Winter Bridges

 Some of you saw my note on Facebook.  For those who did not, I've tested positive for Covid and am isolating myself. And annoyed with myself. Two plus years of this and I get it now? Sigh.

I start today with a view from the Mackenzie King Bridge downtown on a clear cold day during Winterlude 2019. The last stretch of the Rideau Canal skateway is below us, with the NAC and Parliament Hill at left, and the Chateau Laurier and Government Conference Centre at right. Plaza Bridge, in the distance, is the last bridge crossing the Canal before it descends down through a series of locks to meet the Ottawa River.

On a different day, but similarly sunny, I joined the Canal at Lansdowne Park in the Glebe to walk downtown on the ice. It was one of those days where if you photograph in one direction, you'll get a sky looking like this, but in another direction, bright and blue.

Such as this. The Flora Bridge, a pedestrian bridge, was in the distance.

The bridge links the Glebe neighbourhood on the west side to the Old Ottawa East neighbourhood on the east side.

Here's the same bridge from the other side.

The parkway crosses this small but graceful arch bridge for the Patterson Creek inlet, which feeds out into the main body of the Canal and is part of the skateway.

The next bridge down is the Pretoria Bridge.

Continuing beyond that, this stretch looks towards the last bend in the Canal heading downtown.

Along that bend are buildings that are part of the University of Ottawa campus on the east side of the Canal. The campus is in the Sandy Hill neighbourhood.

And the final stretch: the Corktown Bridge, another pedestrian bridge, can be seen in the distance.

This bridge links Centretown on the west side with Sandy Hill on the east side. The Chateau Laurier is off in the distance, less than a kilometre away on the final stretch of the skateway.