Last weekend I travelled
to Quebec City for the world-renowned Carnaval d’Hiver, or in English Winter
Carnival. The trip was organized by the
uOttawa French Immersion Club. I was
thrilled when I got an email about the trip because last Fall I had been
thinking of planning my own to trip to Winter Carnival as part of my whole
“taking advantage of my last few months in Ottawa” philosophy. The group trip was way cheaper and probably
more fun than my trip would’ve been.
I tried to get some of my
friends to come along but nobody jumped at the opportunity. Oh well their loss! It was such a fun trip. I met some lovely people – Erika T., Megh and
Melody I mean you! That is the one nice
thing about going on an organized trip alone, you are forced to meet new people
and make new friends.
When I first got on the
bus I was just looking for a place to sit and then Megh happened to catch my
eye. She looked familiar but I couldn’t
place her. I have a tendency to
recognize a face and then have no clue how I know the person. It turns out that she is a friend of my
housemate Melissa and I had met her a couple times at Rotaract meetings. We very quickly got over the awkwardness of
me not knowing who she was and spent nearly the entire 6 hour bus ride chatting
and getting to know each other. We have
surprisingly a lot in common. We have
both done Rotary Youth Exchanges, me to France, her to Mexico. She has done a short exchange to France and I
travelled to Mexico back in 2004 on a Missions trip. I’m from Tsawwassen and she has actually been
there to visit her Aunt and Uncle that live there. She is from Kingston and I’ve been there. The list goes on and on…
The bus ride to Quebec City
was slightly treacherous due to all the snow.
That Friday something like 20cm of snow fell. By the time we got to the city there was a
blanket fresh, clean blanket of snow covering everything. It was really pretty. I guess because I was “on vacation” the snow
was enchanting and exciting. I didn’t
dread it like usual here in Ottawa.
Megh and I were assigned
to different rooms at the hostel but we made plans to go for dinner
together. Erika and Melody, who roomed
with Megh, joined us. At dinner we
discovered that all four of us have lived in France at some point and we all
have birthdays in February. It was a
very amusing coincidence. Our shared
experiences made for easy and enjoyable conversation.
After we finished eating we
headed to the opening ceremonies of the Carnaval but got sidetracked by the
striking Chateau Frontenac and the view of the St. Lawrence River. The wind and snow created this crazy feeling
of being in some arctic town. Then while
still searching for the carnival grounds we ran into some people who told us
that the opening ceremonies (fireworks) were cancelled on a count of the
wind. At that point we decided to go back
to the hostel so Megh and Erika could put on their snow pants before we
continued wandering around the city. When
we passed a creperie we couldn’t pass up the allure of delicious crepes before
continuing on our random adventures.
Later Erika and I ended up running in knee-deep snow in a small out of
the way park and then at a different park we made snow angels in deep powdery
snow. As you will see the in the photos
below it was as fun as it sounds.
The next day we explored
all that Carnaval had to offer. Arriving
right as it opened we managed to avoid long lineups and got our fill of the
carnival in about 3 hours just as it was starting to get busy. We rode the ferris wheel, went snow tubing,
enjoyed a lovely horse-drawn sleigh ride, ate beaver tails, watched Erika play
life-size foosball, and of course took advantage of a photo op with Bonhomme
Carnaval. I could recount everything
that happened at the carnival but then this post would be reach the point of
being ridiculously long instead of just really long. Hopefully the pictures I’ve included will
adequately tell the story for me.
We spent the afternoon
checking out the shops and each of us ended up buying something. I bought two tops from a store called Simons
for $5 each. I love bargains. I wore one of them to dinner since I had
forgotten to bring anything nice to wear.
Erika, having been to Quebec City a few times, recommended a nice
restaurant in Old Quebec – Côtes à Côtes.
Erika and Megh got steak (filet mignon) while I had a delicious salmon
filet with a copious amount of vegetables and some couscous. It is probably the best salmon dish I have
ever had. If I ever go back to Quebec
City I will definitely go back to that restaurant.
After dinner we wander
around looking for a bar to hang out at but came up short so we ended up going
back to the hostel bar. Megh and Erika bought
drinks and apparently the bartender had no idea what he was doing. The drinks were alcohol with a splash of
juice instead of juice with a splash of alcohol. We found a backgammon board without its
pieces so Erika and I ended up playing backgammon with chess pieces. I think we both won a game or maybe she won
both games. I can’t quite remember. Then we played chess, which neither of us
really knew how to play. We just kept
eliminating each other’s pieces with no real plan. When I lost I had one pawn left to protect my
King and Erika only had a handful of pieces left.
When the bar closed we went
up to our rooms and chatted until the wee hours of the morning. The next day we boarded the bus and headed
back to Ottawa, thus concluding the trip.
It was a wonderful weekend and that I won’t be forgetting anytime soon!
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| Apparently my mom and her cousin think this looks like a couple shot.. No mom I'm not dating Bonhomme. |
