The New Bridge

 At the end of September, I made my way down towards the Alexandra Bridge early in the morning, to take a photograph of Parliament Hill from the viewing platform there, as I do each month for a series. It had been some weeks since I had last been there, and I was in for a surprise. A bridge had been erected over the road, linking Major's Hill Park at left to Kiweki Point, the former Nepean Point, at right.

This is a pedestrian bridge, called Pidaban Bridge, making transit between the two locations easier for pedestrians. The work is formally scheduled to be done next year. Foundations had been poured already, and I'd assumed some of the work for the bridge would be done off site and brought in all at once. As it turns out, that was correct. Pidaban means dawn in Algonquin languages, while Kiweki means returning to one's homeland. Kiweki Point is the subject of a redo of the park space, which lies behind the National Gallery and occupies a commanding position over the Ottawa River.

The bridge itself has some things to be done before it can be opened to the public, like having railings put on, but otherwise the whole thing looks installed in place. It curves in a graceful way, and I found myself immediately liking the look of it.

I zoomed in on the setting full moon, over Gatineau at this point.

A look down at one of the foundations. I don't know when it was installed in those few weeks that I hadn't been out this way, but it was quite a job.

And crossing the road. 

There's a statue up there.

It's Samuel de Champlain, the French explorer who came up the Ottawa River in 1613. Before the reconfiguration, this statue was up at the highest part of the point, on a plinth. The plinth is gone, but Champlain is back, and will occupy a spot on the grounds. Odds are this is the spot, still with a view of the river, which is as it ought to be. The statue of an Anishinaabe scout, which once occupied a spot at the bottom of the plinth before being moved into Major's Hill Park, will be back in this area, but not in a subservient position to Champlain- on its own. 

Right beneath the bridge.

And from the far side.

A harbinger of things to come- fall colours up on the Point.

And departing, I took this shot of the early morning sky and the National Gallery.