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I'm moving from London (UK not ON!) to Ottawa-Gatineau region for work... will be working for the government. I fancy living in Gatineau, as I want to brush up on my French. I love the outdoors - I snowboard and mountain-bike. I think I'll be suited to it... I've lived in Montreal for a year about 5 years ago, and loved it. So I am comfortable with the whole language thing (need to brush up on it though!) and I can deal with the weather.
Anway, I've never been to the capital area before. I'm very intrigued. And very ignorant of what there is on offer here!
Some questions:
Are their any loft-style apartments knocking about in Gatineau? Or maybe a spacious 1/2-bed apartments? I will be earning a reasonable salary, and can stretch myself a little... but not crazy mind! I live in London, pretty horrendous here so I'm used to being ripped off :P
What are some cool places to live there that will enable me to commute daily using transit, but not completely 'suburban'? I'd like amenities close-by, and have a 'city' feel (or close as I guess?)
What would a commute be like - if I took the bus to downtown Ottawa? What's the deal with the new RapiBus (?) system? It is amazing? It is fast? Do the buses have their own lanes/lights by any chance to speed up the commute? Or is it intolerable and so bad that I'd rather wait in traffic crossing the bridge?
What is social scene like in Gatineau? Will I need to go into the downtown area of Ottawa to party hard (ahem)?
As for central Gatineau, known as Vieux-Hull or ÃŽle-de-Hull, they are making efforts to improve things greatly and there are some attractive areas but there is still a way to go before it becomes truly vibrant. (It went into a decline starting in the 70s with the destruction of old neighbourhoods to build huge office buildings, and has only started to bounce back fairly recently.
That said there are many nice projects that have been built or are finishing up.
The nicer streets to look at are Rue Laurier or Boulevard Maisonneuve.
Maisonneuve just north and parallel to Laurier) has some nice buildings along it and a new one is just finishing up at 260 Maisonneuve.
With some exceptions like the area around Rue Laval and Place Aubry, Vieux-Hull is a relatively quiet area and I wouldn't call it bustling. There are quite a few places to go out and some really good restaurants but it's all very scattered. The area to the northwest around Rue Eddy is not so nice BTW.
Few people in Gatineau would describe Rapibus as awesome (at least not so far), but in any event it does not in downtown Gatineau/Vieux-Hull, but ends on the very edge of it.
That said, bus service to and from Ottawa is pretty good from Vieux-Hull. There are many many lines and they are frequent. (Note that the area is basically 500 m from downtown Ottawa.) Traffic on the bridges can be heavy but on the main one used by buses (Portage) there are reserved lanes for buses. It's very easy to get across.
Nightlife
Hull used to have a bustling nightlife and once boasted the most bars per capita in North America. This was due to Quebec's laxer liquor laws and so thousands of people from Ontario crossed over every night. This Tijuana situation (or Petit Chicago) led to serious crime and other problems, and in the 1990s the city cleaned things up in a big way and so the nightlife is quite timid, and looks like this now:
In any event, neither Ottawa nor Gatineau are really places to party hard. You can have fun here but it's not really a nightlife destination. We have Montreal for that - two hours away.
As I mentioned earlier, Vieux-Hull is a bit low on shopping (although you can easily access stuff in Ottawa just across the river), but staying on the Quebec side some areas to look at might be:
- The area known as Wrightville, near Les Galeries de Hull shopping centre (corner Montclair and St-Joseph). Has most of the services a person needs within a very short distance and good bus service to central Gatineau and Ottawa (and a new Rapibus station). The Casino du Lac Leamy with its theatre and bars is also in the area as are quite a few restaurants and other amenities.
I'm fortunate in that I will have a tax holiday (from income tax anyway) for a few years, but I will only qualify for that tax holiday in Quebec... so keen on living in Quebec and being able to commute to downtown Ottawa as painlessly as possible ;-)
What is cycling like? It it a cycle-friendly city? If downtown is only 500m away from Vieux-Hull I'd be tempted to do give that a whirl... i used to cycle in Montreal and it wasn't too bad there, so I'm guessing it's not too bad in Hull/Ottawa either? Ah... deps... could do with a grocery store or two though! Maybe by the time I move I'll be spoilt for choice! ;-) Not *tooo* bothered about shopping, if downtown is that close...
Well... I mentioned partying, but it wouldn't be too crazy... I'm too old for that (early 30's..) but it's nice to have the option for a drinking etc... nice video! Will check out the areas you mentioned! I don't mind living in a generally residential area with a few places to go out - it sounds like Vieux-Hull is not that far at all from downtown Ottawa, and might be my best bet. But I will check out Wrightville and along Maloney too... (online for now)... I might just head there in the spring to check out the city before I sign on the dotted line... have a few months to think about this...
Anyway, Gatineau sounds very amenable to outdoors-y stuff! I would consider getting a car if I went to the great outdoors a lot. Or even hire them on the weekend, might be easier... Do you guys have something like ZipCar or something there?
I'm fortunate in that I will have a tax holiday (from income tax anyway) for a few years, but I will only qualify for that tax holiday in Quebec... so keen on living in Quebec and being able to commute to downtown Ottawa as painlessly as possible ;-)
What is cycling like? It it a cycle-friendly city? If downtown is only 500m away from Vieux-Hull I'd be tempted to do give that a whirl... i used to cycle in Montreal and it wasn't too bad there, so I'm guessing it's not too bad in Hull/Ottawa either? Ah... deps... could do with a grocery store or two though! Maybe by the time I move I'll be spoilt for choice! ;-) Not *tooo* bothered about shopping, if downtown is that close...
Well... I mentioned partying, but it wouldn't be too crazy... I'm too old for that (early 30's..) but it's nice to have the option for a drinking etc... nice video! Will check out the areas you mentioned! I don't mind living in a generally residential area with a few places to go out - it sounds like Vieux-Hull is not that far at all from downtown Ottawa, and might be my best bet. But I will check out Wrightville and along Maloney too... (online for now)... I might just head there in the spring to check out the city before I sign on the dotted line... have a few months to think about this...
Anyway, Gatineau sounds very amenable to outdoors-y stuff! I would consider getting a car if I went to the great outdoors a lot. Or even hire them on the weekend, might be easier... Do you guys have something like ZipCar or something there?
And yes, this is a pretty good cycling area. From April to early November of course!
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