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ShonTron

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After my flight to Ottawa I met my friend in Bytown for dinner.

Bytown has got to be one of Ontario's best neighbourhoods. While much of the downtown is dead (especially outside of the tourist season) Bytown is a wonderful collection of shops, restaurants and bars. Virtually every type of cuisine is represented.

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Heading back to the apartment, we stop at D'Arcy McGee's. I am slightly disappointed to learn it has been taken over by the Prime chain (Casey's, East Side), but sitting on the patio, across from the War Memorial, Chateau Laurier and Union Station was great.

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The next day, rented a car and made a round trip through the Ottawa Valley and the Gatineau Hills. The first stop: the Diefenbunker at Carp. It's worth seeing - its very large, four floors deep (they take you as low as the third floor down). Unfortunately, no photos beyond the entrance tunnel.

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Now here's a riddle for you. Is this town in Ontario or Quebec?

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This one might help:

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Except for the traffic light (if you are a stickler for such things), and the stop sign you'd swear that it was a typical Ontario town. Almost everyone was speaking English. There was even an Orangeman's picnic in town. It's Shawville, Pontiac County, Quebec. Pontiac County feels like Ontario. It even has lines and concessions, not the Seigneurial system you might vaguely recall from Grade 7.

Here's another one.

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It's Arnprior. It feels typically Ontario, but the Catholic Church feels like Quebec (though it is anglophone). A few other signs. It's a slow transition.

Crossing the border between Ontario and Quebec on a series of hydro dams across the Ottawa River.

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Portage-du-Fort, right on the border (guess which side):

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The Gatineau Hills - certainly worth visiting. The Gatineau Park is interestingly varied.

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The Mackenize King estate.

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He collected old ruins from Ottawa buildings and incorporated them into his gardens. Very similar to the Guild Inn.

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If you're tiring of small towns and pictureseque landscapes, here's some old-fashioned urban pics.

Westboro is a lovely streetcar suburb of Ottawa (the streetcars lasted until 1959, it ran mostly in a right of way into downtown Ottawa. It is now seeing some development.

Westboro Transitway station with Minto Metropole in the background. At 32 floors, it is the tallest building in Ottawa by floors, the second overall. It really stands out.

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Here is where the OER streetcar line used to run. THe Transitway station (the 'improvement' is well to the north, a long walk or a bus ride away.

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Westboro Station condo proposal.

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More in Part II - this time, less trees, more buildings.
 
Nice! Thanks.

The Byward Market is the social hub of downtown. When you are there it is easy to forget that Ottawa is surrounded by a sprawl of hundreds of thousands of people. I believe you provided pictures of this in an earlier photo thread.
 
Good tour, my brother lives in the Byward Market. He loves it there.

I went through some of the towns and villages on both sides of the River a few years ago. I found most them quite different from what I'm used to in S. Ontario. White steeples everywhere too.
 
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I would have guessed Quebec but for a different reason. It looks as though the artillery is pointing at the pole holding the Canadian flag.
 
Nice photos. I've never seen Westboro and the new development looks surprisingly substantial for Ottawa.

I'm surprised that a town as small as Shawville still has a downtown cinema!
 
The Diefenbunker. My favourite part was the vault for the gold. I asked the guide if it was always filled, or if there were plans to fill it really fast as the Soviet bombers made their way down from the arctic.

He just chuckled.
 

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