Sunday, February 17, 2013

One Final Adventure at Winterlude 2013

This being the final of three weekends of Ottawa's Winterlude Festival, my wife and I thought we would revisit Confederation Park after having a great Saturday breakfast at Lieutenant's Pump on the way over to the Rideau Centre.

Being early on a Saturday morning, the events for the weekend were still being set up and fine tuned. There was plenty to see with new blocks of ice were in place for the public to try their hand at ice carving, new sculptures had been created from the previous weekend and the Korean Lantern Garden was not that crowded yet which presented an excellent opportunity for some photos.

The Lantern Garden of Jinju Namgang Yudeung Festival

At Confederation Park there are two areas to visit that draws the attention of this year's visitors.  The first is the usual Crystal Garden filled with the usual ice sculptures that I mentioned last week. The other is the Lantern Garden of Jinju Namgang Yudeung Festival which is special to this year's Winterlude in recognition of the 60th Anniversary of the signing of the Armistice to end the Korean War in 1953.  A little Korean culture thus takes centre stage with an impressive lantern tunnel as well as other Korean themed sculptures.

A Korean family enjoying winter at the Jinju Namgang Yudeung Festival

An ice sculpture recognizing the Korean Armistice and the veterans that gave their lives during the war was also constructed.

A Memorial to the 60th Anniversary of the Korean War Armistice

After touring the Confederation Park, we strode up the stairs to the nearby Mackenzie King Bridge.  The bridge happens to be one of the best spots to take a picture of the Rideau Canal Skateway.  So I took the requisite picture and continued on into the nearby Rideau Centre.  

Rideau Canal Skateway viewed from the Mackenzie King Bridge

Winterlude is fun to attend on a cold winter day but will be ending as of Monday.  The Rideau Canal will still be open through until probably the end of February or the beginning of March.  It really depends on the ice thickness on the canal.  Hopefully though, I will get a few outings on the Rideau Canal Skateway before springs hits.  But I am looking forward to spring when Ottawa's Tulip Festival is in full bloom!

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