Thanks in part to a kind Christmas gift, A and I headed to Quebec City for a long weekend to check out Carnival, the largest festival of its kind, and now in its 57th year. It involves all manner of wintery activities and entertainment: here is a taster..
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| The festival site |
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| The popular snow slides |
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| The festival is on the banks of the St Lawrence: partly frozen at this time of year |
Of course, Quebec City is a charming place to visit even without the festival, and so we went for a wander through the old town:
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| Place Royale, and the Notre-Dame-des-Victoires church |
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| Rue du Petit-Champlain |
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| There are many fine snow sculptures |
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| and ice sculptures |
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| A night parade with many crazy floats |
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| and the star of the show: Bonhomme! |
Winter sports were well represented - both participation (only one skating fall for the whole weekend), and spectator:
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| Pond hockey |
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| Dog sledding |
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| Ski joring |
That's right - the skier is being dragged along by the horse and rider: they must follow a course, and pick up rings as they go. One of the crazier sports I've seen!
So, a very entertaining, enjoyable weekend. And I didn't even mention all the good food we ate!
