Winterlude 2010 – Ottawa

Winterlude, an event celebrated every winter during the month of February. Sculptures from around the world gather within Canada, Ottawa to show off their ice carving skills.  One of the many locations dealing with Winterlude is Confederation Park in Downtown Ottawa. This will be part 1 as I didn’t get my Beaver tail and because there are more places with Winterlude related material.

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What is Winterlude exactly?
– Official Site:
http://www.canadascapital.gc.ca

Or as quoted from their “about” page:

Every February, Canada’s Capital Region is host to Winterlude, Canada’s winter celebration. Three fun-filled weekends of excitement and activity await the whole family! From spectacular ice carvings to an amazing playground made of snow, Winterlude is a great way to take in the best of our Canadian winter.

Welcome to the Crystal Garden!

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Want some hot dogs before I give you a brief tour on the first half of this Winterlude event?

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Oh, and just to make sure we’re on the same page do read that Warning message.

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First thing you may see would be these plastic bag sculptures, if coming from the West side of the park.

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Ever heard music from ice? Ice Instruments?

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Here is a 2 minute sample of the liver performance.

Would of taken a longer clip but my camera told me it had one bar left.

Smokey ice next to the performer.

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Ring of Ice sculptures.

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The number of people using SLR type cameras was provocative as I was using a Sony W170 Digital Camera. Saw a decent amount of people using the same type of camera I was using.

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The Dragon and the Sword go nicely together.

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Ice ‘shrooms. Want some rare ice mushrooms for personal use?

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Old fashioned tap dancing wooden toys. I see the Senator’s mascot – Spartacat.

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*Hears someone’s stomach rumbling*.

Oh? You want some of these snow candies?

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And back to more ice sculptures :). Transformers? Name the Autobot/Deceptacon heh.

I do apologize if I butcher any names since there was a massive crowd of people blocking various signs. All I caught was one Japanese artist and a guy with a Croatian (probably) nationality.

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Chewie? Bigfoot? Yeti?

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A mystical butterfly.

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Tried to get this next one in a single shot, failed (referring to two below images).  Too many people all packed into one single area like sardines.

Princess Coral.

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Food is to the left. The ice sculptures are just in front of you and to your right.

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This may seem random but has anybody wondered where the word “Kanata” exactly came from? “Kanata” for “Canada”. The Mohawk word means “Village” or “settlement” while the Japanese word means  “the other side, there, yonder” . A village over there and on the other side?

*is ready to get scolded by a history buff*

Wikipedia. Ya, just something random and for food for thought.

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……so much for having Beaver tail today. I’m not waiting in the cold today, I’ll do so  tomorrow (Monday 8th). These are four (probably 5) lines on a busy Sunday.

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View of the Crystal Garden from above, with city hall to the top right. Probably a bad vantage point.

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View of where the plastic sculptures, Ice instruments, and the announcements are.

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Bonus images – Downtown Ottawa:

Just something I didn’t want sitting in my image folder. Yes, I know I take too many images.

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Mini-Parliament Building.

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City Hall.

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Art Gallery and The Notre-Dame Cathedral Basilica

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American Embassy.

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Gatineau-Hull – May be my part two for later.

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Thanks for viewing my article and hope you enjoyed what you seen. I still have yet to try that Beaver Tail! Stay tuned for another article.

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Edit: Tuesday, February 09, 2010

Two pictures, not enough to warrant another article. I had one of the sugary Beaver Tails on my next visit. I won’t edit this article anymore and will make a new one for the next visit as this image is already image heavy.

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This beaver tail reminded me of those crepes or Palacinky I had back in Slovakia, tasted similar. I recommend those that haven’t tried these Beaver Tails to do so.

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Edit: – Monday, February 15, 2010

Want to know how each place looks before you visit or because you can’t visit? I found some web cameras that may be of interest to you.

Rideau Canal:
http://www.canadascapital.gc.ca -  (Will most likely expire once the event ends on 21st of February (Sunday)).

Confederation Park:
http://www.webcams.travel