carnaval de québec

québec city is a three hour car drive from montréal. we were invited to spend a weekend at lise-anne's family during the 'carnaval de québec'. the weather was unusually warm, meaning it wasn't freezing. this had an impact on several activities, like the international snow sculpture contest (sculptures melting and damaged by rain) and the canoe race (not enough ice on the river). but we did enjoy a soap box race (quicktime 2,14 MB), a québec version of "ter land, ter zee en in de lucht". we also had 'tire sur la neige', a seasonal treat of thick hot syrup poured onto fresh snow, eaten off sticks as it quickly cools. on saturday evening we watched the parade together with other kids. the voil janetten were replaced by bonhomme, the carnival's official embassador.