Artistic Views At Gatineau City Hall

 In late July I headed over into Gatineau to catch a temporary exhibit at the Museum of History before it closes up. En route, I stopped by the city hall, where at one side, a number of paintings of animals can be found on the infrastructure.

It is called Animosites, by a group of local artists, depicting Canadian animals, many of them local.

City Daily Photo Theme Day: Purple

The first day of each month is a theme day for members of City Daily Photo. This month, the theme is Purple. Take a look at how others are interpreting the theme right here. 

I start with these shots taken in Confederation Park during Winterlude. A large screen had been set up for watching Winter Olympics coverage, though this was a night or two before the opening ceremonies. Alongside the screen were LED lights in purple.

At one entrance of the park, shifting lights illuminated evergreen trees that had been placed there. I caught them as the light was shifting into purple.

Lights also shift gradually over the ice sculptures. Blue was turning into purple when I took this shot of a sculpture.

A few blocks away, and on my way home, I noticed a car that had been given an exterior design that looked like something from space. There was purple in the mix, and I concentrated on that.

One night during that month, I was coming back from a walk on the Rideau Canal and was passing by the Canadian Museum of Nature. Some of the streetlights had purple bulbs, which were lighting up the main entrance.

I took these two shots of ice sculptures on Plaza Bridge, part of a set of sculptures that had been set up for Winterlude. Blue coloured lights were gradually shifting into purple.

Later that same evening, I was back in Confederation Park. The place gets decorated for Christmas not with lights in the trees, but coloured shifting spotlights on the trees, and they left them on for Winterlude. 

An underpass beneath the 417 was painted for Canada 150 back in 2017. I'd never photographed it, but this section, with a purple triangle, fit the bill.

And I finish with this toque for the PWHL, the women's professional hockey league, with its lettering in purple.

At The National War Memorial

Every once in awhile I'll photograph the National War Memorial, at the heart of Confederation Square downtown. It is one of my favourite photo subjects.

On the south end of the property, banners are displayed on the history of the place. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, which dates to 2000, has become in many ways the most sacred place in the country.

From April into November during the day, servicemen and women from units across each of the military branches can be found on the grounds as an honour guard. Two of them will do hour long shifts twice a day before being relieved by the next set, taking their breaks in a space beneath the nearby Plaza Bridge.

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is at the base of the Memorial.

The Memorial was designed by Vernon March as a memorial after World War One. It was dedicated in the months before World War Two. It has since been rededicated to include that war, the Korean War, the South African War, the Afghan War, and those who have died in military service to the country. It features 22 service members moving through an arch, with two allegorical figures at the top of the arch. It has the tone of commemoration and mourning, entirely appropriate for a war memorial.

UNESCO Sites Within Canada

In the same manner as the display series on Plaza Bridge, each summer, a series of display panels are set up on the terrace below the Chateau Laurier that leads the visitor towards Major's Hill Park. This year, the theme is UNESCO sites in Canada. This refers both to World Heritage Sites and Biosphere Regions. There are 22 of the first in the country, and 19 of the other. This year, the government shone a light on some of them.

SGang Gwaay (Haida Gwaii) is off the coast of British Columbia, a traditional Haida village that has been set aside and protected.

Gros Morne National Park, in Newfoundland, is a landscape where mantle rock from deep within the earth has been pushed up to the surface in an extraordinary landscape.

In Alberta, Writing-On-Stone/ Aisinai'pi preserves the petroglyphs and pictographs of the Blackfoot.

The Rideau Canal marks its two hundredth year this year, and is a World Heritage Site. This photograph captures the view behind me as I was taking these shots- the terrace is visible below the Chateau at left. It is here where the Canal meets the Ottawa River at the Ottawa Locks, in a saddle between the Chateau Laurier and Parliament Hill.

Riding Mountain National Park is in Manitoba, home to a diverse ecosystem and a diverse landscape.

Dinosaur Provincial Park is in Alberta. This amazing landscape of canyons is home to one of the richest deposits of fossils on the planet.

In the Yukon, Kluane/ Wrangell- St. Elias/ Glacier Bay/ Tatshenshini-Alsek is a broad bioreserve crossing the border with Alaska, and dipping into British Columbia.

The old historic district of Quebec City is also a World Heritage Site, with its rich history and architecture.

In the Northwest Territories, Nahanni National Park is a vast landscape of the far north that most people will never see.

The Bay of Fundy is home to the world's highest tides, where at low tide the visitor can walk on the ocean floor. I have been there twice.

The Canadian Rockies are home to seven parks on either side of the Alberta and British Columbia border that make up a large World Heritage Site of some of the most spectacular scenery you will ever see.

Lunenburg is a traditional fishing and shipbuilding village founded in 1753 in Nova Scotia, known for its colourful homes.