The Carnaval takes place on the Plains of Abraham, overlooking the St. Lawrence River.
It is turned into quite the winter wonderland. There are competitions for snow sculptures. Some were still being worked on.
We tried a few of the local specialties. Maple syrup on a stick:
Caribou - a concoction of wine and spirits - served in ice glasses
and Sortilege - whiskey with maple syrup.
There were different activities for kids of all ages: sledding (on both snow and ice), obstacle courses, and volleyball. Madam Drapeau and Keyla playing snow volleyball.
In San Paulo, where Keyla comes from, they do this on the beach. I convinced her to try it in the snow. I think she prefers sand.
Earlier in the week we had gone to the Old City and she saw some high school students wearing short skirts and tights. She couldn't believe they could walk around not be cold. At the Carnaval we passed by the spa and saw people in the hot tubs. That just about finished her -- "only wear a bathing suit?" Crazy Canucks!
There was a place to go ice fishing. They must have a gazillion trout stocked in the tank because everyone who tried caught something. You could take the trout home - still twitching - or have it cooked on the barbeque. Lots of kids trying their luck...with Mom or Dad's help.
There were rides on the horse-drawn cart.
After lunch, Keyla and crew went back home and I stayed and checked out a few more things: horse races.
Zip line down Grande Allee (no not for me, this time.)
Ice Palace (not to be confused with the Ice Hotel which I have yet to see).
And Rue Petit-Champlain. I remember being here years ago in the summer. It is a magical kind of place (among other things, money disappears - lol)
And I found the house that the Demers family built back in the late 1680's. It is on Rue Champlain. I will have to go back and see it again.
I didn't realize it was down from the Chateau Frontenac. There is a real old world charm on this street.
It only took me half an hour to walk back to my house from here. Time for a hot cup of tea.
Wow, Susan, what a wonderful couple of days. I had only heard of Sortilèges - in fact gave a friend a bottle. Haven't tried it but was assured that it is delicious. Did you sample it?
ReplyDeleteThe scarves are gorgeous - particularly the fine wool one. Funny, that magic thing about money!
We went to a bilingual festival at the Cité francophone here on Saturday night. Le canoe volant ... based on a Métis/aboriginal legend. Only problem was that it was -32. I have never felt such bitter cold. http://www.laciteenlumieres.ca/
I suppose you could say that it gave me MUCH better appreciation of our ancestors. After almost two hours of that and feet that felt like blocks of ice, we did order poutine!
The maple whiskey was very nice. I normally don't drink whiskey, but this was nice to sip. I think I will be making another trek or two the that scarf shop. Each piece is unique and the shop attendant there on the weekend said the artist/owners work there during the week. You can watch them work. She is never sure what she will find when she comes to work for the weekend. You really have to try them on because the colours are so close to the face. Another scarf very similar to the wool one did not work as well because of how the colours mixed. I watched the canoe races the next day and it wasn't that cold, but, my, I felt for the canoeists having the march through the ice and water. Brrr!
DeleteHmmm... while you guys were doing snow volleyball, we were doing beach volleyball in Puerto Vallarta... well, Anne was. I just sat back and watched her play with a bunch of Quebecois.
ReplyDeleteWhat! There are Quebecois who skip the Carnaval!! Mon Dieu! I would sit back and watch too. I'm not flexible enough to go after volleyballs.
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