I feel like there's a lot of people in the Heated Rivalry fandom who think Ottawa is boring (not true) or, somehow, cool (very not true) so as someone who's lived on and off in Ottawa for the last 16 years, here is a list of the things I know Ottawa for
The viral video of a fight in a MacDonald's where a guy pulls a raccoon out of his coat. That MacDonald's was known locally as 99rideau and it was known for being weird as hell at all hours of the night
It has the largest Ikea in north america (or had? Idk if they've built a bigger one)
The drag bar, Swizzles, which was in an alleyway and then down a set of stairs. Sketchy and then fabulous :D
The great Glebe garage sale - every year in summer one of the richer neighborhoods holds a community wide garage sale and over the years it's become bigger and now it's a huge block party
I cant express how easy it is to find great shawarma in this town. We have a huge Lebanese population
During the Ashley Madison leaks Ottawa lit up like a MF Christmas tree because every politician and ambassador has a side piece
It's the capital of Canada and somehow not one outside of Canada knows this
It's the capital of Canada, on the highway between Montreal and Toronto, and yet somehow every band skips us when they go on tour 😭
There's two major universities and one college in Ottawa. One year all three of them had a dry frosh week that ended on the same day, and that day caused a mass casualty incident in Ottawa because of all the drunk students doing dumb things after being sober for so long
The canal. It's 7 km long and connects the two universities, so I used to skate over to see my sister in the winter. Theres little hot chocolate huts every couple km on the ice.
When skating the canal, It's really common to see people in full speed skating gear go rocketing past you.
The experimental farm in the middle of Ottawa which is an agricultural research center and museum. Theres trails and fields and farm animals :)
Ottawa is still in Ontario, the same province as Toronto. During hockey season the entire town divides into Sens fans and Leafs fans. I remember seeing a bus driver in a leafs jersey (jokingly) threaten to shut the door on a guy in a sens jersey when they were playing each other
The drinking age in Ontario is 19, but just across the river is Gatineau, Quebec where you can drink at 18, so underage students will hop the border to go drinking
Gatineau park has a bunch of trails, an abandoned mine, and an abandoned victorian laboratory
Ottawa is a deeply weird government/university town. It is not boring and it is absolutely not hip or cool.
