Ottawa - a walk downtown

We went for a walk downtown to the Rideau Centre on our first full day, a very cool Sunday. We had some shopping to do and wanted to have a good look at the place. It's all very impressive I must say and makes Canberra look rather pale and small by comparison. No wonder Canada was Elizabeth II's favourite Commonwealth country.

Another Queen, Victoria, selected Ottawa as the capital of the Province of Canada in 1858. Soon after, work began on Parliament Hill via a design competition. Gothic Revival style was chosen for the parliamentary buildings because it was thought to reflect the development of the Westminster style of government as opposed to the neoclassical style chosen by the USA in Washington (and elsewhere!) to reflect its Republic. These Canadian buildings speak to a European sensibility that is more than British I think, encompassing the French as well as the English colonial and postcolonial reality of the country. With their copper turrets and lofty spires, the buildings are quite fairytale in effect.

The city itself is very walkable, laid out on a grid both sides of the Ottawa River and Rideau Canal. Sydneysiders readily recognise some people in the familiar street names: Sussex, Kent, George, York, Cumberland, William … there’s even a suburb called The Glebe. Our house is in Centre Town. This suburb consists mainly two storey free standing dwellings from 1890s onwards. It reminds us of inner west Sydney and is being gentrified in the same way. Real estate is only marginally cheaper than in Newcastle.Read more