The Ice Hotel

Hi everybody! Welcome to the Hôtel de Glace, a.k.a. the Ice Hotel, in Canada! About half an hour away from Quebec, this amazing hotel is built every winter out of only snow and ice; 15000 tons of snow and 500 tons of ice. It's Gothic inspired architecture is achieved using stainless steel molds for support during construction. About 4 feet thick at the base and 2 feet thick at the ceiling, the construction is stout enough to support the weight of a bus. The hotel essentially act like a huge igloo, keeping an internal atmospheric temperature of 23-26°F regardless of the temperature outside, which is usually much, much colder!

In the photo above, you can barely make it out but I am standing in front of the three candles in the elegant and pristine ice chapel. Deer pelts adorn the ice pews to keep you from freezing your fanny off, as well as to keep you from melting through the bench!



There are two kinds of rooms there; regular and themed. The regular rooms are monastically simple with a large arched ceiling. For the themed rooms, they bring in professional snow and ice carvers to give each room unique attention and artistic vision.



The bed frames are 100% ice. However, you sleep on a foam mattress which is set into the ice frame. They give you arctic sleeping bags at night to keep you warm and snug as a bug. They work too, just DON'T MOVE! Otherwise you get a blast of cold air from some little gap that you created! Brrrr!



Art was both carved and painted, though the painting was in a limited area as to not diminish the winter-wonderland essence created by the pure white snow and crystal clear ice.



All of this beautiful ice gets shipped from Montreal in the south!


This magical view is what welcome you as you first walk in.



At night, they use a variety of well appointed lights to bring the ice to life.



The site where the Ice Hotel is built is on an eco-tourism resort. So if you'd like to visit the Ice Hotel, but not sleep there, you can get yourself a cozy and warm room at the lodge. There were many outdoor winter activities available, such as snow-shoeing, cross country skiing, and dog sledding. And dog sledding is what I'm doing here in this photo! It was really a lot of fun, when you could get the dogs to cooperate! See you next time!

Quebec

Brrrrrr! Oops! I mean, bonjour! Welcome to Quebec City, in Quebec, Canada! Quebec City was founded 1608, making it one of the oldest cities in North America. Quebec City is known for it's Winter Carnival, and that's exactly what was going on when I arrived. These people love the yearly onset of snow and ice, and celebrate them to the fullest extent. The picture above is me on a bench that was carved out of ice, and then had a fresh coating of snow.

This is the Château Frontenac. This amazing castle-like hotel was built in 1893 by Canadian Pacific Railway to lure travelers to ride their rails. It certainly lured me to stay there! It was pretty cool, and convenient to everything downtown.


Nifty boutiques and restaurants were all over the place, though many of them close for the winter season.


Below you can see the Opera House and part of the city's fortified wall. Quebec City is one of the few cities in North America that still has their old fortifications intact, making it a World Heritage Site. The city walls really enriched the historical experience.


The streets of downtown were quiet at night, and the warm glow of the streetlights against the blanket of snow created an enchanting effect.


This is an all-too-inviting toy store window! The white snowman guy is the official mascot for the world's largest Winter Carnival! In size and scope, the Carnival falls just behind Carnival in Rio de Janeiro and Mardi Gras in New Orleans, making it the third largest party in the world!


Snow sculptures adorned the public spaces in many parts of the city. Some were abstract art, while others were realistic or fantasy based.


That's me, standing in the snow in front of a snow penguin in only my crocs, shorts, and t-shirt. Do I look a little blue to you? I think it's time for a hot chocolate!