Twilight In The National Capital

I have some twilight shots to close out the month. I took this on May one evening outside the EY Centre south of the city core, looking west.

This view was taken later in May from the Bank Street Bridge, looking west over the Rideau Canal.

In June, a few days before the first day of summer, I was downtown running an errand over in the Byward Market. I crossed the Mackenzie King Bridge, and the setting sun was over the Canal. This is a mark of how much our perception of the sun's position changes over the year- this is looking to the northwest. No more than a half hour later, I headed back over the bridge- dark brooding storm clouds were moving in, creating a completely different mood as you can see in the following shot.

This I took on Canada Day on my way out of the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau.

A few days later in July, this was the twilight over the Canal at the Bank Street Bridge once again.

Later in July, I attended the Fortissimo event on Parliament Hill, a military ceremony I'll show you in a few days. This dusk view of Centre Block was among the shots I took that evening.

I took these shots in the first part of August at the War Memorial. The last light of day illuminating the Chateau Laurier particularly stood out to me.

And this view was a few days later, looking over the Rideau Canal again from the bridge.

A Dreaded Mother In Law Visit

Today I have some odds and ends. I start with a view of the Greek embassy, which stands downtown. I've been inside once, but can't recall photographing it. I have photographed the Greek ambassador's residence, which was featured for Doors Open some years ago.

Here we have Vietnam House, the residence of the Vietnamese ambassador, in the Glebe. This is taken from behind, in Central Park during the New Art Festival. The embassy itself is located elsewhere.

This sign changes regularly. It is outside a pub in the Glebe neighbourhood. I photographed it in late May.

This sign down the street often has good ones. The first two examples were the front and back sayings one day, while the third was taken a few days later when the quote had changed.

I took this view one day in June from the rooftop at the Canadian War Museum, looking west over the Ottawa River.

This I came across one day passing through an event on Sparks Street. This Canadian military engineer regiment had displays out.

The German embassy is downtown, near the Rideau Canal. Its crest is mounted near the main entrance.

Taken in July from the roof of the War Museum, I photographed the grounds to the south, which host the main stage for Bluesfest each year, with another smaller stage area over on the north side of the museum. I use the term blues generously, as realistically speaking, the blues might constitute 20% of the acts in the festival. I mean, Foo Fighters is not a blues group. I live not too far from here, so I heard the concerts most nights. Bryan Adams and Blue Rodeo were among them, and of course they were going through their biggest hits.

This is the Fleet Street Pumping Station, dating to 1875. It lies just west of the downtown core, and a channel of the Ottawa River, diverted from the main course, comes through the building, which is still in full operation.

That channel of the river flows out on the other side of the bridge I crossed, down a course that's laid out for white water rafting. When I was here this particular day, a number of kids were jumping into the water, supervised, of course, and swimming downstream to the near shore. This was part of a summer day camp program.

And I finish with this July shot of a Prowler car, with the decor of a real estate office. One doesn't see this type of car around often.

Sentry Duty At The Memorial

The National War Memorial is set downtown in the heart of Confederation Square. Dedicated in 1939 to the Canadian war dead of the First World War, it has come to be dedicated to those who have served in each war and in peacetime since. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is at its base, and from early April to the day before Remembrance Day, an honour guard is found here during the day. The guard comes from each branch of the Canadian military. Specific units stand at post here for a few days; typically sentries will have a couple of shifts in a given day. Each hour they are relieved by the next shift (with exceptions made for very hot or otherwise inclement weather, in which case they are relieved every half-hour). On the occasion when I took these shots in late June, the Canadian Rangers had the duty. The Rangers are reserve soldiers posted throughout the country, in northern and other isolated regions, performing a number of duties. I chatted with one of them before the shift change- he said that this is as dressed up as Rangers get. The ceremony of changing shifts is the same regardless, with fresh sentries coming up to relieve those at the post. A bagpiper leads the way, the sentries are relieved, the commanding officer recites the duties of the sentries, and the relieved sentries head back beneath Plaza Bridge, where there are some rooms set into the infrastructure below, a place for them to relax until their next time at the post.

Art, Park, And Lots Of Barks

The New Art Festival takes place each summer on a weekend in June, at Central Park in the Glebe neighbourhood. A multitude of artists come from around the province for the weekend and set up for prospective buyers. Looking at the business card of one of the artists and instantly recognizing the road name on the address, I chatted with her. She happens to live in the same area near where I grew up, in the countryside outside of Georgetown, so we talked about Halton Hills and how much it's changed. 

This year it was fair weather for the occasion.

I noticed a good many dogs during my visit. This one belonged to one of the artists.

This was a Scottie-Westie mix named Murphy, who quickly got distracted by the presence of another dog.

The collie caught my attention. One of our dogs when I was growing up was a collie, so I've always had a fondness for them.

While this one seemed a bit suspicious of me.

I went up out of one section of the park and looked back.

Across the roadway there were more artists. They were lined around the edge of Patterson Creek, an inlet of the Rideau Canal that ventures into the Glebe for a few hundred metres.

More of the hounds.

I leave off with this view of things from Bank Street.

A Waterfall Upon The River

The Hog's Back Falls can be found just to the north of Mooney's Bay, where the Rideau River and Rideau Canal part ways as they head into the heart of the city en route to the Ottawa River. Taking their name from an engineer's description of the rocks, the river tumbles through this small gorge in a series of chutes and plunge falls, modified by the work of men who were building the Canal. Naturally speaking, this area looked different before damming of the river altered the shape of the falls. It is set in a park that allows for viewpoints from both sides. I was down here in late June photographing at the nearby Dragon Boat Festival, which I covered in a post at my writer's blog at the time. I decided to stop here as well.

This view looks downstream- the river itself pours out of the gorge on the right. The water levels were low when I visited, as some of those rocks downstream tend to be underwater at higher levels.

There are a number of historical plaques and display panels set in various spots along the course of the falls detailing the natural and human history of this area.

I took these views of the gorge from the bridge crossing over the dam.

On the east side, you get a different perspective of the waterfalls. It's a lovely place to visit.