It was yet another weekend and I was poised to go see the Hot Air Balloons from the Gatineau Hot Air Balloon festival but not actually at the festival grounds but from the other side of the river at Ottawa! This was a friend's suggestion to be able to avoid the $100 entry fee! I probably misinterpreted the 100 bucks required for getting on the balloon as the entry fees to the event.
I packed up like I was a tourist, checked the bus schedules, carried some water, carried a map and here we go! The usual confused or rather lost traveler in me showed up right away as I got down from the bus at the wrong place! The driver couldn't exactly understand what stop I needed to get down at and I couldn't manage to explain it to him and so I got down at a place where we both believed I should. After asking around for a while, I did find out that I was totally out of place!
Ok the long walk to the park was not really very fruitful as I am not very fascinated by parks when I am too tired to walk! (It was a HOT day!)
Eventually I didn't know where I had reached. I did have the map but I had no clue as to where I was. Yeah I couldn't trace my trail as I had adventurously decided to skip the roads and take to the woods! And on top of that, I didn't SEE a SINGLE air balloon nowhere nearby; not as far as I could see through my eyes.
Eventually I gave up and decided to walk back to the streets where I would find a bus. I was at the Rockcliffe park and so I could see flags of different countries all around. (That's where all embassies are). After walking a while I reached the corner of a broad street and I saw a few interesting buildings around me and the Canadian national flag hoisted near one of heavily fenced buildings somehow managed to escape my attention. Tired, I thought I will sit down at the pavement and I started taking pictures! Pictures of the vehicles passing by, the people, the fallen dry leaves on the pavement telling their own stories of their glory days where they were green and hanging!
It was quite a while after which I noticed a police car approaching towards me. I didn't pay much attention assuming it to be just another patrol car. The car pulled over and the guy came out. I looked up at him, smiled and then got busy with my pictures again, still clueless about what was about to happen.
Suddenly as I looked up, I heard him speaking. He was looking at me and his mouth was moving as if he was trying to say something. Shit! I must get out of my world! He's talking to me! The conversation begins:
Policeman: You dont look like a bad guy, but you're making people nervous here.
Me: Uh..umm...are you talking to me?
Policeman: Yes Sir! You're the only one around!
Me: (I looked behind me and around, he was right!) Oops, I'm sorry, but I have no clue about what I should NOT be doing.
Policeman: You should not be sitting here right in front of Prime Minister's residence with a long camera (I had the 300mm on) like that and spend hours taking pictures. You should probably go sit somewhere else!
Me: (Holy Shit!) Prime Minister's residence? You mean that one? Is that ...? Oh shit! I am so sorry, I had no idea!
Policeman: Are you new here? Are you a tourist?
Me: I am not a tourist but I am new here.
Policeman: Ok. I recommend you to go sit somewhere else and take pictures. And I am gonna have to see the last few pictures you've been taking.
Me: Sure! (thank god I didn't find the residence very interesting!)
Satisfied to see no suspicious pictures in my camera, the policeman was convinced I was innocent, just exactly as he thought when he looked at me! (ok I would at least look innocent to a stranger!). I narrated the story to some of my friends and all everybody said was, "Good you didn't like the building or you would have had to do 10 rounds of the police station proving what you are and what you are not!)
I packed up like I was a tourist, checked the bus schedules, carried some water, carried a map and here we go! The usual confused or rather lost traveler in me showed up right away as I got down from the bus at the wrong place! The driver couldn't exactly understand what stop I needed to get down at and I couldn't manage to explain it to him and so I got down at a place where we both believed I should. After asking around for a while, I did find out that I was totally out of place!
Ok the long walk to the park was not really very fruitful as I am not very fascinated by parks when I am too tired to walk! (It was a HOT day!)
Eventually I didn't know where I had reached. I did have the map but I had no clue as to where I was. Yeah I couldn't trace my trail as I had adventurously decided to skip the roads and take to the woods! And on top of that, I didn't SEE a SINGLE air balloon nowhere nearby; not as far as I could see through my eyes.
Eventually I gave up and decided to walk back to the streets where I would find a bus. I was at the Rockcliffe park and so I could see flags of different countries all around. (That's where all embassies are). After walking a while I reached the corner of a broad street and I saw a few interesting buildings around me and the Canadian national flag hoisted near one of heavily fenced buildings somehow managed to escape my attention. Tired, I thought I will sit down at the pavement and I started taking pictures! Pictures of the vehicles passing by, the people, the fallen dry leaves on the pavement telling their own stories of their glory days where they were green and hanging!
It was quite a while after which I noticed a police car approaching towards me. I didn't pay much attention assuming it to be just another patrol car. The car pulled over and the guy came out. I looked up at him, smiled and then got busy with my pictures again, still clueless about what was about to happen.
Suddenly as I looked up, I heard him speaking. He was looking at me and his mouth was moving as if he was trying to say something. Shit! I must get out of my world! He's talking to me! The conversation begins:
Policeman: You dont look like a bad guy, but you're making people nervous here.
Me: Uh..umm...are you talking to me?
Policeman: Yes Sir! You're the only one around!
Me: (I looked behind me and around, he was right!) Oops, I'm sorry, but I have no clue about what I should NOT be doing.
Policeman: You should not be sitting here right in front of Prime Minister's residence with a long camera (I had the 300mm on) like that and spend hours taking pictures. You should probably go sit somewhere else!
Me: (Holy Shit!) Prime Minister's residence? You mean that one? Is that ...? Oh shit! I am so sorry, I had no idea!
Policeman: Are you new here? Are you a tourist?
Me: I am not a tourist but I am new here.
Policeman: Ok. I recommend you to go sit somewhere else and take pictures. And I am gonna have to see the last few pictures you've been taking.
Me: Sure! (thank god I didn't find the residence very interesting!)
Satisfied to see no suspicious pictures in my camera, the policeman was convinced I was innocent, just exactly as he thought when he looked at me! (ok I would at least look innocent to a stranger!). I narrated the story to some of my friends and all everybody said was, "Good you didn't like the building or you would have had to do 10 rounds of the police station proving what you are and what you are not!)
1 comment:
you are so busy roaming around in Canada...that you're not getting time to post anything!!and your template is so boring...
Post a Comment