Winterlude Ottawa 2008, Part 2

Skating on the canal - well, Dow's Lake technically - did not go as gracefully as my imagination had played out. No misadventures, but I don't think I'll make the hockey team this year....Man it was cold though. I couldn't stay on the ice for longer than an hour, and that's with the warming characteristics of hot chocolate and Beaver Tails. (I was too scared to stand by the fire blazing away on top of the ice - but for how long....)


Snow sculptures in Gatineau (just over the Ottawa River), pretty amazing.

Oh, and Beaver Tails are not literally beaver tails in this case. They're deep fried pastry similar to a long flat beaver tail shape, covered in cinnamon and sugar. Awefully naughty, but with the cold it could have been life and death...

Winterlude, Ottawa 2008

Ah, the challenge of photographing Ice... Well, the camera and I did our best, and with a little help from PhotoShop, it would seem that you can vaguely make out some of these shapes. Unfortunately I could not quite do justice to the amazing pieces of art that are alas, with us in this world for such brief a moment as the snow dast fall.



There were artists from all over the world, displaying cultural pieces that were simply astounding. I can't help but admore these people that can create something so unbelievable, knowing that they will inevitably melt away in such a short time. It's started getting warmer here (well, from -19degC to -4degC roughly) so no longer do the swords hold their terrifyingly sharp edge, and the horses, frozen in place, will no longer hope to break into motion on their melted limbs...



I think my favourite has to be this T-Rex skeleton. Even without the 'flesh' it was still a little threatening, and the detail astounding, depite the softening as the edges dripped away.



I still can't work out why the Ottawan's are celebrating winter in such a way, they have nice summers, and there's plenty of skiing to be done, obviously. Ice hockey. Curling. But to celebrate being outdoors during this time is...confusing. The canal is now open from as close to the locks as you can basically get, to Dows Lake. Its about 7km of skating. Once you get to the lake you can reward yourself with a sleigh ride. Whether or not Santa is driving is so far unconfirmed.