Saturday, December 08, 2007

Lost on a straight line

Once in awhile I get the urge to go for a long walk. I can walk for a long time, provided I keep a quick pace and don't get distracted or stop for anything. (If I do, I suddenly get tired and lose motivation to walk.)

Today was one of those days. I finished my last exam, the sun was shining, I had a cup of coffee, and felt like walking around the city. You can see on the map below the path I took. all in all, it took me around 2 hours? But they were coooooold hours. It was only -4 today, but the wind was pretty miserable!


I was initially planning on just walking around the Byward Market, but I've been there so often, it seemed boring. Then I considered walking to the National Art Gallery, but I really didn't feel like it (although I did walk right beside it briefly). Then I walked behind the Parliament buildings and was going to walk beside the Ottawa River, but the pathway wasn't cleared and I didn't feel like slipping and sliding everywhere.

Finally, I decided to walk along the Rideau Canal back to my residence. The canal runs from the Ottawa river, through the city, all the way to my university. I can see the canal from my window! The walk was very nice, but as mentioned, cold. And I was also bitter at the lack of public washrooms along the path! About half way through my walk, my coffee came back to haunt me. (I did find one set of public washrooms, but they were locked - what the hell? I guess the city thinks people don't urinate during the winter.) By the time I got to Lansdowne Park though, I really needed to use a bathroom, so I found my way back to a major street and managed to get back to my residence before I burst.

It was a very pleasant walk, but I think I might wait until the spring before I walk it again. (But of course I'll be skating on the canal when it finally opens up...)

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