A Colourful Delight For The Senses

Today I finish the month with this bed of tulips in Gatineau.

A wider view here, with hints of the Portage office complex in the background. Tomorrow is the theme day, so I'll be back to covering the festival after that.

Soft Shades Mixed Together

I found the colour combination of tulips in this particular Gatineau flowerbed to be pleasing. I wonder what it'll be like next year.

Tulip Colour In Gatineau

There is a bed of tulips near where the Portage Bridge emerges into Gatineau, and close to the Portage office complex. I had never photographed it before, but decided to do so this time as I was in the area. It was a mix of purple, pink, and a soft yellow. I'll be closing out the month with this bed for the next two days.

Floral River And Rocket

Yesterday I mentioned the formal bed of tulips along the east side of the Museum's curatorial wing. Here it flows, with a river of shrubs and bushes behind it.

A short walk to the east lies Jacques Cartier Park. Here there are also large tulip beds, but this year I couldn't access them. The area of the park they're in is undergoing some rehabilitation at the moment, and so they were out of reach. Instead I photographed tulips at the park entrance.

They can also be seen behind this larger than life sculpture of the legendary Montreal Canadiens hockey player Maurice "Rocket" Richard. Whenever I photograph this sculpture, I am reminded of Birdman, the late photoblogger from New England who some of you knew. As a Boston Bruins fan who saw the Rocket in action, he and other Bruins fans hated the Habs teams of that era, and would comment about it when I'd show this one. The mutual loathing between Habs and Bruins fans persists to this day, but in Quebec, the Rocket was a legend, and throughout NHL history, he remains one of the greatest to ever play the game.

The Work Of Squirrels

On the east end of the curatorial wing of the Museum of History lies another formal tulip bed. It is set before a backdrop of shrubs and bushes. And it is here that we find evidence of squirrel gardeners, as different coloured tulips from previous years have been replanted and grow each year among the shrubs and bushes.

Tulips And Curves

A low level shot alongside the tulips takes in the space between two Museum of History wings, with Parliament Hill on the far side of the Ottawa River.

Here we have a view of the curatorial wing with the tulips. Cardinal, a Canadian First Nations architect who lives in the area, employs the curved motif in his architecture, an influence of his cultural background. American readers may recognize his style in the National Museum of the American Indian, also his work.

These views look back toward the entrance of the exhibit wing.

Museum Flowers

I do spend most of my time in Ottawa, but the city of Gatineau lies on the Quebec side of the Ottawa River, and it is here, above the shoreline, that we find one of the national museums, the Canadian Museum of History, with its marvelous architecture by Douglas Cardinal. I came in May, because there are tulip beds to be found here. The exhibition wing can be seen behind them, with the landmarks of the Chateau Laurier and Parliament Hill out across the river.

This bed is alongside the curatorial wing of the museum. We'll pick up here tomorrow.

Floral Pleasures

Today I finish this visit to Major's Hill Park with some of the tulips at the north end of the park.

This looks southward, with the Peace Tower looming above the trees.

I crossed the streets and photographed these tulips outside Notre Dame. Tomorrow we cross over into Quebec.

Park Vantages

Today I'm starting with the tulips I left off with yesterday.

Off to the east, the other tulip beds at the north end of Major's Hill Park have Notre Dame as a backdrop.

This perspective allows for both the National Gallery and Notre Dame to share the background.