Winterlude may be over, but the Rideau Canal, our national landmark, is still open for skating. Downtown Ottawa, I keep on seeing passers-by casually carrying a pair of skates in the hands or on their shoulders, heading to the longest skating rink in the world (okay, I know some may argue it’s not!). The crowd on weekends is pretty impressive!
Only in Canada you can see toddlers skating perfectly, moms pushing strollers on ice and teens goofing around, secretly training and hoping to be the next Wayne Gretzky.
Skating on the Canal is actually pretty hard because the ice if far from being smooth—no Zamboni to resurface it! It can get quite slushy (slush is a mix of ice/snow and water) and there are holes here and there.
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I always enjoy a nutella flavour beavertail. Yum! I haven’t skate since high school and I wonder how I will do if I try again. Let’s cross our fingers for spring 🙂
I love all the photos, Zhu, especially the first one and the third one. You’re really talented, Girl.
.-= Agnes´s last blog ..Give me your heart make it real or else forget about it =-.
I always wanted to skate on Rideau Canal but unfortunately I cannot skate, even if my life depended on it 😀
.-= Cynthia´s last blog ..Le plus grand espace vert appartient aux morts =-.
30 Max – is that referring to speed or maximum number of skaters?
.-= khengsiong´s last blog ..Random Notes on AirAsia =-.
I missed skating on the Rideau on my last winter trip to Ottawa. How fun. A “must-do” next time I have the opportunity. GREAT Pictures! Keep up the good work!
.-= Adam´s last blog ..Immigration Blog Interview =-.
Don’t tell me you didn’t skate this time either ? 😉
Ahh, I’ve got a sweet tooth and you’re killing me with the Beaver Tails 😉
.-= Nigel´s last blog ..Sucess! =-.
I just love the ‘warning – skaters ahead’ sign!
.-= Abi from Inside the Travel Lab´s last blog ..Volver – Return to Spain =-.
when it is snow and ice outside, you *need* the calories!
i love that so many people go skating, if they were
americans, they’d be sitting in front of the television.
.-= Seraphine´s last blog ..Fountaingrove Winery: Part 2 =-.
I can not skate…but it looks fun.
Hmmm…give me one of your Beaver Tails instead !
Timely post with Team Canada’s win last night!
I LOVE skating and I LOVE hockey! (typical Canadian…)
.-= Beth´s last blog ..Room With a View =-.
wow, they must be good in order to skate on the slushy top. By watching the Olympic figure skating game and your images, make me wanna go there to skate, but I only know how to roller skate~~ ha!
The food you are eating look so goooood~~~ 🙂
.-= micki´s last blog ..Dai Hua Station, Ping Si Branch =-.
i would rather ice skate in summer. when it’s not so cold.
the ice would feel good, like air conditioning on vinyl.
.-= Seraphine´s last blog ..Fountaingrove Winery: Part 2 =-.
So much fun there ZHu…what’s beavertails selling? Looks warmth & fuzzy for such a cold cold day like this.
Have a great weekend Zhu 😀
How much fun and what a great report from you! It’s very much like what they do in the Netherlands (that’s why they are that good in speed skating!)
It’s not that much of it in Norway, often because there is too much snow.
Guess you’re watching the Olympics too – right now Canada and Norway have equal amount of gold medals 🙂 Looking forward to meet you in curling final tomorrow – what do you think of the Norwegian team’s pants? 😆
.-= RennyBA’s Terella´s last blog ..Winter Olympics 2010 Inuksuk from Canada in Norway =-.
Beaver tail? Ha ha… I just like that name.
Is it like doughnut?
I can’t believe you people can still skate this time of year…
Our outdoor ice rinks closed end of last month.
Re: Stable without horses / 没有马的马房 / Kandang kuda tanpa kuda / 馬がいない馬屋
Do French eat horses? I saw people selling horse meat when I was in Barcelona!!
I wanted to order horse meat at their restaurants but I couldn’t find one that did that dish…
Maybe people all cook it secretly at home?
.-= London Caller´s last blog ..Isleworth Ait / 艾尔沃斯岛 / Ait Isleworth / アイズルワース・エイト =-.
We also have a famous skating place in the City of Quebec, on Place d’Youville, in the historic Old City.BTW, do you see children pushing a chair in front of them in order to learn skating? I see it here all the time and if it wasn’t embarrassing I would do it myself, LOL.
.-= Yasmine´s last blog ..Playing in the Dirt =-.
@Bluefish – Nutella is my favorite drug 🙂
@Agnes – Thank you! Ottawa does have a nice skyline.
@Cynthia – You know, a lot of people can’t skate well, they just have a laugh and give it a try.
@khengsiong – It’s the speed limit for cars along the driveway because during winter, a lot of people cross the street to go to the Rideau Canal. Hence the “warning, skaters!”.
@Adam – Even if you don’t skate, just walking in the ice and enjoying the atmosphere is fun.
@Abi from Inside the Travel Lab – Only in Canada, I guess 😆
@Nigel – Sorry, I don’t dare to skate AND take pictures at the same time!
@Seraphine – Canadians are pretty outdoorsy overall, even if people tend to be lazy in the winter.
@Sidney – Sure, have one then!
@Beth – You are indeed Canadian.
@ micki – It’s quite similar to rollerskating as far as I’m concerned!
@ shionge – It was about – 10C… warm for us, indeed!
@ Seraphine – Love the idea!
@ RennyBA’s Terella – This year was strange, not so much snow. Otherwise you are right, skating is very difficult! You guys are skiiers 😉
@ London Caller- Yeah, basically fried dough with a topping such as Nutella or maple syrup.
@ Yasmine _ I think I went there in 2002 when I first came to Canada. I remember doing the luge as well… I was so cold!
From someone who doesn’t know what’s in a beavertail, please do tell! Hot sweet pastry = like what? chocolate and sweet doughy treat?
By the way, I was just thinking it must be so nice to see so many people/families spending time on the ice. I would feel so odd being the odd man out not really skating for some 20 plus years now! Well unless you call shoe walking skating.. I guess I need to get more Canadianized! lol…
Love the pics! And yes much different than life here in Victoria right now.
.-= expatraveler´s last blog ..A Photo Tour =-.
really nice shots! that looks like quite a huge area for skating. must have been fun!
.-= Charles Dastodd´s last blog ..Flower Market =-.
Ton blog est mieux qu’une page Facebook (ceci est un compliment).
I really want to go to the canal and skate. I learnt skating and I think it will be very nice to tell people that “I skated in the Rideau canal”… hehehe! Enjoy the beavertail!
.-= Priyank´s last blog ..Veliky Novgorod =-.
Hey, we were all there then!! I wonder if we are in your pictures somewhere in the crowd, the four of us – me, Mr.B, Mr.T and ‘Obélix’. It was fun to be out on the ice with them (a real trip down memory lane for me, the Ottawa girl) and then each day to come back to images of Olympic winter sports beamed from Vancouver on the TVs in the hotel lobby. Mr. T improved his skating by leaps and bounds, and we all got a great workout. The only thing that didn’t live up to expectations were the beavertails – first there was an incredibly long line-up, as you noticed, and then when I finally got the thing, the plan was to just eat a bit. (Will be posting about weight loss on the blog soon…) The idea was that the kids would eat most of it, but they refused, if you can believe it! Mr. B tasted a bit of the Killaloe Sunrise and said he didn’t like it. The mind boggles. By the time I gave up trying to convince them, it was cold, of course…which happens rather quickly out there, as anyone could guess.
My children can be rather unusual at times.
Can you believe I never actually skate on the Rideau Canal? Every year I say I will, and then the rentals are always expensive, I have the camera with me or other pathetic excuses!
I’ll try to spot you in my pictures 😉