Canada, eh?

[Methid Man]

Some pictures I took while in Canada just a few days ago, either from Ottawa, Ontario or Gatineau, Quebec. Please pardon the crappy quality in some of these photos...


Some pics of Ottawa...














Brick...brick...brick...almost all houses are in brick in Ottawa...






My brother posing in front of one of the capital buildings (he's in a few other pics you see here.






The park alongside the Ottawa River right across the street from my hotel.












I took this pic simply because I was impressed by how Canadians (or at least those in Ottawa) take recycling so much more seriously.






The Best Western hotel I was staying in as viewed from across the river (the zoom feature in my camera sucks).


The Quebec side of the Ottawa River, Best Western hotel seen in the distance.






Stop sign in French, taken in Quebec (I honestly don't like the language much...)


Tall lake fountain taken in the distance.




Ooh look, a Canadian Tire store... (think of it as a mix of both Pep Boys and Target)


KFC sign in French, also in Quebec. Everybody needs a little PFK.


I'm also impressed by how Canadians consider bikes to be a viable source of transportation. I mean, just look at all these bike racks!


The squirrels around the Ottawa river are as black as Satan...


First time I've ever seen black squirrels in my life...


The yellow flowers seen here are of those from St. John's Wort plants.


Beyond those flowers and into the trees I found myself in a nicely-shaded part of the park.


View of the Ottawa River as seen from the Museum of Civilization patio.








IMAX film room taken from inside the museum (ooh, looka me...)


Rental bikes! Canada is such a wonderful country...






U.S.-Canada border gate.


My brother again just fooling around in the duty-free store...





And there you have it. Thoughts?

-- Sam the Methid Man

[Razgrizblaze1]

Haha, for a second there, I thought you were pulling another fast one! 

Those are some pretty cool pictures...all taken in Canada you say? It certainly has some nice scenery to it!

[felineki]

Nice photos, thanks for sharing. That fountain geyser is quite a sight!

[Mechadon]

OMG XD!!! That building behind the parking lot in the second photo is where I used to see my dentist.

And I love how people react to our black squirrels.

I never expected anyone to be surprised about recycling and bicycles; I always assumed Americans were the same as us on those initiatives.

OH!!! And do they still have LazerQuest in Ottawa!!? [I know, nobody here will understand what I'm talking about] (actually you'd have to go out to Orleans to find out)

[Crow]

That Duty-Free looks exactly like the one I always use when I traveled to Boston a lot. I guess they're all cookie-cutter built and designed.

You were very close to the US Embassy in Ottawa, I recognize the area well, as I had to make like 37646376 trips there for my citizenship.

Nice pics.

~Darc

[blind2d]

Wow, such a beautiful place! No, I don't think they do rental bikes anywhere besides Europe and Canada. Maybe certain places in Oregon or Washington State, but not sure...
Good skate spots too! Reminds me of Rick Howard's early stuff, like the yellow parking curbs. Awesome!

[Gabya]

OH!!! And do they still have LazerQuest in Ottawa!!? [I know, nobody here will understand what I'm talking about] (actually you'd have to go out to Orleans to find out)

Lazerquest... Is that like where you dress up in these kinds of suits with sensors on them and then you get a lazergun (more like a lazer-pointer) and shoot at each other?
Its pretty fun, but where I usually go its to easy to camp the search-and-destroy target

anyhoo, Its nice to see that rental bikes are spreading across the globe 

[Methid Man]

Nope, haven't seen any laserquest anything around here. As for black squirrels, I'm surprised how the color variation actually exists but not in the U.S. Weird.

I like how they didn't have a huge list of nonsense, 'cover-your-ass-from-potential-lawsuit' rules by the swimming pool in my hotel. I liked how Canada just felt a little more European than America yet not too different to make it feel too foreign. And of course, I'd like a piece of that universal health care system; I know it's not perfect, but it's certainly a lot better than what we have down in the States.

I also liked how recycling was much more common. Here in the states, nobody seems to really care much about recycling. The recycling bins that do exist here are either ignored or are treated as another garbage dumpster. In Canada on the other hand, every garbage container in every restaurant had a bottle recycling bin right next to it. Every home has a recycling bin. Hell, even my hotel room had a recycling bin. I'm a real sucker for recycling so it was a pleasant touch for me.

And I really loved how everything seemed to cater to bicyclists, I mean, you have real bike lanes, bike roads that are made only for bikes, bike rentals (with very good rates too) and plenty of bike racks to park your bike. Canadians seem to treat bikes as an actual ride instead of the pansy's way around. For someone like myself who prefers to ride a bike than a car, I can honestly say there's nothing going for us cyclists down here and it's looked down on as being too poor to afford a car. It's really embarrassing.

I'd seriously like to become a Canadian citizen. There's just so much I don't like about living in the U.S...

-- Sam the Methid Man

[TGLucario475]

Sam,your brother reminds me of that Adrian Monk guy from the TV show, MONK


Seems like you had a really good time and I have to say, I now know why Canada was voted the 2nd best country in the world!

[Mechadon]

2nd to America, of course.

And yes, Gaby, that's what Lazerquest is.

[TGLucario475]

American wasn't 1st, that's all I know...


We've got LazerQuest in the UK aswell, but I've never tried it

[blind2d]

Was Japan #1?

[Violet]

Japan has rental bikes and recycling bins.  And friendly gray squirrels.

[Methid Man]

Yeah, except the rents are high and everybody looks the same.

And this is coming from someone who lives in the New York City area...where the rents are high and everybody looks the same.

Sam,your brother reminds me of that Adrian Monk guy from the TV show, MONK

......No he doesn't. xP

-- Sam the Methid Man

[Helios]

The first thing that strikes me is how quiet the streets look - there isn't much traffic at all. Nicely designed as well, with plenty of trees around. Nice to see an emphasis on green behaviour as well.

I had no idea that there were black squirrels. I thought they came only in grey and red.

I'd love to visit Canada when I eventually get around to travelling.

[Mechadon]

Japan has rental bikes and recycling bins.  And friendly gay squirrels.

Fixed that for yah.   

[Methid Man]

The first thing that strikes me is how quiet the streets look - there isn't much traffic at all. Nicely designed as well, with plenty of trees around. Nice to see an emphasis on green behaviour as well.

Yeah, cleaner, greener, less populated and less bull. That's what I'd like to sum up Canada. At least for Ottawa anyway--I mean, I don't like to base all of Canada entirely on Ottawa and Gatineau; that'd be like a Canadian traveling to Chicago (one of the cleaner cites) and assuming the rest of America's cities are clean when they haven't seen cities like New York and L.A. (among the filthier cities).

I had no idea that there were black squirrels. I thought they came only in grey and red.

...There are red ones too?! o_o

-- Sam the Methid Man

[sjonnoh]

here in Europe the grey and red ones are the most popular, but actually there are a lot of different squirrels....
I actually still don't know how those laser games look like, never seen 1 only in cartoons. I don't even know if there is 1 here somewhere

[Gabya]

Red squirrels have regular battles in the pines around my house.
thy look like professional fencers

[sjonnoh]

to come back on that red squirrel, last weekend I went to Germany and had the change to photograph one.
also I actually found an American car XD