It’s now May 2024 one year after I wrote this post thought it would be fun to compare to last year. A lot of things I did in the last week were similar to last year. I wasn’t feeling great on the weekend so there was more staying home. Today the holiday Monday was busy I babysat my brothers kids, then took the LRT to the mall and byward market it is one of the few things open on a holiday here. I’m ending the night sitting on my building’s rooftop and I can see fireworks from different directions but not high enough for me to get a good picture of. The sky is beautiful though. The rest of the post I will write below each section from last year.
This is my first spring in Ottawa and it’s so beautiful especially after the long winter. It’s only Saturday afternoon but I have already done so much this weekend I had to blog about it.
t actually started on my lunch break on Friday. I like to say my office is in the middle of nowhere and it really is. It is a twenty minute walk to Tim Hortons that is the only thing around. I have been in this office since January and most of the area was covered in snow for months. Now that the snow is gone I noticed a trail path near the office. I was surprised it was all paved with no one around. I was scared to go in it at first thinking it was just trees, bugs, and maybe homeless people. There was nothing no one no animals just a beautiful path that leads to the beautiful parking lot of my office. The beauty was hidden under lots of snow in the winter. I am amazed at how vibrant everything is after being covered in all that snow for months.
At the end there was someone eating their lunch probably another person that works in the area. I am only at this office until the end of June but I am so happy to find somewhere other than the parking lot to walk in.
2024; I don’t work in the same office anymore now I have a Canadian Tire across the street. I still think the green in Ottawa is very vibrant the weather was different this year not a lot of snow. It was 30 degrees today and I feel like I was still wearing gloves just a few days ago.
I am writing this post on Saturday evening. I stopped at Starbucks before the walk home and I found this seating area in the back. I don’t think this belongs to Starbucks it’s likely for the offices on weekdays but I am finding it very peaceful with the background fountain.
The tulip festival is currently on in Ottawa. I used to go to Tulalip with my mom for the tulip festival. I have always wanted to go to the tulip festival in Ottawa. It is the first mother's day weekend since my mom passed away I thought it would be a nice tribute to go to the festival. I knew the weekend was going to be busy and I had an idea that it is around a 40 minute walk from my house. I tend to get lost easily and forty minutes ends up being much longer. I went straight after work on friday well after getting lost on the commute. It was my first time going to Dow's Lake this is the water I have been looking for. This is the feeling I was missing from where I used to live close to Vancouver. It reminds me so much of the Lake that I used to live across from in Coquitlam only it is bigger here. I will be visiting regularly.
I walked around the lake then went across the street to the park with tulips. I looked at some of the tulips it was really spread out a lot of walking but it wasn't that crowded so there was some seating available. I looked at the food trucks and had some vegan poutine. There were a lot of vegan options if you are interested I will post the pictures of menu's on my second instagram @Vegancanadianfinds.
I still had my work computer with me and it was hot so I took the bus home. Going on a Friday evening was a good decision because I ended up there today and it was so crowded I barely took a picture and left there lots of tour buses. The roads are partially closed and buses are hard to get on a normal day. Luckily my long walk home is beautiful and peaceful.
2024 update: I wemt to the tulip festival twice this year the best was the day before it opened officially everything was open no crowds. I even had the same poutine. I have found another water place that I like to go to but I did spend some time at Dows lake as well. In addition to Instagram I also have a YouTube channel now tulip video here 2024 Ottawa Tulip festival.
This morning I had an appointment to get my nail polish removed. I go to an ethical nail salon in my neighbourhood that uses vegan nail polish. Now that I go there the other places feel toxic and another person in the salon said the same thing. They are also now giving hot stone massages with the manicure it’s a nice touch.
2024 update. I got a manicure again at Ethica.
After the nail appointment I went to the bakery and got this nice sourdough bread. Then I went home and ate it with some with some soup.
2024: I got a sourdough baguette this time. Now capital cold press has opened next door to the bakery. They recently stopped using honey and are fully vegan now so got a mango ginger smoothie. I also stopped at a couple other neighborhood businesses got a vegan focaccia at bread by us and a vegan mango coconut donut at Suzy Q
Shortly after going to the bakery I walked to the ice cream shop where I met my brother, his girlfriend, my 1.5 year old niece and 4 year old nephew. There was a big crowd at the ice cream shop so I didn’t take a picture. This was my birthday celebration as everyone was sick on my actual birthday. My nephew chose a vegan ice cream flavour chocolate Oreo. He doesn’t know the difference but it was nice to see him enjoying it and I had a vegan mint chip.
After the ice cream shop I went to the Preston street market. It is a 15 minute walk in little Italy. The market was in conjunction with the tulip festival but it was a little closer to my house. There wasn’t too much at the market so I decided to walk through little Italy a bit. I was hoping to get some food. There were lots of restaurants but nothing I walked past was cafe style and I need to research menus for vegan options. There used to be a vegetarian restaurant in the area but it recently quietly closed. I have been in the area a couple times but usually just to go to the vegan Sunday cafe popup and haven’t really explored. I ended up walking far enough to end up at the tulip festival thinking I could visit the food trucks but it was too crowded
2024 update: I stopped at the Merry Dairy on one of my trips to the tulip festival ate it on the way it was a weeknight so the line wasn’t too bad but there was one. I didn’t go to Preston street on the weekend this year I’m not sure if there was a market. I did go to Parkdale farmers market I bought a cucumber and some greens.
Since I was there I decided to walk near the lake for a bit. Look at all those people in the picture. This was the less crowded side I couldn't take a picture of the bigger crowd. I did find there was more to the lake than I had seen yesterday and I was able to find some non crowded areas. I will be back to explore probably another weekday while the tulip festival is still on an and likely more during the summer. I am really loving Ottawa in this season.
2024 update. I went to the lake it was less crowded but I also didn’t go on the weekend this year. I am still loving Ottawa. This year I have a social life and time seems to go by faster than it did last year. I may not blog as much but I do post a lot on Instagram and YouTube.
Thank you for reading for more videos and pictures follow me on Instagram and YouTube @livingottawalocal
I enjoyed reading your blog post and agree Ottawa is beautiful at this time of year. I still miss Vancouver a lot especially the cherry blossom and ocean, at the same time, I'm also very happy to be in Ottawa.
ReplyDeleteThank you for reading. When the trees were Covered in frost here I almost thought they had cherry blossoms on them
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