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Thursday, January 14, 2010

Canada's ice hotel

December 2004 The ice hotel in Quebec is an architectural masterpiece. Crafted entirely from snow and ice, it exists for only four months a year before melting in Spring.

Skip trying to build an igloo yourself. Canada's Hôtel de Glace, built exclusively of ice and snow, does it for you.The Ice Bar serves drinks in clever ice glasses. Because the thick ice walls insulate the interior, temperatures inside the hotel generally vary only between 23 to 27 degrees F, no matter the weather outside.One of the ice hotel's themed bedrooms with an in-room fireplace. All the beds have a solid ice base but are topped with bedspring, mattress, blankets and arctic sleeping bags, which resist temperatures up to minus-22 degrees F.An icy chandelier, flanked by sculpted columns, hangs from a ceiling that is 19 feet at its peak.The hotel has 36 guest rooms, many with hand-carved ice paintings like this one.Guests linger around tables and benches carved out of ice blocks. Colored lights create a vibrant atmosphere when they reflect off the ice.Guests can learn how the hotel was built during the tour and zip down the hotel's Grand Ice Slide during one of the stops.Details of the sculpted columns and ice chandelier.

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