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Next week I am traveling to Canada for the Ottawa International Animation Festival! Yay!
I will be staying right near the University of Ottawa's campus. Most of my time will be spent running all over the area to different showings and panels and stuffs. However, I would like to try to see at least a little bit of the area!
Anyone who lives there or has been there have suggestions? What to see, what to eat, what to buy? Any good-to-know stuff?
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Parliament, rideau canal, byward market, ottawa river, art gallery, mint, bunch of museums. Ottawa's pretty boring tbh.
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^ I've only lived here for a year, but the best thing about it is that it's close to Montreal and Toronto, frankly.
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Ottawa is pretty awesome if you're near U of Ottawa campus.... But yeah definitely visit the Byward Market (preferably Zaphod's ), the Rideau Centre and Parliament.
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Best of advice is to skip Ottawa and go to Montreal :3
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Hoooooly shit!! When I saw the title I thought for a sec you were going to my hometown in Norway, Otta xD
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LMAO, what to see in ottawa? It's a pretty boring place TBH (I am living there now). As others mentioned it's close to Montreal which is much more entertaining. If your timing was different you could see Winterloo and get Beaver Tails (delicious pastry)
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On September 16 2011 01:24 dRaW wrote: LMAO, what to see in ottawa? It's a pretty boring place TBH (I am living there now). As others mentioned it's close to Montreal which is much more entertaining. If your timing was different you could see Winterloo and get Beaver Tails (delicious pastry)
This.
Ottawa, believe it or not, is incredibly boring. I don't understand why its the capital of Canada.
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I don't have much to contribute either... only been there twice I think, and I don't remember much about it (that means both trips were boooooring) but if you do drop by Toronto...
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I've been living in Ottawa all my life. You're in for a bore-fest if you expect to have some fun. All my friends here travel out of city for that.
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Yea Ottawa pretty much doesn't have much except for Parliament and a handful of museums/galleries. I personally enjoyed my visit to Ottawa a lot - I thought it was a fairly pleasant and calm city - but judging from all the other comments, that is usually interpreted as being boring. (I am probably just crazy though since I do not like Montreal as much as most people do, maybe I just don't visit downtown enough!)
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On September 16 2011 02:12 Cow wrote: Yea Ottawa pretty much doesn't have much except for Parliament and a handful of museums/galleries. I personally enjoyed my visit to Ottawa a lot - I thought it was a fairly pleasant and calm city - but judging from all the other comments, that is usually interpreted as being boring. (I am probably just crazy though since I do not like Montreal as much as most people do, maybe I just don't visit downtown enough!)
Everywhere but downtown shows a facet of Montreal that you have yet to see before and its multiculturalism is something to not only enjoy observing, but eating, understanding and speaking!
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On September 16 2011 00:04 Canadium wrote:Ottawa is pretty awesome if you're near U of Ottawa campus.... But yeah definitely visit the Byward Market ( preferably Zaphod's ), the Rideau Centre and Parliament. Lol, that's terrible advice and you know it.
I lived on the U of O campus for 3 years, and I'm still nearby right now. A really good place to get breakfast is called "Father's and Son's" if you're nearby. Trust me on this one. It's dirt cheap compared to everything else that's nearby, and their breakfast is still pretty good.
Good to know tidbit: "Canadian" is actually a shitty beer made in Canada. If you're going to grab a beer, try something else.
I also advise you to try a beaver tail. Other than that, I'm not sure what to suggest. I mean, there's tons of stuff you can do, but it's all big-city generic-type stuff. There's nothing that's really unique to Ottawa tbh. Maybe take a walk down the canal and back if you get the time for it.
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Ottawa may not be as crazy as Montreal but it's a lot more interesting in what it does have anyway.
I lived in Montreal for 3 years and it was boring as fuck if you don't take drugs or drink.
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On September 16 2011 02:43 Kurr wrote: Ottawa may not be as crazy as Montreal but it's a lot more interesting in what it does have anyway.
I lived in Montreal for 3 years and it was boring as fuck if you don't take drugs or drink.
I take neither (I don't do drugs and I hate drinking) and even though I lived here for 4 years, I rediscovered Montreal in 2 weeks.
It was amazing and really had me truly enjoy this city. I just showed Fireblast! An old-school TL member parts of Montreal in 3 days and he says he wants to go to McGill here and absolutely adores this place.
You must have missed the over 15 different cultural and musical festivals that go on during the winter and summer.
The mountain and wilderness of Mont-Royal.
What about Little Italy, Chinatown, Gay Village, Latin Community, Old Port, the different foods, dual-languages, etc. etc.
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On September 16 2011 02:22 Torte de Lini wrote:Show nested quote +On September 16 2011 02:12 Cow wrote: Yea Ottawa pretty much doesn't have much except for Parliament and a handful of museums/galleries. I personally enjoyed my visit to Ottawa a lot - I thought it was a fairly pleasant and calm city - but judging from all the other comments, that is usually interpreted as being boring. (I am probably just crazy though since I do not like Montreal as much as most people do, maybe I just don't visit downtown enough!) Everywhere but downtown shows a facet of Montreal that you have yet to see before and its multiculturalism is something to not only enjoy observing, but eating, understanding and speaking! I'd imagine so! I'm out in Ste Anne de Bellevue since I'm enrolled at McGill's Macdonald Campus, so I will admit it has steered me away from exploring Montreal as much as I'd like to due to the commute. Similar to Kurr, I did get vibes that downtown Montreal (due to my location I pretty much refer to anything east of me as downtown LOL) just feels like a place people go to to drunk or high (neither of which I participate in). Obviously that can't be fully true, but it has definitely discouraged me a bit. Combined with the commute, the crazy winters, and my general laziness, I have not discovered Montreal as much as I would like.
I'm from Vancouver so it is quite possible my opinions on how a city should be have been spoiled a bit, though I'm not the biggest fan of downtown Vancouver either (unless it's next to the water) haha.
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On September 16 2011 01:24 dRaW wrote: LMAO, what to see in ottawa? It's a pretty boring place TBH (I am living there now). As others mentioned it's close to Montreal which is much more entertaining. If your timing was different you could see Winterloo and get Beaver Tails (delicious pastry)
You can get beaver tails all year long in the market.
Dont know if Ottawa is that boring as people make it to be, its sure not the most interesting city though.
Definately go around the byward market, its always pretty fun and theres some real nice restaurants.
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On September 16 2011 03:31 Cow wrote:Show nested quote +On September 16 2011 02:22 Torte de Lini wrote:On September 16 2011 02:12 Cow wrote: Yea Ottawa pretty much doesn't have much except for Parliament and a handful of museums/galleries. I personally enjoyed my visit to Ottawa a lot - I thought it was a fairly pleasant and calm city - but judging from all the other comments, that is usually interpreted as being boring. (I am probably just crazy though since I do not like Montreal as much as most people do, maybe I just don't visit downtown enough!) Everywhere but downtown shows a facet of Montreal that you have yet to see before and its multiculturalism is something to not only enjoy observing, but eating, understanding and speaking! I'd imagine so! I'm out in Ste Anne de Bellevue since I'm enrolled at McGill's Macdonald Campus, so I will admit it has steered me away from exploring Montreal as much as I'd like to due to the commute. Similar to Kurr, I did get vibes that downtown Montreal (due to my location I pretty much refer to anything east of me as downtown LOL) just feels like a place people go to to drunk or high (neither of which I participate in). Obviously that can't be fully true, but it has definitely discouraged me a bit. Combined with the commute, the crazy winters, and my general laziness, I have not discovered Montreal as much as I would like. I'm from Vancouver so it is quite possible my opinions on how a city should be have been spoiled a bit, though I'm not the biggest fan of downtown Vancouver either (unless it's next to the water) haha.
Yeah, downtown is nice for the people who like to party and shit (I mean, three whole blocks of Bishop are clubs, bars and social places. Literally).
When you get out of St-Catherine area and go towards Chinatown, the Old Port then you start seeing a more mature and diverse city.
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I actually don't find anything special about the byward market at all. Zaphod's isn't that great I'd say, every club/bar in Ottawa is meh or below standard. Best one lately is probably Honest Lawyer. Father and Sons at the corner of Osgoode and King Edward is alright, definitely cheap. Last time I went I mostly laughed at our waiter, who was a short Pauly D wannabe.
East and West end Ottawa are a great place to raise a family and has some good, developing neighborhoods. If your anything else other than a boring dad looking for the suburban life, Ottawa is a recommended skip.
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Oh, dunno if you'd be interested, but we've got a Barcraft organized in Ottawa on Sunday. At the Clock Tower pub. I haven't been there for a barcraft yet, but the place is pretty nice. If you are here on Sunday, it may be a good way to kill a few hours/meet some local SC enthusiasts.
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=213736752013950
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