Springtime Rises Up On The NAC

A reminder to those in the Ottawa area that this Saturday and Sunday, Doors Open is happening in sites across the city and the rural areas as well, one of four events if you look at the Doors Open Ontario events site.  And as I'm busy with the Tulip Festival series here, with the Doors Open series to follow, check out my writer's blog for today's post, as it's a photo post about this past weekend's National Capital Race Weekend.

It is the end of the month, and so it's time for another update post on the work at the National Arts Centre. You can find my last post in the series here. I took these earlier in the month while in the area photographing tulips, and approached from the southwest side, framing this first shot with tulips in the flower bed on this side of the street. I then went onto the traffic island dividing Elgin Street and used the tulips in planters as the foreground for another shot of the building.

Much of the work at the moment is the last minute work inside and out. We are at a month to go with the project, due to be finished for Canada Day, with some elements inside to be completed down the line, such as expansion of the Fourth Stage performance space. The NAC has been open for performances throughout the project, with only Fourth Stage closed off. Some of what's now going on includes replacing the paving stones inside the fenced off area, which is yet to be done. 

I decided to use the overhead arch of Plaza Bridge to frame this shot of the NAC, and finished off with a view of the building from the grounds of the National War Memorial.

Dazzling Tulip Colour In The City

These tulips were in Dundonald Park.

While these were in a garden for a nearby home.

And these were at the National War Memorial. I will be back into my series on the Tulip Festival after the June theme day.

Artistic Works And Real Tulips

In the Glebe, there were several of these large tulip sculptures, newly painted for this year.

Near the Bank Street Bridge, there is a pond that's connected to the nearby Rideau Canal. There are a couple of flowerbeds alongside it. These were the tulips present this year.

Walking further west along the pathways, this bench at a house caught my eye. Beyond that, the tulips in late afternoon sunlight did the same thing.

Honouring Queen Juliana

Here we have views of the tulip beds at the northwest end of Commissioners Park here at Dow's Lake.

The last of these beds, which features in the remaining shots, has been dedicated to Queen Juliana of the Netherlands, who lived here in Ottawa during the Second World War with her daughters, one of whom, Margriet, was born here. At the time, the government designated the delivery room to be extra-territorial, thus preserving the royal status of the imminent arrival of a Dutch princess.

The Man With Two Hats

This circular flowerbed in Commissioners Park had two types of tulips- when I came back here for another photo tour on the last Friday of the festival, they were fully open. I'll be showing that set before this series is done.

This was a temporary installation in the park.

This is a permanent installation, Man With Two Hats, by the Dutch artist Henk Visch. It has a double in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands.

The flowerbeds further on in the park were irresistible for photographers.

Miranda And Tacoma

I'm picking up where I left off yesterday with these tulips by the low stone wall from another point of view. The path carries on to more tulip beds in the park.

Here we are at the south side of a long tulip bed with a mix of tulips. In the foreground are two companion flowering plants- Muscari Blue Magic and Hyacinth Rembrandt.

These lovely Miranda tulips are in this area. They are neighboured with bulbs called Ivory Floradale and  Mount Tacoma. 

Beyond, the tulips are mixed together.