Christmas Lights in the National Capital Region – By Bike!

They turned on the annual Christmas lights display along Confederation Boulevard last night, so I checked them out! They will be on every night until January 7th.

Orange line is how I biked to Parliament Hill for the launch. Blue is the route I followed to see most of the official sites.

The flipping of the switch was launched with an explosion of mini fireworks.

Now the route I’m proposing is full of splendid night time sceneries, with or without Christmas lights. The view from behind the Centre Block across the Ottawa River to Gatineau is one such example. Looking out across the river also gave me my first indication that they’ve considerably scaled back on the number of Christmas lights from previous years.

Major renovations are happening on the West Block. Whole sections are wrapped in scaffolding and tarp, creating these internally lit glowing cube structures.

One used to be able to bike in front of the West Block, avoiding having to ride along Wellington, which is not a very bike friendly section of road. Hopefully once the the West Block renovations are completed they will lighten up with the crazy security and once again allow folks to access the hill from the west gate. Otherwise, the first opportunity to get off Wellington is opposite Bank Street, just beyond the closed off gates and line up of parked police cars. First left and a bit further along brings you alongside the wonderfully lit Supreme Court of Canada.

Continuing straight ahead leads to these stairs down behind the Library and Archives building.

Riding around behind the archives building brings you to Wellington right where the designated bike lane begins. Now that’s the way to go!

On the other side of Portage Bridge dip down the bike path to the right where there are some great unimpeded views of the Hill.

It’s pretty thrilling where the path crosses under the Alexandria Bridge. The whirring sound of the cars on the metal mesh road way above resonates all around you, while the beams from the headlights flash and flicker down through the steel girders.

Out in Jacques Cartier Park there are a few arrangements of lights, including this droopy bunch of red ones hanging way up in a couple of trees.

After crossing back over the Alexandria Bridge I turned up behind the National Gallery to re-visit this piece of outdoor sculpture, made up of a number of streetlights blown over by hurricane Katrina. Love it!

In previous years the trees of Majors Hill Park were filled with lights, but this year, nil. S’okay, still a nice ride along the edge of the cliff. Very pleased to discover the terrace above the canal was still accessible from the park to Wellington, affording this dramatic night time view of the Chateau Laurier. The terrace has been previously closed for the winter.

The Cenotaph has lots of cool lights all around it.

Opposite the Cenotaph there is this arrangement of warm lights set against the Conference Centre.

The city has added Christmas lights to compliment the exuberantly lit walls of their outdoor rink in front of City Hall.

I end the tour with this photo from Confederation Park looking towards the Lord Elgin Hotel.

The only official Christmas Lights site I didn’t get to was the one out near the Governor Generals Residence. I will have to figure out a safe night time route that avoids the dangerous stretch of Sussex between the National Gallery and the External Affairs building.