Colours

 I am beginning a series on fall colours in the area. In the latter half of September, I was on the LRT coming through the Gloucester area and noticed a set of trees turning colours.

I took this close up downtown.

One morning I was at Lansdowne Park, when I took these shots.

Another day I was waiting for a connecting bus, and noticed these colours changing at the far side of a parking lot.

Same location, but a few days later, and looking at the change in trees along a residential property line bordering the lot.

I was passing through Lebreton Flats en route to the War Museum, and took this shot.

Closer to the Museum, another view.

On the far side, I found these views along the shores of the Ottawa River.

My last shot for the day is nearby, at the National Holocaust Monument.

Haunting

Another look at the harsh angles of the Holcaust Monument- entirely appropriate for its subject.

I went back to the west entrance and photographed the view looking outward at the War Museum.

There are a series of historical panels here telling the story of the Holocaust and the millions systematically by the Nazi regime, including six million Jews. This was pure evil walking the earth.

Another look around.

I went up to the second level and photographed the view. The Monument is relatively recent, but entirely appropriate for its subject.

Holocaust

At the end of September, I stopped in at the Canadian War Museum for lunch, and after leaving passed by the National Holocaust Monument, which lies across the road. It had been awhile since I had last paid my respects, so I went inside from the east entrance. The Monument is a collaborative work, designed by Daniel Libeskind, with contributions including landscape architecture and historian consultation. It is a solemn place, reflecting on the darkest chapter of World War Two.

Within is also the work of Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky, who photographed Holocaust locations in the current era, with his work etched onto the walls. Two of them are side by side. Prayer Room, Theresienstadt, Czech Republic and Hiding Place, Warsaw Jewish Cemetery, Poland speak to the enduring defiance of survivors of the Holocaust.

There is an antechamber with a memorial flame.

Here we have Abandoned Railbed, Treblinka, Poland. Nearly a million people were put to death in that place.

Track 17, Berlin, Germany was the starting point for many trains heading to the death camps.

This is particularly affecting. Fence, Auschwitz-Birkenau shows the death camp as it is in the current day. 

Across from it is another haunting one. Site Of Death March, Near Mauthausen, Austria stirs up memories of the end of the war, when the Nazis force marched prisoners back towards areas still under German control. At this place, prisoners who couldn't keep up were shot and left to die in the ditches.

Looking into the Monument from the west entrance. We have more from here tomorrow.

Biodiversity

 Staircases lead from one level of the NAC to the next, and in the core of these staircases hang these chandelier installations which are quite eye catching.

A wooden tree was placed in a lobby area nearby, by a local artist. The Ottawa 200 Biodiversity Tree features two hundred species, past and present, in the Ottawa Valley. Ben LaChapelle is the artist. I found it fascinating.

It was time to go. It had been a long day, and I was not up to doing the dusk to dawn circuit of Nuit Blanche. I departed the NAC. This is part of the 2017 additions, a glass tower that includes circuitry to project images on the glass.

I crossed the street, taking another look back. It had been quite a day.