Gandhi

At Carleton University, outside the River Building, near the shore of the Rideau River, stands a statue that tends to look rather cold this time of year.

The statue of course is of the great statesman, civil rights advocate, and Indian leader Mohandas "Mahatma" Gandhi. The great man of the Twentieth Century is immortalized across the world, including here in Ottawa. There's a good sized segment of the student population from India, and Gandhi's influence on world history looms large, so placing it here on campus is fitting. I do wonder what Gandhi would have thought of being buried in snow like this.

Turning to the river from the statue, we see the train tracks that cross over the river. A few days back I showed you the view of the river from the train. 

This is as close as we can get to the river in the winter, which is just as well, given how cold it'll be this time of year.

Ravine Ice

The commuter O-Train passes through a rock cut in Little Italy, stopping at one station here. Groundwater from above flows down the slopes and among the rocks, and it freezes up in the winter, creating dramatic ice formations on the walls of the rock cut.

The ravine doesn't get a whole lot of sun during any given day, so these ice formations will take their time in the spring finally melting away.

Jack Frost

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a Canadian lunatic who loves the winter must be in want of snow and ice. ~ Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice And Frostbite

Here in Ottawa the temperatures dip well below freezing for much of the winter. These two shots were taken in the morning after a cold night in December. This is very close to home... since these are the north side windows in my bedroom. I love the vastly different patterns frost creates on glass.

Winter Pond

This good sized pond is in the Glebe, and it is linked through pipes beneath the adjoining parkway to the Rideau Canal, where as of this writing, skaters are enjoying the full length of the ice. When the water levels in the Canal are dropped in the fall, the water here drops as well. Small mounds of earth as you see in the foreground are exposed. The fish and turtles that occupy this water are beneath the ice as it develops, apparently turtles in particular go into something resembling a fugue state. This year there's been an early freeze-up. These shots were taken in December, and people were out on the ice.

Someone's erected something on one of those mounds of earth in the pond. An inukshuk is a common sight in the far north, where Inuit people piled rocks in these formations for countless generations as a marker, a beacon in a harsh environment. It's common to see them built elsewhere as a garden ornament.

From the other side, you can see the Bank Street Bridge in the background.

Byward Market

The Byward Market is both a neighbourhood and a market building downtown. The current building dates back to the 1920s, but there were markets here almost from the beginning of the city's first days. These days the farmer's produce is sold mostly by outdoor vendors around the building, while the interior has been taken over by restaurants and small shops.

You can get a view of the interior from above, looking down on the restaurants and shoppers below.

Hanging over the space below is this unusual sculpture.

The River In Winter

I took these shots in December of the Rideau River, in two locations. The first one was from the commuter train passing over the bridge on its way south from Carleton University. The buildings you see are part of the campus. The river here is wild and swift, with rapids, reflecting the fast current downstream from Hog's Back Falls. Still, a good part of it here will ice over.

Further downstream, at Billings Bridge, the ice is more established, aside from close to the bridge, which doesn't ice over in the winter. The university can still be seen in the distance; that building just peeking out is the highest building on campus. Downstream from here the river winds its way through the city, following a parallel path to the Rideau Canal, bound for the Ottawa River.

The Old Train Station

You've seen pictures of the Government Conference Centre before in this blog. It was once the main train station, linked to the Chateau Laurier (there to the left) by a tunnel below the street. These days the government makes use of the building, which is only open for Doors Open one weekend in the summer to the public.

I've taken pictures of it before, but not from this angle. In December, while taking Christmas light pics, I was passing through the National Arts Centre, and looked across the Canal at the building. The lighting drew my eye, so I stepped outside and took the shot.

A Wine By Another Name

The bulk of liquor sales in the province of Ontario is done through the government retail agency, the LCBO, which brings in a good deal of revenue to the public coffers. The current leader of the provincial opposition, a loathsome little troll who never heard of a privatization idea he didn't like, would eventually like to privatize it if he ever gets elected. Given that this sneering nitwit takes all his life lessons from his mentor, a former premier who gutted the province, did away with regulations, caused tremendous damage to the province and turned people against each other (and actually has the deaths of citizens to his name), I'm inclined to never, ever vote for that party while it's being held hostage by neo-con jackals.

Here in Ontario, there's a healthy number of wineries based out of the north shore of Lake Erie and the Niagara peninsula. I was in an LCBO store in December, and the unusual names of these two bottles side by side amused me.

The National Gallery In Winter

On the same snowy day I took the shots up at Nepean Point, I took these shots of the National Gallery. The first is one of the main approaches. The main entrance is the glass enclosure you see on the right. A large ramp, sheltered from the elements by a glass enclosure, leads up to the galleries inside.

The glass tower itself, having had been sheltered by an iceberg canvas through the last few months, is below. Glass panel replacement seems to be going slower than expected; the job was supposed to be done by now.

Here's an earlier view of the glass tower, before the snow. And this shot of the tower is taken from behind the building, on the path up Nepean Point.

There are several sculptures outside the Gallery. This is one of them, on the back lawn. It's several lampposts fused into one.

City Daily Photo Theme Day: Photo Of The Year

The first day of each month among City Daily Photo bloggers has a common theme. For the first of January and the dawn of a new year, the theme is to look back on the year that was and select a personal favourite or best of the year. You can find other bloggers selecting their personal favourites right here.

This image seemed to draw a lot of attention when I posted it. The railway tracks pass beneath a bridge near South Keys, while late afternoon sunlight highlights the snow. The central track disappears at the horizon, while the two side spurs veer off to the left and right. 

I didn't mention it when I posted this, but the line you see crossing the central track is the line for the commuter O-Train. At present, its southern terminus is not far to the left of this location, but the system is undergoing dramatic expansion at present, with construction underway to add to the light rail network in the city.