Festival of the White Night

Its a long winter here in Canada and I can imagine how it affects your emotions after several months. Everyone has been telling us how cold this winter has been and how early it started. The first snow came in November which is very unsual. For the month of February, Montreal only hit positive temperatures on two occasions - both brief periods during the day where it got to 1 or 2 degrees.

Instead of looking at the negative, the Canadians do try to celebrate their unique climate and provide activities to get people out and about. This month, it is the festival of light and it culminated with "White Night" - a whole night of celebration. Bands play; activities run; museums, restaurants, bars and clubs stay open all night.  We didn't quite make the most of the 'all night' approach, however we did go into town and stay out until about 10pm, which is late for us!

We cooked sausages over open fires, tasted poutine again (not much better - still not taken by it), caught up with some new Canadian friends, looked at the lights and played snakes and ladders on an enormous board. There were super cool activities, like a bob sled about 300 metres long and a ferris wheel, but with queues over the hour, we had to skip them. Its too cold to stand still in a line for that long! The city looked lovely with light features on many buildings and in the trees.

It was really, really cold and it was hard work being outside.  Taking gloves off to eat or take photos stung your fingers, so everything was done quickly. The photo with friends below was in one of the underground shopping centres, which makes up the underground city. It was warmer in there!