New IKEA store has opened in Ottawa - now the largest in Canada: 640 seats in the new restaurant, 55 room settings, 3 full home displays, 36 cash lanes, 1,200 parking spaces, 1,761 bin locations for product pickup and more energy efficiency than ever before (40 per cent better than IKEA’s last store), 1.3 km journey through the store and a total of 9,500 IKEA products.

First shoppers:

The lengths that people go through to avoid door dings! The entire parking lot is empty and this genius parked between a bush and a garbage container. Since he took the safest parking spot in the mall I ended up parking a little further - just to be safe. It's a good 1-2 minute walking distance, but at least your car is safe.

I think the next step after this is to have a friend go in and do the shopping, while you sit in the parked car with a baseball bat.

A topless woman protests at the Ottawa Sun's photo policy on Hunt Club road. The paper's policy is to cover the nipples of topless women appearing in photos. Michelle Spero, 25, showed off several copies of the Sun as evidence. The first was a feature story on the anniversary of topless laws in Ontario, in which a woman's nipples were covered with Ottawa Sun logos. The second article was more recent, and featured a black bar covering the nipples. Spero claimed it is unfair that a pull-out section of the Sun in one of those editions featured a photo of a topless man, whose nipples are clearly visible.

A line up on a coffee break. Making sure the affairs are in order at the local Tim Hortons:

It seems like we are going to have a warm fall this year, according to environment Canada:

One thing about wild life in Ottawa - much like the rest of the population - it is very relaxed. We were sitting on the shore of Rideau river and the ducks swam right up to our feet:

No, it wasn't a tornado this time, just a thunderstorm. Lots of damage nevertheless:

Trees down, again:

Gas prices are cheapest in the country in Gatineau, QC (just outside of Ottawa). They were $1.18 per litre on Tuesday, July 13, while in Ottawa (just over a bridge) prices were $1.29 (on average, at most Ottawa gas stations).

The problem with gas prices is that as soon as everybody rushes to fill up, they go up. So hurry up before it's too late!

Here are some comforting news for Ottawans - Ottawa is the least costly city to live in among the five big cities in Canada according to a study released by Mercer consulting. The company annually ranks 200 major cities around the world based on affordability. The rankings include real estate and rent, food, transportation and entertainment.

Toronto bypassed Vancouver and is now the most expensive city to live in in Canada. Vancouver held that title for many years before.

 

The royal couple is coming to Ottawa (again). You'll have a chance to see them on Parliament Hill this Friday around 2pm (might as well - Canadians paid for their trip). Apparently, they are here to boost the image of monarchy.