A black and white day by the river

We walked home from town along Sussex Drive this afternoon, during the latest snowfall. Across the river, artificial snow makers are adding to the amount for the sake of the Winterlude playground (aka Snowflake Kingdom, the biggest snow playground in North America!) being constructed over there, in Jacques-Cartier park. The machines are in operation night and day.

Below is a picture of the Ottawa side of the river, showing Nepean Point and the Alexandra Bridge over the frozen, snow-covered river. The bridge is currently closed to traffic because it's being given a new coat of paint, to prevent steel corrosion. On an average day, when it's open, this interprovincial bridge is crossed by 22,000 vehicles.

The pictures on this page, by the way, are colour photos, not black and white ones.

By the Ottawa River, on foot

Yesterday afternoon we walked from our house across the MacDonald Cartier Bridge, along the Ottawa River bank (on the Sentier des Voyageurs skirting downtown Gatineau) and then, across the Portage Bridge, over Parliament Hill, through downtown Ottawa and home again, a loop of 7 or 8 km.

A very pleasant walk on a cloud free weekend, and as an extra bonus, we found that "Malak's Bed" was in bloom near the Musée des Civilisations.

This garden honours the photographer Malak Karsh, “ambassador” of Canada’s Capital Region. The famous tulip photo Karsh took here appeared on Canada’s one-dollar bills, as well as on Canadian postage stamps.

 Here are some of the photos we took:

The boardwalk from the Jacques Cartier Bridge
 to the Jacques Cartier Park in Gatineau

Bank of the Ottawa River, seen from the boardwalk

The Maison Charron in the Jacques Cartier Park

Some of the snow artificially manufactured for Winterlude has still not melted

The marina by the Jacques Cartier Park, not yet in use.
View of Nepean Point on the Ottawa side.

View of the National Gallery from "Malak's Bed"

... and a view of Parliament Hill from the same spot

Making snow

In the Jacques-Cartier Park on the north bank of the Ottawa River there isn't enough snow, so they're making some.

Winterlude 2008

A dozen of us went across to Gatineau to visit a friend who lives on the seventh floor of an appartment block overlooking this park––she also has a marvellous view of Parliament Hill and the other famous sights of the city––and so got a bird's eye view of the snow-making equipment in action, sending out steamy clouds of the white stuff.

As happens every year, snow hills are being created for Winterlude's "Snowflake Kingdom," in February, when visitors to the park will be able to have fun sliding down them at high speed.