Three weeks of festivities at the Quebec Winter Carnival include night parades, fireworks, slide runs, a giant foot ball game, concerts, snow sculptures, horse-drawn sleigh rides, dogsled rides, an Ice Tower, ice skating and ice fishing.
All of it is watched over by Bonhomme, the large white friendly snowman who seems to appear everywhere at once. He is the carnival mascot, always smiling, dressed in a red stocking cap and a colorful sash around his waist, his chest decorated with three round black buttons. Of course there’s a person inside the costume, welcoming you both in French and in English.
2007 is the 53rd annual festival, which attracts about one million people to Quebec, the only fortified city in North America, whose modern history dates back to a settlement founded in 1535 by Jacques Cartier.
One of the most popular events is a canoe race on the St. Lawrence River. Some years the river is frozen solid, and teams pull their wooden canoes over the ice instead of paddling them through the water. Another is the snow bath, in which a 100 or so hardy partyers strip to their bathing suits and roll around in the snow. Of course, snowball fights have been known to erupt.
The snow baths are one of several events and activities at the Plaines d’Abraham, a park-like area at the edge of the Old City. This is where the Children’s Village is, with obstacle courses, snow tunnels, an adventure trail and ice slides.
There’s always an intricate and memorable Ice Tower, a building constructed completely of ice, with exhibits inside. And just outside of town is the Ice Hotel Glace, constructed of more 15,000 tons of snow and ice. It contains more than 36 rooms and suites for overnight stays, plus a night club and a lounge, where drinks are served in glasses carved out of blocks of ice, and ice walls are decorated with ice sculptures.
I slept over a couple of years back. Yes, it was a very cool experience. I was warm and cozy in my fleece jammies, tucked inside a down sleeping bag on top of a bearskin that was on top of a bed-sized slab of ice, and the wall of my bedroom was decorated with an ice sculpture of deer and trees. Of course, a new Ice Hotel Glace is constructed each winter – it melts in the spring.
Evelyn Kanter - Ever since I fell asleep in the back seat of my parent's car and woke up at my front door, I have thought that travel is a magical ...
