Winterlude (Or Having Fun In The Cold)
After another winter storm (where I, among others, sat on a bus that got stuck in the snow for an hour and shoveled about 50 cm of white snow to be able to open my door), we decided to make the most of the season and we headed to Winterlude, the annual winter festival which opened last week-end.
Funny thing is, I was recently reading RennyBA’s Terella, where my Norwegian friend was telling about his own Oslo Winter Festival — guess both countries enjoy having fun in subzero temperatures and building stuffs with ice!
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Winterlude starts here, at the Rideau Canal. The longest skating rink in the world opened last week, and the ice was thick enough for people to skate on it. It was quite crowed and no, in case you ask, I walked and didn’t skate. Come on, I can’t be perfect!
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The Rideau Canal ends downtown, close to the Confederation Park. Not all the little chalets — which usuallu sell food and hot drinks — were opened, but I found a great ice bar. Bet the drinks are chilled!
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The sculptures were really nice. Made the previous day by an international team, they feature Canadian landscapes (such as this Nunavut scenery) and lots of icy people. The details are amazing… and don’t forget everything is made of ice!
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Kids were invited to make their own Inukshuk. Inukshuk (”in the image of man”) are sculpture made of stone or ice erected by the Inuits. They represent leadership, friendship and are also used as milestones in the North. Meanwhile, grown-ups were queuing at the Beavertails stall….
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But wait, the best is to come. I soon spotted… maple treats!! Maple toffees, more precisely, my favorite… They are the made by pouring maple syrup directly on ice/ snow. Yes, it’s very sweet and sticky but oh-so-good!
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What? I deserved it, didn’t I?
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Winter storm, Winterlude..wow! Sounds so interesting. Your photographs are marvellous and good to see you smiling happily.
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Hey Zhu,
You did those ice carvings didn’t you. Awesome.
Have you had a beavertail?
BB
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@Reward Rebel - I’m with you on that one: I hate when we have just a little bit of snow because it gets really slushy right away and you can’t do much with it. That said, this winter, we had a ton of it! The ice sculptures are gonna last for a few weeks I think.
@Keshi - Thanks! I took the top two pictures the night of the last big storm we had, last Friday.
@Inga - Thanks! Making the most of the winter…
@Shantanu - They have a cool ice hotel in Quebec as well, although it’s not cheap. Maple toffees are more affordable!
@Celine - I bet it’s quite different from India! Send me some heat and I send you some snow… deal?
@Beaverboosh - Of course I did everything myself! Canadians forced me to. You know how cruel this people can be
I haven’t had maple treats in forever! Great photos, I better get some batteries in my camera if I want to compete with you
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Looks like you caught most of the good stuff. The maple taffy making is fun.
Did you catch any concerts too?
Renny sent me by.