By The Waters

As the Rideau River passes by Carleton University, it goes through a stretch of rapids.

Downstream of the rapids is the train track running over the river. The O-Train passes through here several times an hour.

And near this location, outside one of the campus buildings, is a larger than life statue of the great leader Mahatma Gandhi, stoic as always. There's a lot of detail to the statue, and plenty of room to move around and get different perspectives. The last shots give you perspective of how close the statue is to the river and the bridge.

A Bivouac

The Tulip Festival rose up out of the aftermath of the Second World War, and so it is a bit fitting to have a nod towards that. At Lansdowne, outside the Aberdeen Pavilion, the first weekend had an encampment of World War Two era vehicles, artillery, and tents, along with re-enactors in period uniform, both men and women. They made for a rather good photo opportunity.

Catching The Train

The O-Train is our commuter train service in the city, linked in with the bus transit system. Bayview is the north terminus of the present line, which runs between here and the South Keys area. This line was the pilot project of the entire concept, meant to be expanded afterwards. At present, construction of phase one of a major expansion with an east-west line is well underway. It would have been long completed by now, but a former (and not at all missed) mayor scuttled the whole thing as one of his earliest acts in office. Thanks a lot, Larry, for putting us through massive delays, cancelled contract costs, and for contributing to my personal theory that 99.5 % of all Larrys in the world are idiots.

Crossing The Bridge

I was down in the South Keys area in December, and had enough time to walk over to this pedestrian bridge. The Airport Parkway Bridge links the South Keys area to the residential areas to the west, solving a big problem for the residents, who in the past would have had to walk a good way south or north to the nearest bridges (or take their chances running across the parkway). It's a visually interesting gateway in and of itself for visitors coming in from the airport.

Replacing The Bridge Over One Weekend

The 417 is one of two freeways in Ottawa (along with the 416). It travels west to east through the city. On occasion an overpass bridge for the freeway needs replacing. The technique here in recent years has been to build the replacement section, or sections, near where the overpass is, and then in one weekend, cut out the old overpass and move the replacement into place. This minimizes the amount of time the freeway has to be closed in the given area around the worksite. In late October, it was done here at the Kent Street overpass. The freeway was shut down for a stretch to either side, with detour routes set up. The work took the entire weekend, but it was done in time. For some reason this has become something to watch, so bleachers were actually set up on the south side of the worksite, and a webcast was set up as well. Most of these shots from that weekend are from the south side of the project, with the exception of one. Needless to say, most of the people watching this go on were guys. I stopped by several times during that weekend and photographed things.

Odds And Ends And Random Curiosities

To close out the month, an odds and ends mix of images. This sculpture stands outside the front entrance of Library And Archives Canada.

This little one could be seen crossing a sidewalk at a fair clip into Dundonald Park. I believe it to be an American dagger moth caterpillar.

The 417 is the east-west freeway that crosses the city, combined with the 416, which runs south to the St. Lawrence River. This work site is at Kent Street in the core, where work has been going on for some time. It appears now that a bridge section is being put together here as a replacement for the nearby bridge. That's the technique used here as much as possible- build the replacement close by, and then over the course of one weekend, close the freeway, remove the old bridge, and put the new bridge in. If it happens to be sometime soon, I'll document that process.

A spare shot from the Busker's Festival on Sparks Street, I took this shot because of these unusual stilts this man was walking around on.

Down at the Ottawa Locks along the Canal, this mother and her brood of ducklings were busy preening before a swim.

Along Wellington Street, I liked this reflection shot of the Confederation Block of Parliament Hill against the modern tower. The more old fashioned building among the glass is the core of the Bank of Canada. This complex has been undergoing serious work in the last year or so.

Finishing off with this, we have these two dinosaurs on the grounds at the Museum of Nature. These are chasmosaurus irvinensis, on the east lawn. For those members of City Daily Photo who have been looking at the theme day post for tomorrow, this is a summer shot of the sculptures as a comparison to the winter shot at that link.