To market, to market, Ottawa side. Home again, home again, Gatineau ride!

Perfect Fall afternoon for a leisurely ride, so Carla and I set off for the Byward Market with panniers ready to be filled.

canal — Great view of the Rideau Canal locks looking up from the Ottawa River

Behind the National Gallery sits this wonderfully playful sculpture called Majestic, yet it’s playfulness shields gloomier origins. All of the lamp posts that have been combined to create this piece originally illuminated various streets of New Orleans but were blown over by Hurricane Katrina.

After locking our bikes in the market, we shopped! Our goal was to buy sausages at Nicastro’s, but we also wound up getting yummy brussel sprouts, beets, and pie pumpkins from some of the various market stalls, such as the one in the photo below. Carla designed the Byward Market graphic identity and it’s various environmental graphics applications as seen on the lamp post and the seasonal banners up above, as well as all the street signs throughout the market area.

If you require visiting the facilities while meandering through the Market Mall, you will need to go upstairs, which will afford you great views of this wonderful sculpture by Victor Tolgesy.

We biked across the Alexandra Bridge and headed home along the Gatineau Side. Check out theses amazingly red leaved bushes along the edge of the Museum of Civilization.

Carla was very smart to have packed a thermos of tea, which we paused to share at this spot along the river.

I love this sculpture by Phyllis Kurtz Fine that sits on the edge of the path before arriving at the Portage Bridge. It stands proud but isn’t overpowering. It’s smooth curve and elongated slits with rounded ends soften the rawness of the rusting steel it is made of. A play of contrasts.

steel — Commentary, by Phyllis Kurtz Fine

UPDATE: April 2014 – Because this route requires riding along the section of Murray Street between Mackenzie and Parent which can get pretty frantic with traffic rushing over the Alexandra Bridge, I often prefer riding up through Major’s Hill Park and locking my bike to the fence at the top of the stairs that lead down to the market, as described in this post.