First Snowfall in the City - Creating a Bruegel World

Ottawa had its first snowfall in the early hours of Wednesday morning. When I left my apartment to walk to work, I found that everything was covered with a fresh frosting of snow. It was still coming down as I walked along and the world was a grey and white Bruegel painting.  

Sidewalks hadn't been shoveled and I followed the track made by other pedestrians. 

I passed by the Peacekeeping Monument and noticed the bronze statues were looking very white on top. 

I liked the way the flag seemed to be reaching down to brush this statue. It added colour to a very grey and white scene.  

The sidewalk descending to the Alexandria Bridge was also not shoveled and rather slippery. Good thing I found my boots this morning after digging through the bottom of the closet. 

All the people looked very black and white in the grey-and-white Bruegel landscape. This man was carrying an umbrella, which was wise because the snow was quite wet. 

On the Alexandria Bridge, people walk on the left and bicycles ride on the right (when you are going North, that is). You can see both sets of tracks here. I was impressed that anyone would bicycle on a day like this. 

As a matter of fact, I didn't see many bicyclists. Here is one of the few brave - or maybe just determined - people that I saw on a bicycle.  

On my way back from work this evening, I saw that there was still some snow left although it had stopped snowing and a lot had melted. It wasn't quite so much like a Bruegel painting because the street lights and brightly-lit store displays added yellows and reds to the landscape.

Oh, those determined bicyclists! This bicycle was locked to a post, sitting in the snow at an intersection. Well, I guess it isn't time to put away bicycles yet anyway. The temperature is supposed to go up to +10 degrees this coming weekend and the snow will be all gone. Goodbye Bruegel landscape, until the next snowfall.