Friday, February 23, 2018

Bridges

As noted in the comments for yesterday's post, the Rideau Canal is now closed for the skating season, though I will have more shots from here before I'm done with the Winterlude series. I left off yesterday with a view at two bridges along the skateway. Turning around, this was the view in the opposite direction. The Canal is in the first part of a final curve at this place. Up ahead is the University of Ottawa; some of its buildings feature in the second shot.


On the other side of the curve, we get a view looking down the last stretch of the Canal. The bridge you see here was opened in 2006, linking the university's campus on the right with the downtown core on the left. It is the Corktown Bridge, a gracefully designed pedestrian bridge that sees a good deal of use each day. The name is a nod to the many Irish immigrants and their families, who came to work on building the Rideau Canal nearly two hundred years ago, and built a life here afterwards.


Here we have a view looking south from on the bridge itself. This bridge has become infested with those obnoxious, pointless, irritating love locks. 


This is the view looking north. In the mist and snow, the Laurier Avenue Bridge can be made out, as well as the ghostly outline of the Chateau Laurier.

29 comments:

  1. ...that's a mighty long ice skating rink!

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  2. Oh how I wish I could have skated here when I was a kid! I agree with you about the locks. Not only pointless, but heavy and dangerous and a challenge to the stability of the bridge.

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  3. Looks like fun but I doubt I could cope with the cold.

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  4. What fun shots. Winter is wonderful!

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  5. Everyone is having fun skating. It looks very cold out there!

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  6. I’d love to have a go skating along the canal!

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  7. Love the views from above. I see the Canadians place locks of love on bridges, too.

    Janis
    GDP

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  8. Such a treasure to the city and country.

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  9. The bridge makes a great vantage spot to watch the skaters. I am not fond of the love locks.

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  10. @Tom: it definitely is.

    @Lowell: the engineers have looked at it and determined it's not a structural issue, as of yet, but it's still bloody hideous.

    @Fun60: I love the cold.

    @Lady Fi: I agree!

    @Francisco: thanks!

    @Nancy: it tends to be more moderate when it's snowing.

    @Christine: a lot of people come in for the skating.

    @Janis: unfortunately. This is the only one I really notice it on.

    @Marie: it really is.

    @Janey: whoever started it, shouldn't have started the habit.

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  11. Lots of skaters enjoying the canal , but too bad the season is over.

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  12. I couldn't agree more about those stupid love locks.

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  13. Looking nippy up there, William. Are you ready for spring?

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  14. I'd love to skate on the canal! Never skated on such a huge space.

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  15. I wonder if this is one of the earliest dates for the skating to end?

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  16. Great shots again. Over here in the Netherlands we are getting a little nervous, because it's gonna be really cold from this weekend on. A lot of people hope it's possible to skate at some smaller lakes and canals next week.

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  17. Wonderful bridges and canal photography!

    Happy Weekend to you,
    A ShutterBug Explores,
    aka (A Creative Harbor)

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  18. I've never lived anywhere like that, where the canals freeze and they can be used for ice skating. As for the love locks, I really don't get it... Seems like a waste of perfectly good locks to me.

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  19. @Cloudia: brrr indeed!

    @Red: we had a decent season. Early January into the second half of February. We've had years where the grand total of days might have been eighteen days of open time on the ice, and that's not good.

    @Sharon: they are an abomination.

    @Jeanie: I'm hoping spring stays away awhile longer.

    @Tamago: it is a huge skating surface.

    @RedPat: no, there have been much shorter skating seasons, including two or three years back. Aside from a couple of brief interruptions in which they closed up for a day or two, the Canal's open time was from early January up to right this past Monday, which is decent.

    @Jan: I hope your canals give your country a chance to get out and skate a bit.

    @Carol: thanks!

    @Susie: even though I don't know how to skate, I enjoy getting out on the ice each winter. I do walk portions of it extensively when it's open like this.

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  20. wow, there are lots of locks there. i bet that is heavy. ( ;

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  21. It's nice seeing people enjoying the canal skating. Too bad about those locks, they seem very annoying these days whenever people place them on a bridge.

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  22. That's the ultimate skating rink!

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  23. @Beth: and I've been up there in recent days, so the locks continue to be there.

    @Bill: I find them a visual blight.

    @Mari: cold is a good thing.

    @Karl: lots of fun!

    @Jennifer: this year it is still open. For how long, we'll see.

    @Norma: it really is.

    @Klara: thank you!

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