Ottawa/Gatineau (Part I)

[JasonParis]

simply Dan, archivist and myself travelled to the capital about six weeks ago for a biking weekend. Pics are from both myself and archivist. Here's the first part of our journey...

The mighty 401.

Entering the city from the Ottawa River Parkway...

A few photos from Bank St...

Followed by a walk through some of Ottawa's inner city nabes...

Ottawa City Hall...

Art inside City Hall...

An old Drill Hall next to City Hall...

Department of National Defence headquarters.

On the grounds of City Hall...

I think achivist said that this was an old school of some sort.

Ontario Court House...

Various shots of downtown buildings...

The Ottawa River from Rideau Falls Park.

Rideau Falls Park (cont.)...

Old City Hall (now federal offices) from Rideau Falls Park.

Rideau Falls Park (cont.)...

Moshe Safdie's modification/addition to (old) City Hall...

(Old) City Hall (cont.)...

Overlooking the Ottawa River and Gatineau from Rockcliffe...

Part II is here.

 

[Hydrogen]

The "old school" was once a school for teachers. It now houses the mayor's office, among other things.

Great photos, btw; thanks.

 

[Ronald]

Nice shots, looking foreward to part II!

 

[SP!RE]

So how was the cycling?

 

[Skeezix]

The "old school" was once a school for teachers. It now houses the mayor's office, among other things.

Great photos, btw; thanks.

Yes, it's the heritage wing of Ottawa City Hall. The old gymnasium is now a committee room.

Love that PSAC building.

 

[JasonParis]

So how was the cycling?

It's really quite an awesome region to cycle around. Good, well-marked bike paths and lots of interesting topography.

We did an 8-hour bike ride all-over Ottawa/Gatineau on the Saturday. Those pics are coming up!

 

[Zephyr]

I've seen this town probably too much over the years. It is quiet, clean and a bit dull for my taste. But thank you three musketeers for the pics, and hope you enjoyed the cycling tour.

 

[JasonParis]

Just bumping this up as I just realized I forgot to add Part II back in August. It'll be coming soon!

 

[Hydrogen]

Ottawa's loaded up with snow now. It'll be nice to see it in the summer sun again by way of your pictures.

 

[Zephyr]

Just bumping this up as I just realized I forgot to add Part II back in August. It'll be coming soon!

Shame on you. We were all waiting, and waiting, and ...

 

[Long Island Mike]

Good Ottawa/Gatineau pics!

DK416: Good Ottawa/Gatineau pics! I remember going there on my September 1985 trip and I found Canada's Capital to be quite interesting! I wonder if the Nick Gaol Youth Hostel is still there-the one in the old Jail BTW.
I remember best that all the hot party spots were over in Hull,Quebec due to the lower drinking age and later bar hours. Is it still that way today? LI MIKE

 

[Hydrogen]

Long Island Mike, Hull (now Gatineau) has toned down quite a bit in terms of night time activities. The bars now close at the same time both sides of the river. Downtown Gatineau has been spruced up quite a bit, though it's still a town that only its mother could love.

 

[Zephyr]

Interesting Hydrogen, especially that part about Gatineau being "... still a town only its mother could love." That reminds me of the mother imagery that broadly surrounds Ottawa as well. Wasn't the Queen-Mother herself - in this case Queen Victoria - somehow involved in the designation of Ottawa as the capital of the colony? Meaning that it would sit there on the border where the current day provincial lines lie.

As for current day Gatineau, wasn't its increase in size, making it I think the fourth largest city in Québec, just behing Laval, due to the 'amalgamation' carried out by Parti Québécois?.

So where am I going with this?

Perhaps the latter-day metaphorical equivalent of the mother analogy for Gatineau, by virtue of the amalgamation, could be argued to be embodied in the form of Parti Québécois. Now think about that motherly-love idea, again, ... obviously I did.

 

[MisterF]

Another reason for choosing Ottawa was its distance from the US border - the Americans invading was still a real possibility back then. Plus the Ottawa River/Rideau canal was a good bypass to the St. Lawrence, away from the border. Toronto, Kingston, Montreal, and whatever other cities wanted to be the capital were more vulnerable.

DK416: Good Ottawa/Gatineau pics! I remember going there on my September 1985 trip and I found Canada's Capital to be quite interesting! I wonder if the Nick Gaol Youth Hostel is still there-the one in the old Jail BTW.
I remember best that all the hot party spots were over in Hull,Quebec due to the lower drinking age and later bar hours. Is it still that way today? LI MIKE

I'm pretty sure the old jail hostel is still there. As for party spots, the Byward Market is where the nightlife is now. And Elgin St to a lesser extent.

 

[Hydrogen]

Interesting Hydrogen, especially that part about Gatineau being "... still a town only its mother could love." That reminds me of the mother imagery that broadly surrounds Ottawa as well. Wasn't the Queen-Mother herself - in this case Queen Victoria - somehow involved in the designation of Ottawa as the capital of the colony? Meaning that it would sit there on the border where the current day provincial lines lie.

As for current day Gatineau, wasn't its increase in size, making it I think the fourth largest city in Québec, just behing Laval, due to the 'amalgamation' carried out by Parti Québécois?.

So where am I going with this?

Perhaps the latter-day metaphorical equivalent of the mother analogy for Gatineau, by virtue of the amalgamation, could be argued to be embodied in the form of Parti Québécois. Now think about that motherly-love idea, again, ... obviously I did.

Ottawa (then Bytown) was definitely the compromise, Zephyr. Yes, Victoria did make the final choice, but there was also considerable local lobbying to make Ottawa the capital (I guess it always was a political town). As MisterF mentioned, there were also clear strategic values for choosing Ottawa - including the Rideau Canal to Kingston and the Ottawa river to Montreal.

As for Gatineau (or the part of it that was once called Hull), it was redeveloped in the 70's, wherein whatever character there was in the downtown fell to make way for the lovely federal brutalist complexes that are there now. I never saw what was there before, but needless to say there are still paper mills along the river. Apparently they are to disappear eventually. Today, Gatineau is a broad mixture of dowdy and sprawl, with a nice small beach along the Ottawa River and the very nice Gatineau Park. I guess I'm not doing the place any justice.

Hull always had a poor little brother relationship with Ottawa. Nevertheless, a considerable number of federal government offices are now located there. And it should go without saying that politics plays a big role in this (at every level).

Gatineau is an amalgamation of the former municipalities of Gatineau, Hull Aylmer, Buckingham and Masson-Angers.