Ottawa; coldest capital city on earth (according only to Canadians... (but it is still pretty cold...))

Soooo, Ottawa.

Last time I left you, i'd just got into Ottawa, dazed and confused, after 5 days of cross country travel. After a good night's sleep, I was once again prepared to meet the world of Ottawa head-on. So I went for a walk. Boo-yeah!

After a long lie-in, Neil showed me around the neighbourhood, which is really quite nice. The place that I'm staying is called Westboro Village, and clearly, at some point, was a village. It has its own trendy high street, complete with hipster bars and nice breakfast places, but  is also conveniently located for the transit way, getting you into the centre of Ottawa in about 10 minutes. I don't actually have many pictures of the area, so you'll have to take my word for it, but it is probably in the running for nicest neighbourhood in Ottawa.

As for my house, well my place that I live in at any rate, you can scroll down to see it in the Halloween pictures, and just imagine that it looks more normal the rest of the year round. It's a lot bigger than it looks. And it is something of an unusual arrangement, in that me and Neil are living together, but while he's still a student he's living with his mum and her partner, so it's actually her house, but it seems to work out alright for all involved.

Anyways, my couple of weeks were mainly preoccupied with getting a job. Any job really, I hate that feeling of pouring my hard earned savings into an abyss... After a couple of weeks of walking every busy street in Ottawa and visiting every shopping centre I could find, I had becoming considerably more knowledgeable about Ottawa and considerably more disheartened with the whole working thing. I was starting to wish I'd just accepted a Starbucks job that I'd got offered in the first few days, but it was waaaaays away across town and totally wouldn't have been worth it for the minimum wage they offer. Still, it's pretty boring not working, much as the grass is always greener if you are at work! About a week later, starting to wonder where else to apply, I got a call from Tommy and Lefebvre, a big ski shop that i'd wondered into a couple of weeks before hand where I'd chatted with the manager for a bit and handed in my resume and application. I was more than a little surprised when they said they wanted to hire me, since they didn't even invite me for an interview. In retrospect however, I'm not sure what more they might have usefully asked me in an interview that we didn't casually chat about that day that I went in on a whim. I guess this is just a great lesson in life as to how first impressions really do count!

The job wasn't going to start for another couple of weeks, but by then i'd decided I could more or less relax, so I joined a gym, and started exploring bits of Ottawa that didn't have potenial-for-job-businesses in them.

I went for a cycle to Gatineau, the connected French town across the river, and discovered an awesome beach/sculpture parky thing. It's pretty impressive, and apparently it just keeps getting bigger. 

Every single stone you can see here is free balanced with no aid, and the artist started putting these up in 1986 and has continued to sdd to them every summer since.

And I saw the lovely view from the french side up to the ottawa Parliament buildings, which was very pretty. 

What's really cool is that we went back across there a few weeks ago and now the entire river is frozen over – which I would pretty much have refused to believe unless i'd seen it. I'm not sure I'd want to walk on it, but, it supports the snow, so there much be something there...NEW!!!! Picture to compare !!!

Later on in the month me and Neil got bikes out and when for an autumn-leafy bike ride into Gatineau park itself. 

The park is absolutely enormous and is a pretty tremendous resouce for ottawans, since it has hiking, cycling, mountain biking, skiing, cross-country skiing and snow shoeing. 

And other things besides I imagine – canoeing maybe, there are a lot of paddling shops around here... And it's only 10-15 minutes drive from the city too. 

Or a 20 minute cycle from where I live. The rest of October went on, primarily, with me playing too much Civilization 4 - which I had resolutely not downloaded until I already had a job, spending looooads of time at the gym, and getting steadily frustrated that my work hadn't started yet.

As the end of October approaches, distractions come in the way they they only can in North American – Halloween. I live in the right house for Halloween. Literally an entire storage cupboard, and a little bit more besides, is set aside for Halloween decorations.

And in a guest starring role... Echo the cat! Our 5th housemate...

And so we set about decorating:

Sooo, just a small graveyard in the front garden...

And then it was time to get creative, with not one...

or two...

but, three...

...pumpkins (carved, but of course, with special pumpkin carving equipment – just any old knife won't do...)

Annnnd so, then work started up with aplomb, and my birthday came and went and Neil took me out for a very fantabulous dinner. Other than that, I spent my time reading and hearing all about the new skis and ski boots this season, very definitely getting expensive ideas of my own

And then, lo and behold, it was Christmas all of a sudden. Neil's family in Penticton were pretty keen for us to come out for Christmas, but having only got the job a couple of months earlier, and Christmas being the busiest two weeks of the year, this wasn't going to happen. Instead, we opted for a quiet, but well formed, Christmas at home. I think, and I hope Neil feels the same, that we managed to have a perfectly well-balanced week between two different sets of traditions. 

So having got ourselves an enooormous $20 tree and decorated it beautifully...

...Neil and his mum spent Xmas eve making perogies, as you do, so that we could feast on them that evening, and then again fried for breakfast. Very tasty, though not the best light food to combine with a full roast dinner.... but we did it anyways.

Full roast dinner with yorkie puds and sprouts – christmas on a plate :) mmm. We even had chestnuts and an open fire (but didn't quite get around to roasting one on the other).

We defintiely had to fill the time in between starchy fatty foods with some sort of activity, so we went for a walk down to the rapidly freezing river in the snow, and then came back and knocked icicles off the roof to sword fight with. Obviously. 

Step 1: Source your icicles... Icicles are ripe when they are loooong and spikey

Step 2: Find your icicle hunting implement, preferably doubling your own height, and duck when a successful strike is made..

...but don't duck too much, you've got to catch it...

...that way you can eat it...

Step 3: defeat your worthy opponent, complete with light saber noises...

 At some point we also opened our presents. We'd come to the arrangement that instead of big presents, we would make each other a stocking and fill it with goodies. And so we did.

And the stocking I got was quite fantastic. Purple and fluffy with penguins. 

What more can a girl ask for, really?

And so another couple of weeks pass, and Neil headed out to Penticton for New Year and a week later I joined him for our Christmas holiday. His parents very kindly let us use their apartment up Apex Mountain, about 30 minutes away and so ensued a week of the most fantastic powder skiing that I have had in a long time! 

Sooooo much fun – especially since we got to try a whole range of fantastic powder skis for the occasion. 

It was a bit chilly at times...

We also did second Christmas dinner down at the house and exchanged presents yet again. And all in all had an amaaaazing week.

Since New Year activities have very much had to be ice and snow related, there being nothing else in the province of Ontario at this time of year.

This was our front garden at Christmas:

So we've skiied locally (which is to say, we've spent a lot of time sat on chair lifts and occasionally slid down a slope – I suppose it's not a fair comparison when last year I was in the alps... but still). On the up side, as a perk of my job, not only is local skiing basically free, but I've also been able to educate myself on a huge range of skis existent this year and also coming out next year. For the Volkl demo, we bared -32*c plus wind chill. Suffice to say we didn't last very long. However, they do have some amaaaazing skis. Especially next years new ones. But maybe I'm biased, since I bought myself some awesome Volkl Kenja skis a little earlier in the year before trying them... But i'm pleased to report that they handle fantastically well in pretty much all conditions. Other skis I tried and by and large liked, were Nordica, Salomon, Blizzard, Dynastar and Rossignal – so if any of you are buying skis any time soon – let me know and I'll push you in the right direction!!!

Besides skiing, what else have I been doing?? Cross-country skiing!

Yeah! Of course when you're not skiing you should be cross country skiing! So I only tried this once this year, but would totally love to do more! It was really fun, and ridiculously hard work, but without really seeming like it at the time – the best kind of exercise. I was feeling that for about a week afterwards. Beyond that, it was a nice way of getting outside in the cold weather – like a much more enjoyable way of going for a hike in the snow. That said, despite my downhill skiing experience, I have to say, going down hill on them is more than slightly terrifying. This was perhaps in part that we had hired skis with no edge (or otherwise) grip, but there doesn't seem to be any way of stopping, so you just have to hope for the best really until it goes flat again... 

Having survived another terrifying cliff (gentle slope?) of a downhill...

 Maybe I wasn't doing it right...

And what else? Skating! So, by January, the whole of the Rideau Canal, in Central Ottawa, is frozen, and lots of food stands and entertainments set up home there for a couple of months attracting skaters of all ages and abilities. We went out on the canal quite a few times this year, sometimes on the weekend with friends and sometimes just after work as a bit of exercise. 

All stood in the middle of a lake right there, believe it or not... In fact, in the middle of the largest continuous skating area in the world!

 And also once or twice down to our local park, where, as in local parks all over the city, there is a flooded pitch made into a rink, smooth as anything. 

In the local park, kids playing hockey in the background - don't think it gets more Canadian than this...

Fantastic. Unfortunately, in the last couple of weeks it's warmed up you would now be swimming not skating, and while the first signs of spring are starting to appear, this perhaps isn't appealing quite just yet...

Sooo, I think apart from icicle duelling, this is most of the ice and snow-related activities covered. More recently we also fitted in weekend trips to the Museum of Civilization (finally! I can't believe I didn't go all winter - partly cos it's a great museum, and partly cos i feel it's my duty as an anthropology-er), and then, more recently, to the National Gallery, which is a pretty fantastic building, but, more notably, currently has a room filled 10 ft deep with black balloons that you can wander around in, getting lost, and bringing all the balloons out with you, much to the security guards' chargrin.That's my kind of art. It left you with a curious buzz for the rest of the day, and was definitely best done last, as you were now utterly unsettled and rendered completely unable to actually appreciate 'serious' art...

By mid-March everything's warming up a bit – it's only -5 or 0*c, not -15 or 20... and it's noticble, particularly at work, that basically winter is pretty much over in peoples heads – time to start spring activities. And thus it was that I finished work just as the bikes and tennis racquets were coming out of hibernation, to head back home for a couple of weeks, only to find a foot of fresh snow on the ground as I left Montreal airport for home.

Only to add insult to injury, it was also snowing when I got to Cambridge?! It's practically April?!?!? Weird weather... 

Chilly graduates in the snow!?

Real cheese... mmm...

I reckon that just about wraps up my winter blogging, all in one fail swoop. All that remains to been seen now is what I do next year. Now in principle I have this all planned out, namely, more of the same. Just right now, however, I am still on tenterhooks waiting to hear about my visa, which in principle i'm entitled to, and which I have conditional acceptance for.... buut in reality, it's taking a rather a long time to get confirmed, and other people in a similar position to me have been refused, basically because immigration don't seem to be familiar with their own rules. So we'll just have to wait and see. Not quite sure what I'll do if I don't get back into Canada, but I'm sure I'll figure out something. Otherwise, come May I shall be back in the wilds of Prince George, happily repopulating the trees of the earth and avoiding the locals. Watch this space!