) celebrating the fact that Ottawa is the national capital of Canada.

August 21 + 22, 2019

Here are some photos taken indoors at the cathedral.

August 21 + 22, 2019

Right across the street from the huge spider sculpture on the art museum plaza is Ottawa’s Notre Dame Cathedral Basilica:

August 21, 2019

I have seen many examples of “theme art” in various cities I have visited in the past.  The theme here in Ottawa is “tulips” and I saw many examples scattered around town.

 

August 21, 2019

Rain had moved through Ottawa overnight and I was concerned that it might still be raining when I got downtown but if that had been the case my plan was to make my first stop at this huge art gallery when it opened at 10am.  As it turned out the rain was finished by the time I parked downtown and conditions improved steadily throughout the day so I never set foot inside the museum other than to mooch their free wifi in the air-conditioned lobby mid-afternoon.

Other than the striking glass construction the other impressive thing about the exterior of this facility in the huge spider sculpture in the plaza outside the entrance.

When I go back to eastern Canada next year I plan to budget days to go in to many of the museums, regardless of the weather.  I usually reserve inside activities for bad weather days but have been fortunate in all the years I have traveled to have enjoyed good weather most days.  I just can’t justify spending a nice day indoors when I am visiting a new destination.

August 21, 2019

Wednesday was my first of two full days in Ottawa.  I was staying in a suburb several miles west of town and at the suggestion of my Airbnb hostess, drove in to the city early each morning and paid one fee to park in a multi-level garage all day.  This put me right in the heart of the action and allowed me to walk to various venues with maximum flexibility.  I covered a lot of the same territory both days and after reviewing my photos have decided to post pictures by topic, including the best photos from each day or time of day.

The parking garage I mentioned was just up the street from a popular Farmer’s Market and I spent an hour the first morning an and around that market.  Vendors were cleaning and preparing their shops and display tents for the day and it wasn’t as crowded with customers as it would become in just a few hours.

This market was one of the stops made by US President Barack Obama when he visited Ottawa back in 2009.  They even made special cookies for him.

The first photo of this restaurant was taken early in the morning, before it opened.  The photo below was taken in the afternoon when the umbrellas were open to shield patrons from the sun and the street was busier with pedestrians.