Quebec Winter Carnival 2010

Fairmont Chateau Frontenac, Quebec

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.  And, there’s always an intricate and memorable Ice Tower, a building constructed completely of ice, with exhibits inside.

 The Quebec Winter Carnival – Carnaval du Quebec in French — attracts about one million people to the only fortified city in North America.  It’s modern history dates to a 1535 settlement founded by Jacques Cartier.

 It’s not part of the winter carnival, but the Ice Hotel Glace, just out of town, is an important annual winter in Quebec.  The ice hotel constructed of more 15,000 tons of snow and ice.  It contains several dozen 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.  Ice walls are decorated with ice sculptures. 

I slept over a couple of years back.  Yes, it was a very cool experience, and yes, that pun was intended.  But 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 one is constructed each winter – since it melts each spring.

Here’s a video of the Ice Hotel that shows almost everything, although not my sleeping bag: