Tiny the travelling troll

Taken from Nepean Point, a cliff over the Ottawa River, located behind the National Art Gallery.

Gatineau Park (or Parc de la Gatineau in French) is a large national park located in Gatineau, where I live. It spans kilometers upon kilometers of land right in the city and contains several lakes, beaches, mountains, bike paths, walkways. People go there to hike, cycle, swim and bathe in summer, and to hike, snowshoe and ski in the winter. It's a wonderful place!

Leamy Lake Park (or Parc du lac Leamy in French) is a large city park located in the middle of the Hull sector of Gatineau, not far from where I live. There is a large lake with a small beach, surrounded by a forest and several kilometers of pathways. It is home to the Leamy Lake Casino and a Hilton hotel, but also to a lot of wild animals (deers can be found in those woods, and even sometimes on the parking lot) and it's always beautiful! I love to go swim there in the summer, after work, with friends. There are always wild ducks and Canadian geese on the water and when it gets darker and the city lights are turned on, the view is amazing! The big birds shown on these pictures are Canada Geese.

In Montebello, Québec, about 30 minutes from Ottawa, there is a special place called Omega Park, where one can admire many Canadian wild animals in their natural environment  (more photos to come!). Grey wolves Black bears – that is the mother of a couple of bear cubs who were climbing this tree, as seen in the photo below. This is a raccoon. Raccoons are highly intelligent and can be seen everywhere, even in the city streets. I often see some on my street or on my front lawn at night time, while coming home from an outing. Some also used to hung out at the stray cats shelter, behind the Parliament buildings. There were two moms there that would bring their babies there to eat every night at dusk, in May and June. I would go over there and hand feed them nuts every Friday night when I worked downtown.

I love Ottawa by night! The Rideau Canal, from the Mackenzie-King bridge, on my way home from a class at the Ottawa University. The back of the Parliament buildings, as seen while crossing the Alexandra bridge by foot one summer evening. The Embassy of the United States of Canada, all lighted up in pink in honor of the Breast Cancer Awareness Month, in October. Mackenzie-King bridge, while returning from a class at the Ottawa University around 9pm. Parts of the Byward Market tourist area The Langevin building (which houses the prime minister's office), on a very foggy evening. I used to wait for the bus in front of this building every night after work, so I had many opportunities to admire its beautiful architecture. I find it especially stunning at night, when it is all lighted up! It is located right across the Parliament buildings, on Wellington street. The wonderful rock fence in front of the Parliament buildings, on Wellington Street, by the

For my fellow Postcrossers, here's what a Canadian mailbox looks like.

Of course, in Canada, there's also winter. Here's a few photos of what winter looks like here. This photo shows the side of St. Andrew's Presbytherian church (http://www.standrewsottawa.ca/who-we-are/the-building/). It is located downtown and is a beautiful church! I used to pass it on my way to work every single day. Saint Andrew is the patron saint of the Scots (a lot of settlers of Canada came from Scotland), so this church has a "Scottish" personnality and the Scotland flag floats above the church entrance. One can attend organ concerts for free there during the summer and the church also holds fantastic bazaars in the Spring and in the Fall. This photo shows the Supreme Court of Canada, on Wellington street, just in front of St. Andrew's church. The lawns in front of the Supreme Court are a very popular spot in summer : there is often a game of Ultimate Frisbee going on there! I like this aspect of the life, here: that the lawns of su

When not travelling, I live in Gatineau, across the river from Ottawa, the capital of Canada. Here's a few pictures of the downtown core of Ottawa, by the Ottawa River. This is the the Alexandra Bridge (also called the Interprovincial Bridge) one of several bridges over the Ottawa River, which separates the cities of Ottawa (in the province of Ontario) and Gatineau (in the province of Québec). It is my favorite bridge : half of it is reserved to pedestrians, so people (and trolls!) can cross the bridge by foot and enjoy a fantastic view of the Ottawa River, the History Museum and the back of the Parliament buildings. The two following pictures show an area of Ottawa that is called "Byward market". It is both a highly touristic area with a lot of fancy restaurants, art galleries and boutiques, and a bunch of very expensive apartment buildings, and an area where one can find a lot of homeless people. It is always full of people during the day, but it's not the saf