Ottawa is really cold
k that a few years of living in the big city has softened me to winter. It's only, what, minus 10 here? And it's frigging killing me. It's so easy to forget what Canada is like in the winter. Yikes.
So, the trip is going well enough. The train ride (first class ticket) was snazzy. VIA has a 'premium' departure lounge at Union Station, so that ticket-holders don't have to wait with the riff-raff. Lunch was Black Sea Bass with white wine and an appetizer of vegetable bruschetta and goat's cheese. Beats riding the bus by a decent margin.
Ottawa itself seems very... governmental. I mean I haven't been outside the downtown core (but I assume the sprawl is mostly like suburbs anywhere)... but it's sort of creepy how empty this place gets after dark. Certainly the monuments and fancy hotels/bars and old government buildings are impressive, and the parks and transit are well-maintained. But the effect is lost when all the office-workers head home (in the Revenue Canada office I'm in right now, most people finish for the day before 4 PM) and everything shuts down - restaurants, bars, stores - it's like the grandeur is a put-on for visitors. Even the Rideau Centre mall is curiously sparse, when one would expect it to be full of shoppers. I guess the city's reputation as being boring isn't entirely without merit.
On the upside, the backbone of the transit system is a bus-only road that winds through town. TTC buses fairly trundle compared to OCTranspo buses on the express route, which feel like Mr. Toad's Wild Ride by comparison.
I do wish that I was actually enjoying it WITH someone, though. I've largely just spent my evenings wandering and exploring, window-shopping and freezing by myself. :-/
P.S. If this isn't a sign that I *really* don't follow hockey (and am, thus, a bad Canadian): Since when is there a team called the "Blue Jackets"? (I just Googled them to make sure it wasn't an OHL team or some shit. Columbus? Seriously?)
So, the trip is going well enough. The train ride (first class ticket) was snazzy. VIA has a 'premium' departure lounge at Union Station, so that ticket-holders don't have to wait with the riff-raff. Lunch was Black Sea Bass with white wine and an appetizer of vegetable bruschetta and goat's cheese. Beats riding the bus by a decent margin.
Ottawa itself seems very... governmental. I mean I haven't been outside the downtown core (but I assume the sprawl is mostly like suburbs anywhere)... but it's sort of creepy how empty this place gets after dark. Certainly the monuments and fancy hotels/bars and old government buildings are impressive, and the parks and transit are well-maintained. But the effect is lost when all the office-workers head home (in the Revenue Canada office I'm in right now, most people finish for the day before 4 PM) and everything shuts down - restaurants, bars, stores - it's like the grandeur is a put-on for visitors. Even the Rideau Centre mall is curiously sparse, when one would expect it to be full of shoppers. I guess the city's reputation as being boring isn't entirely without merit.
On the upside, the backbone of the transit system is a bus-only road that winds through town. TTC buses fairly trundle compared to OCTranspo buses on the express route, which feel like Mr. Toad's Wild Ride by comparison.
I do wish that I was actually enjoying it WITH someone, though. I've largely just spent my evenings wandering and exploring, window-shopping and freezing by myself. :-/
P.S. If this isn't a sign that I *really* don't follow hockey (and am, thus, a bad Canadian): Since when is there a team called the "Blue Jackets"? (I just Googled them to make sure it wasn't an OHL team or some shit. Columbus? Seriously?)