Fireworks from the bridge

Carol's photo, from the park last night

Most of our company felt too comfortable in the warm house to want to go outside at all, but Carol and I put our boots on, wrapped up, and trudged out knee deep into the snowy park to our vantage point near the Minto Bridges from which we usually watch Canada Day's fireworks on July 1st. Last night being February 4th, the watching experience was altogether different (Carol and I were the only people out in the park, it was completely dark, very cold, and a line of heavy duty snowploughs and snow removal trucks was working along King Edward Avenue as we stood there) but the sky still lit up with a shower of fireworks marking the official start of Winterlude. They began shortly after 9 p.m. and lasted for about 20 minutes.

Even from inside our house, apparently, the explosions sounded loud.

Reuters picture of Winterlude fireworks

What I hadn't realised was that a row of fireworks would be set off from the Alexandra Bridge, so that a wider stretch of sky was lit than on Canada Day. There seemed to be new kinds of fireworks too, some like sudden waterfalls very high, some like flocks of golden birds scattering. A series of colours in the show turned the city by turns green, red and pink, more so as the smoke began to spread. We could smell it! By the end of it when we turned round to go back to the house we could hardly see across the Rideau River for drifting smoke.

Well worth the chilly outing, a beautiful show. I was talking to a Japanese lady yesterday who lives downtown on the 23rd floor of an apartment block. She told me that she would be watching, for sure.

The operations base is outside the Museum of Civilisation on the north bank of the Ottawa River. For comparison's sake, click here for a recording of last year's similar display.