Today marked the end of Edmonton's ice festival (www.iceonwhyte.ca) so we felt we should check out a bit of the local culture and see what it was all about.
A group of us met for lunch at Flavours and then set out in search of what was a small but impressive show. The high temperatures of this week (we reached 3 degrees C) meant that a few of the sculptures had started to melt, but we got the general idea.
'Under the Sea'
Afterwards we headed off to William Hawrelak Park:
Hawrelak Park is one of the gems of Edmonton's river valley parks system. There's easy bike access from Laurier Park and Valley Zoo, and there's both trail and road access to nearby Emily Murphy Park. The park ring road lets visitors find picnic sites and other attractions with ease.
The physical centerpiece of the park is a man-made lake that is home to ducks, geese and gulls in summer. Paddleboat rentals let park visitors explore the lake. In winter, the lake becomes a large open-air skating pond, and it is regularly cleaned and flooded. Skate rentals are available, as well as hot drinks and snacks from a concession stand. The most visible structure in the park is the Heritage Amphitheatre, home to the Heritage Festival, Shakespeare in the Park, and Symphony Under the Sky.
It's quite weird to think you can actually walk straight off the park trails and onto the pond to skate. Something else to get our heads around.
Careful Noriko! ...no boats today, mabye in the Summer.
No comments:
Post a Comment