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Thank you to all of you so much for taking the time! All of this is very helpful. We will be moving from North Carolina, but we've been moving about the States for quite some time. Mostly mid-to southern latitudes.
I don't want any Ottowans to take this the wrong way -- but you you consider Ottawa/Gatineau to be pretty cities, as a whole? I've seen the downtown and parliament areas, which of course are stunning, but poking around on google maps got a bit depressing, as it looked like outside of that it is suburbs and urban sprawl. Not too much in terms of historic neighborhoods or architecture.
I'm sure the downtown is charming, but beyond that? As a fairly numerous family (3 kids) I don't think we'll be able to live near the downtown. I know that google maps is a bad way to explore -- I myself am from an objectively pretty "ugly" city, which is nonetheless fantastic because of the community and people there. We also were in Houston, TX, which is nothing but concrete; but after you live there and get to know your little neighborhood you find the charm.
I'm just looking for honest opinions to be prepared!
Location: Montreal -> CT -> MA -> Montreal -> Ottawa
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I'm glad to see that you came back to the forum! Acajack and I were about to start gossiping about you.
Regarding what you wrote above, I think that the same can be said for almost anywhere, though -- downtown, maybe a few historical neighborhoods, and a lot of suburbs.
When I lived in Connecticut: Hartford had the history, but I lived in (and loved) my quiet suburb. Same for when I lived in Massachusetts, where there is a heck of a lot of ugliness, even in Boston proper (although, yes, parts of Boston are spectacular). When I visited Texas last year, Houston was -- like you said -- concrete and sprawl, but when we went to visit friends in The Woodlands, I thought, "okay, finally! a neighborhood!" Even in Europe -- when I went to Belgium last year, Brussels was out of this world gorgeous in terms of architecture and history (and great food!), but we got an AirBnB condo just outside of Brussels (in Etterbeek) that was a genuine neighborhood and felt like home for the week.
I'm not sure why -- I don't have kids -- but I'm always drawn to a self-contained, manageable suburb when it comes time to live life. I'm happy to explore the city, but I like a quieter, smaller area to call home. The one anomaly was before I moved to the States and lived in Westmount (part of Montreal). That's an architectural gem, as is quite a bit of the downtown core of Montreal. But that's rare -- not many people live in the center of all the amazingness of a city.
As I said, I love a self-contained (i.e. you have every store that you want or need -- EXCEPT TRADER JOE'S IN THIS CASE -- at your fingertips) and clean suburb. The area that I'm moving to in Ottawa is exactly that and is quite new -- condos and townhouses and houses and stores, stores, stores are springing up all the time, and I like that newness and feeling of growth. I understand that it's not for everybody, though.
I can't speak about Gatineau -- Acajack can, of course -- and I haven't really spent a ton of time in Ottawa, but I have family there and, yeah, I'm moving there. I'm moving to an area called Barrhaven. It's within Nepean, which is within Ottawa. However, there's an area of Ottawa, very near downtown, that I know of that's very popular -- one of my cousins lived there for a number of years -- that you might find interesting: The Glebe. From what little I know of The Glebe and from what I can gather from your last post, I wonder if this might be a good place for you to look around: https://www.google.com/search?source...7j0l5.5717j0j4
Of course, that might be moot if you decide to move to Gatineau, which would mean that you like Acajack more than you like me and, frankly, he probably *is* nicer than I am. But I can bake cookies for you, so... yeah, you decide.
Thank you to all of you so much for taking the time! All of this is very helpful. We will be moving from North Carolina, but we've been moving about the States for quite some time. Mostly mid-to southern latitudes.
I don't want any Ottowans to take this the wrong way -- but you you consider Ottawa/Gatineau to be pretty cities, as a whole? I've seen the downtown and parliament areas, which of course are stunning, but poking around on google maps got a bit depressing, as it looked like outside of that it is suburbs and urban sprawl. Not too much in terms of historic neighborhoods or architecture.
I'm sure the downtown is charming, but beyond that? As a fairly numerous family (3 kids) I don't think we'll be able to live near the downtown. I know that google maps is a bad way to explore -- I myself am from an objectively pretty "ugly" city, which is nonetheless fantastic because of the community and people there. We also were in Houston, TX, which is nothing but concrete; but after you live there and get to know your little neighborhood you find the charm.
I'm just looking for honest opinions to be prepared!
Many thanks!
I'll say this. This area (well, just Ottawa really) has a reputation in Canada for being a "pretty" or even a "beautiful" city, but I've always thought this was hugely overrated. Most of Ottawa is basically an OK-looking non-blighted North American city. It's decently maintained and has nice parkland but outside of the parliamentary district and perhaps some of the Byward Market the architecture is nothing special. People who think Ottawa is a gorgeous city probably haven't travelled that much.
Gatineau the city is not really pretty at all though it does have some decent suburban areas but where it might stand out is its natural setting (and Ottawa benefits from this proximity as well). It's not like having the Rocky Mountains on your doorstep but for a city on the eastern half of the continent it's pretty good.
There are a handful of historic neighbourhoods in Ottawa like the Glebe (as recommended by Dawn), Sandy Hill, New Edinburgh, Westboro, Old Ottawa South... these are all fairly pricey as you can imagine.
One of the reasons for the lack of historic neighbourhoods is that Ottawa was not a large city historically. It really exploded in population in the era after the automobile became a big deal, and you know what kind of cities that usually produced.
Of course, that might be moot if you decide to move to Gatineau, which would mean that you like Acajack more than you like me and, frankly, he probably *is* nicer than I am. But I can bake cookies for you, so... yeah, you decide.
I love fine food but I can't cook or bake anything. Boiling an egg is a stressful enterprise for me!
Still with the layout of the area, keep in mind that the Ottawa side has around 1 million people and the Gatineau side has 300,000 (maybe a bit more). The core area is along the river (so the extreme north end of Ottawa's urban footprint).
What this means is that the city extends a lot further out on the Ottawa side and a lot less on the Gatineau side.
Except for greenbelt-type parkland (of which there is a lot it's true), you need to go through a sea of urban sprawl to reach more rural and natural areas to live in.
Gatineau OTOH has less dense suburban and even hillside exurban areas in the woods barely 10-15 km from Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
I've looked a bit at Aylmer -- so far looks pretty cute and interesting? Of course, something like the Glebe is right up our alley, but talk about out of the question financially!
Location: Montreal -> CT -> MA -> Montreal -> Ottawa
17,330 posts, read 33,055,877 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hbataille
I've looked a bit at Aylmer -- so far looks pretty cute and interesting? Of course, something like the Glebe is right up our alley, but talk about out of the question financially!
GAH! Sorry about that! To make you feel better, I think it's a hard fit for a few reasons, one of them being that along with the fantastic historic FEEL of The Glebe, the housing market there (new condos not included, of course) is full of historic HOMES. Not that that's bad -- the architecture is LOVELY! -- but when you're looking at a family home with 3 or even 4 bedrooms, AND THERE'S ONLY 1 BATHROOM (!!!), it's not an easy sale. Nor is it an attractive buy.
Okay, so scrap the Glebe idea. Look at Barrhaven. There will be cookies there.
Where will your husband be working? You really should look for the best commute for him. Granted, the traffic in Ottawa isn't Montreal traffic (don't even get me started on THAT) but if he's driving -- and especially if he's not used to driving in SNOW -- you'll want to make the commute as pain-free as possible.
I've looked a bit at Aylmer -- so far looks pretty cute and interesting? Of course, something like the Glebe is right up our alley, but talk about out of the question financially!
The older part of Aylmer around Rue Principale does have a good bit of visual charm. It's probably not as vibrant as a true urbanite would want though.
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-- at your fingertips) and clean suburb. The area that I'm moving to in Ottawa is exactly that and is quite new -- condos and townhouses and houses and stores, stores, stores are springing up all the time, and I like that newness and feeling of growth. I understand that it's not for everybody, though.
