Ice Fest 2018

On Saturday, February 24th we went to an ice festival in downtown Toronto.  The theme this year was "Winter Hath Come".  

We walked around and saw many ice sculptures, mostly of knights or dragons and medieval things.

This one is a frog prince.

This might be hard to tell, but it's Toothless from How To Train Your Dragon.  Glenn really liked that one.  He loves those movies/TV shows!

This was a really cool one--an ice throne that people could sit on!  It was pretty cold though.

While there, they had a knight fight.  We got to watch these men, dressed as medieval knights, use real swords for a mock battle.

And Glenn got a photo with the winner!

It was a fun afternoon and despite the cold we were glad we went.  

In the middle of where this festival was taking place there is this giant rock formation.  I read on the website Atlas Obscura, "Unsatisfied with the local stones, Toronto city planners had the Yorkville Rock broken apart so that it could be relocated to the middle of an urban park.
Approximately one billion years old, “The Rock” weighs 650 tons and represents the roots of an ancient mountain range that has long since eroded. The rock was removed in pieces from the Canadian glacial shield and transported in huge fragments on 20 flatbed trailers to Toronto’s Yorkville Park. As each rock section arrived, it was reassembled to minimize visible joints, although gaps remain which give the stone the look of a tectonic puzzle."

Kind of cool, right?  Well, the kids loved walking all around it.

We even sat down to enjoy some Tiny Tom Donuts on the rock.

After the festival we decided to walk home to see more of the city.  (We had taken the subway to get there.)  Just as we came out of the festival area, Sarah, who wasn't in the stroller at that point, decided to run straight towards the road!  Just as that was happening, a large group of people walked in front of Paul and I, blocking our path to where Sarah was.  Thankfully Glenn was with her and caught her just before she stepped into the road.  And one of the ladies in the group also ran over to catch her.  We got quite a stink eye from her, but I mostly didn't care because my little girl was safe!  It was just one of those moments in which you are so grateful that the worst didn't happen.  We all felt pretty shaken after that.  Glenn felt like he had done something wrong, even though he was the one who stopped her.  Thankfully no cars were there at that moment or something really bad would've happened.  Needless to say, she rode in the stroller the rest of the way home and we all learned a lesson that she has to be in the stroller or hand-held the entire time we walk these streets.  I've said a hundred gratitude prayers that nothing happened that day, so grateful that both my children are safe.

On our walk home we passed a quaint old church.  (It seems that most foreign cities we travel to have many churches all around.  And since they are usually open, we get the opportunity to go inside and look around.)  I love seeing the old architecture amidst all the new.  It amazes me the skills people had long ago to build something that is still standing.

The Royal Ontario Museum, or ROM.  We'll go there one day...

Our walk took us through Queen's Park as well.  It has many footpaths throughout the park and many trees.  I'm sure it is very beautiful and pleasant in the spring and summer months.  It was still a nice walk in the winter, but it was cold.  I only took a picture of a few things--mostly because my hands were pretty frozen by that point. :)  I found this out from Wikipedia: "Footpaths radiate outwards from an equestrian statue of Edward VII, which stands on a large mound at the centre of the northern section. The statue originally stood in Delhi, India, but was moved to Canada in 1969. The main north-south path runs between the statue and the war memorial of the 48th Highlanders at the park's northern tip."  (And those were the things I took pictures of!)

As we were getting closer to home the thought of dinner came to mind.  I had previously asked our doorman about some food we needed to try while in Canada.  He mentioned Swiss Chalet chicken.  I thought it was a certain dish, but as we walked home I saw the Swiss Chalet restaurant.

Since we were all hungry, tired and cold we stopped in to get something to eat.  We didn't eat there though because we were close to home and Sarah had fallen asleep, and because we were just tired of being out.  So we braved the windy cold for a few more minutes and got to enjoy some warm food when we got home.  To be honest, it was just alright though.  Sure it was warm, but it didn't seem to be anything to be recommended.  But maybe we didn't get the right thing.  And maybe because we didn't eat it right away...Who knows...  But we were thankful to have something to eat.

(Doesn't Glenn just look so exhausted?!  Poor guy.  We aren't used to walking around everywhere, especially in cold and windy weather!)