This year, Mother Nature has seemingly eased the City of Montreal into 2012's Winter. It's been hard to believe that this is the presumed year of the apocalypse considering how civilized and almost pleasant the weather has been in comparison to other harsh Montreal Winter's. Alas the temperature is now steadily dropping and more snow has been forecasted, emphasizing that Summer is truly dead.
Despite this temporary a loss of the season that is associated with sunshine, warmth, long days, barbeques, parks and bike rides, it's not all bad. With the arrival of the year's coldest season, social a media outlets are littered with complaints of the cold, ice, snow and early sunsets. These complaints obsess over the few negatives that this time of year has and forgetting all of the wonderful attributes that Montreal possesses during the Winter, such as the beauty of fresh snow, sledding, skating, mittens, hats and warming up with hot chocolate or coffee.
Fun and Free
Montreal has a plethora of simple, outdoor activities available to tourists and residents alike. The city's parks are a fantastic and accessible resource to experience during this season. Tobogganing down hills, skating and playing pick-up ice hockey are fun and free activities that are available in every large park within the city (see Laurier, Jeanne-Mance, La Fontaine
For kids especially, the Winter and Montreal's parks create a great opportunity to be outdoors and play in the snow. Building snow forts and villages, snow-people using ice patches as "slip 'n slides" and having the occasional snowball-fight are all creative and entertaining activities that get everyone outside.
Parc Jean-Drapeau is just located in the eastern downtown region of Montreal, and houses many of the city's major events. During the Winter season, the island in which this park is situated is full of activities celebrating this frigid time of year. The park creates a snow village, comprised of an ice restaurant, hotel and even chapel, all which may be toured by a horse-drawn sleigh. It's a really cool experience! (No pun intended).
Quays of the Old Port
The Quays of the Old Port provide a unique, outdoor skating experience. With themed days of the week, the outdoor rink is available to the general public for under 10 dollars a day, and an exciting assortment of music is projected for skaters to hear while enjoying their time outside.
Igloofest is one of Montreal's best winter features. This music festival was founding in 2007, and runs three nights, every weekend in January. It is reasonably priced at 12 dollars admissions. The festival has some rave-like features, but differentiate from that sort of event through the attire and environment - the venue is basically a giant outdoor club located in outside in the Old Port and fully equipped with ice-bars and an incredible sound system. What makes this event even more unique is the weekly contest that documents the best one-piece snow suit of the weekend, awarding the highest voted image on the event's website
Instead of using the cold as an excuse to not go out and experience the city's nightlife, this festival embraces the cold and draws an enormous crowd to spend time outside and enjoy great music.
Montreal En Lumiere
Montreal En Lumiere is a Winter festival that was founded in February 2000. Hosted in the downtown region as well as the Old Port, this festival celebrates the arts, food and wine through the themes of night, life, light and the natural darkness that surrounds this time of year.
Winter is a season with shorter days and sunlight, as well as a time for hibernation and protection from the harsh elements of the snow. However, acknowledgement of this is not to dismiss all the other wonderful things that take place. The city of Montreal evidently has much to provide it's inhabitants through celebrations of the arts, communities and festivals of lights. Though Summer may be dead until it's return, there is much to celebrate during Montreal's Winter.
This year, Mother Nature has seemingly eased the City of Montreal into 2012's Winter. It's been hard to believe that this is the presumed year of the apocalypse considering how civilized and almost pleasant the weather has been in comparison to other harsh Montreal Winter's. Alas the temperature is now steadily dropping and more snow has been forecasted, emphasizing that Summer is truly dead.
However, despite this temporary loss of the season that is associated with sunshine, warmth, long days, barbeques, parks and bike rides, it's not all bad. With the arrival of the year's coldest season, social media outlets are littered with complaints of the cold, ice, snow and early sunsets. These complaints obsess over the few negatives that this time of year has and forgetting all of the wonderful attributes that Montreal possesses during the Winter, such as the beauty of fresh snow, sledding, skating, mittens, hats and warming up with hot chocolate or coffee.
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