I thought this would be a good time to continue my photo tour of Ottawa. Today I changed my route to venture downtown. It was pretty tiring for old me, let me tell you that, but 95 minutes later I got home in one piece. And before the rain hits! It's warm today, with a high of 12 Celcius! But, tonight it will go down to -12. What a temperature swing! Well, I will deal with that tomorrow.
So let's continue our ghost town tour, shall we?
Reaching city hall and the downtown area. Notice the lack of traffic? The brutalist building is actually not City Hall but a federal courthouse. I just realize I didn't take a picture of City Hall. The highrises behind are office towers. And there's an Anglican church (I think it's Anglican anyway).
If you can believe it, this is a weekday in the middle of the financial district. Most things are closed, though some offices are still operating (I think). But basically...
This is the middle of the day in a city of 1 million. Kind of made me think of the movie The Omega Man from the 60s...
You can see Parliament at the end of the street. Some office buildings in the foreground. More on that later.
More of the same. Buses are still running on a reduced schedule, and they actually stopped collecting fares. So basically free transit, though I'd rather not go on public transit at this point.
This is Ottawa's Sparks Street pedestrian walking strip, where no cars are allowed. Not a soul. I did see a Tim Horton's open (of course). Some guy walking by just waved at me and said hello. That's so nice. We're all in this shit together anyway. Social distance or not, we can still be civil towards each other.
Ah, Parliament Hill, shrouded in this mist. Did anyone read the Stephen King novella The Mist? Or saw the movie? Yup, that's what it feels like.
That's the National War Memorial in the foreground, and the National Arts Performing Centre with that blue light thing in the back. No performances now. I always get the chills when I pass by the Memorial though. And we think this virus thing is hard?
Reaching the hotel where my gym is. Unfortunately the gym is closed now, till who knows when. Wish I could still go, but I understand.
Heading home now, going east. This is Rideau Street, normally a main drag with a big downtown mall (it's closed now except for the drug store and a grocery store). There are still some people about, mostly waiting for their buses. I didn't feel like going inside the mall. Probably better for social distance if I stayed outside.
Well, that's it, folks. A quick tour of downtown Ottawa when a city of 1 million becomes like a small town. Hope you enjoyed the tour. And maybe, when things get better, you'd want to come visit Canada's capital.
Till next time! Stay safe!
I recall seeing a poster on "The Mist" at a conference some years ago.
ReplyDeleteOh really? I wonder where that was, and what star presenter was giving the talk!
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