Ivan and Masha in Ottawa-Gatineau - Exploring the Sentier des voyageurs - July 25th 2020

Saturday July 25th was a beautiful day, so the host decided to take Ivan and Masha on a bike ride to explore the Sentier des voyageurs (Travellers Pathway), that runs along the Ottawa River, on Gatineau's side. They ended up travelling 20 km in total (both ways)! It was the longest ride that the host had been on since she buying her new bike! :-)

On the way over to the Sentier des voyageurs, the host showed Ivan and Masha the ruisseau de la Brasserie (Brewery Creek - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruisseau_de_la_Brasserie) as well as the pont de la Tour Eiffel (Tour Eiffel bridge - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tour_Eiffel_Bridge).




They also stopped to watch the wild birds :











At the start of the Sentier des voyageurs :














Strange looking tent-like sculptures:







The Champlain bridge, one of half a dozen bridges that connect Ottawa and Gatineau:







The host decided that it would be fun to make a little detour and take Ivan and Masha to Bate Island, which is located in the middle of the Ottawa River and can be accessed through Champlain bridge. It is home to large populations of ducks and Canada geese. It also offerts great views of the Ottawa River and city centre of Ottawa, in the distance :
















The lovely view from both sides of the Champlain Bridge:


Getting back on the Sentier des voyageurs for the ride back home:


On the way back home, we stopped to admire a few of the sculptures made from recycled material that were displayed by the ruisseau de la Brasserie for the Recycl'art annual event (the theme for this year is "Dream or Nightmare"). It was getting late, so we didn't look at all of them - we may go back later to take another look:

This one is a hiding-under-the-bed monster named "Jo":


This one is a cell phone (as well as a commentary on social media) :


This is the sign for the event:



This is a sculpture of St-Exupéry's Le Petit Prince :



Closer to home, the host decided that it would be fun to take Ivan and Masha for a poutine at La Pataterie hulloise. The poutine is a dish that was invented in the province of Québec (not too far from where the host was born) about 40 years ago and that is made of French fries, cheese curds and gravy. Nowadays, it can be found all through Canada and in many foreign countries but it did originate in a small Québec country town. Having one outside in the summer is a special treat!








This is a very large tree that the host finds spectacular:


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