Ottawa Train Yards — Attraction in Ottawa

I love the variety of stores. Absolutely hate the set up of the area. Not convenient. Somewhat dangerous. Without a car it's a hazardous mess. No proper pedestrian infrastructure.

What's worse is bringing a car. I would like to know if the planners can even tie their own shows. Is it done like this to save on property taxes or something? It just makes zero sense.

Weird thing is these types of, what are they malls, are now the norm. The ways stores and strip malls are placed is like throwing a deck of cards, each card representing a business, against the wall. Where they land is now a star.

Then a guy, who still has training wheels on his bike, is responsible for connecting them. So he throws a bunch of string at the wall and orders the roadways to be built to this specification.

Now sidewalks. New rules. None can actually connect anything to anything. They start in a randomly picked parking spot and lead you to a sewer grate. I even tried opening the grate thinking this must be the way.

Thank goodness I did. There must have been at least 50 people stuck down there. Cold, hungry and afraid. So I wheeled over the portable escalator that was just running in a shopping cart zone and helped them get out only to turn around to them all missing.

Must have been a DeLorean parked at the top of the escalator that zipped them off back to storage. Hopefully someone thinks to grab the planners for Stonehenge and bring them to the architects...

Somewhat of a shopper's paradise, the Trainyards is ample indeed and very spread out. Mostly clothing stores are to be found, but there are some restaurants and fast good places. I usually go for the big Walmart and the Tim Horton's, but there is also a great Shoe Company there I enjoy frequently and a Dollar Store as well. Oh and an LCBO is always good on hand if you're in the spirits 😉

On certain days this place can be a mess, make no mistake. They do have adequate parking but on a crazy time in the weekend you might circle like a vulture. It is what it is.

A person, couple, or a bunch of friends could potentially have a field day here, going from place to place, should you have the desire. The Movati Gym is an exceptional facility, I didn't join but enjoyed the tour.

Trainyards is great but parking lot traffic and spaces make me frown just a little.

Other than that,...

Nearly impossible to get to by bus, so if you're not from the area and don't own a car, trust me it's not worth your time. Even if you live in the area, walking to it is inconvenient and dangerous because you need to cut through a parking lot full of 18 wheelers. Really bad for pedestrians because the amount of parking is absurd. Everything is so spread out, if I want to walk from the Walmart to the kettlemans that is a 30 minute commitment at least. There's maybe 2 proper restaurants, nowhere to hang out (except the fast food restaurants), no green space at all, and again, a horrendous expanse of parking lots that makes the whole place look like a desolate wasteland. This place could be a fantastic public space and an important part of the Alta Vista community, but as it stands now, it is a poorly-designed, ugly place that takes up a ridiculous...