We did not freeze at Igloofest

30.01.2009

This morning, Isaac would not get out of bed. My only goal for the weekend was to go to the art gallery. He took FORever. So anyway, we were hungry. Isaac will not eat eggs, so we went to Aux Vivres. Again. I think I will set a record for the most visits to Aux Vivres by one person from Ottawa ever. If you recall, last time I was here, I visited Aux Vivres twice in the same weekend, and it wasn't even my idea either time.

This time, it was my idea. And I had some veggielox on chapati, yum. So delicious. Isaac practically had a brain aneurysm and decided we would go tomorrow again. Oh...I guess so. OK Isaac.

It was so cold. We took the metro to the Musee des Beaux Arts. There is an exhibit on some guy named Van Dongen, who was friends with Rembrandt and Van Gogh, back in the day. It was fauve art. I don't know what that means but it was beauuuuuuuuuuuuuutifulllllllllllllllllllllll. I bought a postcard to take home with me and keep close to my heart forever and ever.

Isaac fell in love with the security guard with red glasses. He decided he'd go back there tomorrow and ask him out to dinner.

We needed a little rest, so we walked down the street and my feet automatically took me to a Swiss chocolate shop that I have been to many times. They had a sign advertising 20 different kinds of hot chocolate, so we had to go in.

There were cuckoo clocks all over the place, and in the back, you can sit down with a hot chocolate. I had milk chocolate with kirsch mmmmmmmmmmMMMMmmmMMmm.

After resting up a bit, we made our way to Old Montreal. Isaac really badly wanted to go look at the Burberry store, but Nate and I aren't into that at all. So we just kept on going and tell Isaac we'll meet him later. We trudge through the snow, see some lovely parking lots and finally make it to 3 Brasseurs and sit down for a pint of something or other local brew.

After a chat about grunge music and Vancouver in the nineties, we head over to get our early bird $5 tickets, but go in completely the wrong way. I don't know why going in the opposite direction of all the loud music seemed like a good idea to us, but it's what we were thinking at the time.

Finally, we see a guy operating a snow plow and ask where Bar d'Hiver is. We have to meet Tess, John, Ophir and Sylvain there at 6 p.m. We are also supposed to be meeting the local Couchsurfers, but as soon as they get there, they leave, more interested in their cheap ticket than us.

Isaac also shows up, and then he pays way too much for whiskey. This makes him angry. Bar d'Hiver is located on an island in the middle of a big idyllic skating rink. I wish that I had the foresight to bring my skates! I am very jealous of the people that did.

So Tess finally gets there, but first we are hungry, so we go with Ophir and John to eat Indian food.

Then we all go over and dance dance dance, check out the ice sculptures, and that's about it. Igloofest is put on by the same people that do Picknique Elecktronique, but the music isn't as good as it was in the summer. Tssst tssst tssst...bad house and techno...

So there is a "one piece" competition and people are dressed up in crazy snowmobile suits from the '80s. Pretty funny.

Isaac meets some random people from Australia and then Nate finds us and we are both tired. So we go home and on the way, stop at a random restaurant. At first the music is surprisingly good, with Sublime and stuff, but then some really bad freestyle rappers start squawking so we leave ASAP.

When we get back, Isaac is there waiting for us, worried about where we went.

Isaac vs. Opus Card