The Landing

Richmond Landing is a place of history. Veterans of the War of 1812 landed at this spot with their families and headed inland, founding the town of Richmond a few years before the founding of Bytown. Today Richmond is a part of the greater city of Ottawa. The Landing has two channels of the Ottawa River on either side, with the main shore at right and Victoria Island and Gatineau to the left. Familiar landmarks like the Alexandra Bridge, National Gallery, and Parliament Hill are in the background.

The river looks deceptively tranquil, but it was flowing fairly swiftly at this spot. A few days before I took these shots, there were two drownings upstream from here. And the last time I'd been down here, in the spring of 2019, the spot where I was standing this time was just at the high water mark.

I went back upslope to the monument. This side is inscribed with theatres of operation for the Canadian navy.

Richmond Landing also marks the start of the Rideau Trail, with a plaque here. The trail heads all the way to Kingston, following the route of the Rideau Canal and the Rideau River.

Three more views of the monument.

At the top of this area stands a work of art, a sculpture called The Gather-Ring, a First Nations work.

And here's a view from atop the Landing, with the channel of the river flowing out between it and the main shoreline.

Monument

Richmond Landing is upstream of Parliament Hill and the Supreme Court, down along the shore of the Ottawa River. It is here that a monument of recent years is placed. The Royal Canadian Navy Monument consists of two primary elements, an abstract design monolith seen here, and a long low wall of names of ships and bases, centered around a yardarm. The Supreme Court and a block of Parliament can be seen in the background.

Here's the other element, the low curving wall. Library And Archives Canada is at right above the Landing.

Over the century plus since the founding of the Canadian Navy, many ships and bases have been established. They are inscribed here.

I finish for today with this view from behind the other part of the monument, and the Ottawa River beyond it.

Changes

I have previously done this in a post seen here, and am returning today to do the same. Once a month I stop at a platform where the Alexandra Bridge starts and photograph south to take in the view as it changes seasonally. The view takes in the Chateau Laurier, Rideau Canal, Bytown Museum, and Parliament Hill where the Ottawa River passes below. This first view is in mid October of 2019.

It was quite different in early November on a day with stormy skies.

In the middle of December, ice was forming up on the river below, and snow had fallen on the landscape.

I took this shot on New Year's Day.

I returned in the latter half of February.

This shot from March was a couple of days past the first day of spring, but still looking like winter with snow falling. The ice on the river below, however, was starting to break up.

However, spring seemed to have started asserting itself by early April. The ice on the river was gone, and the waters were high.

Early May saw leafs starting to emerge on the trees.

Mid-June saw things looking fully leafed out and the river relatively calm.

By the middle of July, boat traffic on the river was becoming more common.

And finally, here it was on a hot, humid August day. I will be continuing with this concept for a post sometime next year.

Garden

Each season I like to show the Landscapes Of Canada Gardens, and last did so in spring. This was set up several years ago on the west side of the property at the Canadian Museum of Nature. A few days ago I went down one morning on an overcast day and approached from the southwest entrance. The Gardens incorporate plants, trees, shrubs, and flowers from four distinct ecosystems. The first area from here is Boreal Forest, with everything from small bushes to ever growing trees.

These are doing well in a hot summer.

Likewise doing well is the Prairie Grasslands area, a central part of the Gardens. A mix of grasses and flowers, these have been growing like mad in the summer heat.

Taken from the sidewalk, here we include the iceberg sculpture that crosses the path. Here we have amid rocks the Arctic Tundra, with plants from that area growing among them. The sedge grasses int the foreground have been growing well this year.

More images from the Prairie Grasslands.

The last area is the Mammoth Steppe, with plants that have continued to exist since the end of the mammoth era planted around three statues of mammoths. As is the case with other areas, small mounted labels identify specific plants.

And I finish with a view of the mammoths and the museum itself. The model of the Moon still hangs inside the glass tower.

Church

Initially I was going to leave this for a theme day in October, but as theme days won't be happening for City Daily Photo after September, I brought it forward to now. On the last day of March, I was up in the Hintonburg area and decided I'd photograph a church I'd often seen at a distance but never photographed before. You'll still see snow on the ground in some of these shots.

Protection Of The Holy Virgin Russian Orthodox Church stands out well in this area west of the downtown core. It stands in the Mechanicsville neighbourhood, just to the north of Hintonburg. The parish has origins dating back to the 1950s, with the current building dedicated in 1989. It was locked of course, this having had been early in Covid restriction days, so I didn't get to have a look inside. I went around and photographed the exterior.