Winterlude ... again.

I am back in Ottawa to visit family and friends.  Happily, the Winterlude festivities coincide with my visit.  Today dawned sunny, bright and cold.  Thousands of people flocked to skate on the frozen Rideau Canal.  At 7.8 km, it's an impressively long skating rink.

The Parliament Buildings are at the back left of this photo
and on the right the famous, Chateau Laurier Hotel.

Unlike last year, this year, I didn't join the skaters on the canal, and I'm OK with that.

Instead, my brother Darrell, and I checked out the ice sculpture area.  Some of the carved pieces were very ornate.  Unfortunately there had been some unseasonably mild weather last week, with the result that some of the carvings were a shadow of their former selves. Still they were lovely.

Darrell

What do you think these are ?

Colourful blocks of ice, for children to use as building blocks.

Not everything was made of ice.

Korean "lantern" tunnel

I was born in the year of the Tiger.

There was a separate area where amateur ice sculptors could show off their talent.

Wait.

Who's that in the red snow suit in the background ?

Holy mackerel ! It's none other than the famous Canadian celebrity, Rick Mercer.  He was allegedly trying his hand at ice carving for an upcoming episode of his TV show, The Rick Mercer Report.

One minute he was clumsily chipping away at a block of ice, and the next, he was proudly showing off the magically completed, work.

It was a wonderful surprise addition, to a day that was already going really well.

Who's a lucky girl ?