Day 30

It's already the end of January, and having moved to the Ottawa area on January 1st I've now been here for 30 days. To catch up to speed I'll share a couple of my favourite parts about living in Ottawa so far and what's coming up.

The simplest thing that I enjoy about my days here are my walks to work. I live in Lowertown Ottawa, right next to the Market and very close to Gatineau, Quebec, where I work at Environment Canada. I was a bit worried about the cold weather that I would experience with the move to Ottawa, but I've managed to walk to work every day but one. On that particular day, the weather network had said there would be 'ice pellets' all morning so I opted for the bus. Other than that, as long as I bundle up with a hat and hood and scarf around my face I was happy to find that once I start walking I'm not cold at all. In fact, many people in Ottawa bike and walk to work in the icy, -20 degree weather. However, if my hair gets in my face on the walk and I happen to breathe on it, it does freeze...this is the beginning of a hair icicle.

I walk over a bridge across the Ottawa River, and I'm always looking over my shoulder as I cross to take a look at the sun rising above the parliament buildings and shining on the river. This is a view from the bridge with Parliament in the background

and these are some sunny views of Ottawa from the Gatineau side

The highlight so far has definitely been the two trips I've taken to go snowboarding in Tremblant and I can't wait to go back. I'll post some pictures of those trips later. Coming up this weekend is the beginning of Winterlude, a winter festival that takes place over three weekends in February. 

And skating on the Rideau Canal needs to happen soon.