Carnaval

As if we weren't cold enough in Boston, a group of us decided to make a little weekend trip to Quebec City in Canada. It was Carnaval time and Valentine's Day weekend, so perfect timing. We left Friday night, stopping at the Methuen Family Restaurant for dinner. Yeah, enough said. The random comment award was for, on seeing a road sign, "I hate driving through moose." :)

Our first stop on Saturday morning was at the Hotel de Glace, which was celebrating their 10 year anniverary. Can I just say amazing! The only other ice hotel is in Sweden, with this one being the largest igloo in North America. The rate to actually stay the night is $300 - 400 for a plain room or $600 for a suite, with the most expensive room being $1000, but you get a private sauna. Before you go to bed for the night, you first get yourself really hot in the sauna, then crawl into the sleeping bags rated for -30 degrees C. The temperature does stay at -4 or -5 degrees C inside, regardless of outside temperature. You need to sleep in synthetics (or naked... I hope they're cleaned) to keep the air inside the bag warm.

Charlotte, Mollie, Leah, Rachel, Alison, Sarah, Camber - We asked this older gentleman who spoke French to take the picture... it took a few tries to figure out where the button on my camera is, then discovered it was on the video setting. Oops!

All those people are gathered around a SLIDE! which yes, we all tried out. Snow clothes are actually quite slippery and we zoomed down quite quickly.
The ice they use doesn't come from the river or lake, but is made in a factory and shipped to the site. For the decorative ice, osmosis is used to remove all the impurities from the water and make the ice clear. It is then shipped in big blocks that are used to make furniture like this.

This is the beautiful chapel in which they have around 35 weddings each year. Because the building melts every year and is not permanent, they can only have government officiaters, not religious. This means that most of the weddings are gay weddings.

There is even a nightclub at the ice hotel, serving drinks in what else but shot glasses made of ice. At least you know your drink will be cold.

The lights used are LED lights so they don't give off heat. Some of the rooms have fireplaces. Great to keep you warm, right? Wrong... they would melt the building, so they are double insulated to not give off heat. Just for ambience. Many of the rooms were decorated with different themes and were so fun. This one was my favorite, with ocean animals sculpted into the walls and underwater looking lights to complete the feel.
Next, we headed to the actual Carnaval. A lot of people were there braving the freezing temperatures and there were actually long lines for everything. We did see some fun ice sculptures, then went on rafting... you know, like sledding but in a giant raft.

I love this picture of us waiting for the raft. Mollie's hair was caught by the frigid wind just at the right second. It was cold on top of that hill!

This is an ice castle. Cool, but not so exciting after the ice hotel.

Parking was scarce and traffic was pretty heavy, so we ended up getting separated from the other car and had lunch on our own. (Just as a side note, portion size in Canada is so much better. My meal was actually the right size for one person and it cost less. It took a second to not feel cheated when the food looks so much smaller on your plate, then common sense settled in and it was fine.) We ended up finding eachother at the carnaval, but they had already done the carnaval, so we split up again deciding to meet later. Darn expensive international cell phone rates! It is times like this that I wonder what I ever did without a cell phone. I can't believe I went all the way through college, being very socially active in a sorority, without the ability to call anyone away from home. So crazy! Anyway, we were freezing very soon and were ready to leave, but had to wait to meet up with the group. Brrr!

For dinner that night, we decided to try poutine, which is a specialty in Quebec. We found a place called Ashtons and headed over to try it out. My Canadian friend told me that it is the ultimate comfort food. Little did I know that she thinks its gross. French fries and cheese curds covered in gravy. Would you try it? I actually didn't think it was bad. ;)After dinner, we made a pit stop at the local grocery store, Loblaw. I'm pretty sure the owner's name is Bob. Arrested Development anyone?

The next day we walked around Quebec City. It was seriously so charming, with a European feel. I loved all the cobblestone roads and stone walls and bridges.
We had delicious crepes for lunch. We needed another French treat before heading back to Boston. I didn't realize how many people in Quebec only speak French. There was a little bit of a communication gap there.
Thanks to my friend Rachel for planning this trip for us!

The drive home was pretty exciting. My right front tire kept losing air, so we had to stop several times to fill it up. Slightly worrisome. Also, when we drove up to Canada, it was well into the evening and slightly snowy, so there weren't really any police on the road. On the way home, it was early evening, but felt later because it gets dark so early in the winter. I got pulled over, but was hopeful that Mollie's skills would be able to talk us out of it. She is usually able to, unless it is a female cop. Guess who came to the window? Yep. Bad news for me.