Ontario: Winter Wonderland or Ice Prison?

So I am not from these here parts. I hail from a land where people freak out at the sight of snow (but we usually do get a few days of snow each winter). I lived in Northern BC for a few years, so I was slightly broken in for Ontarian winters where it snows. A lot. Every day. Seriously. It's like living in a snow globe. Well, Ontario has something else Vancouver doesn't: ice storms. Frigging ice storms. Everything is an instant ice sculpture. You need to chisel out your car, use special ice-breaking hardware to clear your driveway, turn up the heat to ensure you don't freeze when the power invariably goes out, and wear crampons when walking outside lest you fracture a body part. Although, smashing ice is weirdly cathartic. And chipping ice off the car was also strangely satisfying, much like picking a scab, in seeing how big a chuck of ice I could chip off the car without breaking it. Does that make me weird? Well, I'm okay with that.

It looks like snow, but it's really petrified snow, AKA ice.

Ever wonder what a car looks like when it's covered in ice, and you punch it a bunch of times? Instant art. Banksy ain't got nothing on me.

We are blessed with awesome friends that dogsit for us when we go out of town. So we decided to pay it forward and babysit another friend's dog for them over Christmas. She has a lot of energy. We were not prepared. She does this a lot:

Nothing was spared. Everything was bubble-wrapped in this stuff:

I like this shot:

She just keeps going.

And going.

And going.

She looks cross eyed here, but she isn't. She has the crazy eyes, though. You can see the "split eye" (two colours in the same iris) in her brown iris in this pic.

BOOP!

I like this pic, too.

Wiley tongue going on there.

It was really cold this day, her whiskers were freezing up!

There's Red!

True to the title of this blog. But I still like this pic. SHE. NEVER. STOPS. 

Okay. I DO actually like this time of year. It can be really pretty, even if it means having to get up earlier to clear off and warm the car before a day shift. 

But ya. I'm ready for a trip to somewhere warm now.

A Jaunt to Europe, December 2013

In December 2013 my husband and I were fortunate enough to nab a service flight via the Canadian Forces to Europe. We flew in to Köln, Germany and then made our way via an intercity-express train to Prague, Czech Republic. 

I found very few of my pics from here remotely "inspiring", but it was a beautiful city. I was sorry I couldn't capture it in a way that did it more justice, although this city was our least favourite that we visited on this trip.

Skeleton keys for our Prague flat.

A lock bridge. This seems to be a thing in Europe. You write you and your significant other's name, lock it to the bridge, then chuck the key into the water. All Red had was a combination lock, it didn't seem to have the same effect.

The Charles Bridge.

The famed Astronomical Clock. On the hour (although the lower face doesn't tell the time, it points to astronomical signs and what not), the little figures animate and a rooster crows.

Top Gear has a bar. Who knew. THE STIG!! 

No idea what these Czech bagpipe thingers are called, but they sounded cool.

 I don't think I would have expected a Starbucks at the Prague Castle... But there it was. 

St. Vitus Cathedral in the Prague Castle complex.

Czech Palace guards.

Torture chamber. Gah.

I never realised how big swans were up close. They're HUGE.

We bought a print from this fab Czech photographer that has a booth on the Charles Bridge. Love his motto.

Sadly, there was no Duff Man.

This is how McCafe is done in Europe. It's more like a high class coffee house. We frequented there a lot, for the dependable coffee and free wifi.

This is our flat we rented through AirBnB. Large and private space, wicked cheap. $48-ish CDN a night.

The Beer Museum in Prague, which is pretty much just a pub with a lot of local microbrew beers on tap. Great place, smoke aside. Oh ya, everyone in Europe still smokes, and most places allow smoking inside.

A German ICE train, this was not. But Polish Rail made up in cheap rides what it lacked in modern amenities, which was just fine with us. This is the night train en route to Krakow, Poland.

Our flat in Krakow, also found on AirBnB. Even more wicked cheap than Prague, but then Poland was the cheapest country we visited. $45ish CDN a night. Cheaper and 100% nicer than a hostel.

 Oskar Schindler Factory Museum.

Auschwitz and Birkenau Concentration / Death Camp.

"Work Shall Set You Free"

This is what Zyklon B, used as a pesticide previously, looks like before it gets wet and turns into hydrogen cyanide gas. 

Some of the many empty tins of Zyklon B found by the Soviets upon liberation.

Just some of the glasses that were taken off of those that were murdered. There were rooms full of brushes, toiletries, and other personal effects.

The Nazis threw away nothing. Everything got recycled. These prosthetic limbs were destined to return to Germany to be re-used by new owners.

Luggage with addresses, Nazis told people that their belongings would be delivered to them upon arrival in their new resettlement. 

Mountains upon mountains of shoes. There was also a room that had tonnes (literally) of shaved human hair. It was used to stuff furniture and also woven into fabrics.

Barracks, there would be at least seven people crammed to a bunk.

Block 11 was a prison within a prison, and the most feared building in the camp. Here, torture and experiments occurred. Zyklon B was first tested here for its new use in the gas chambers. 

The back wall served as a backdrop for firing squads outside Block 11, since dismantled, it now has a memorial in its stead.

Signs of life in a former extermination camp.

Birkenau.

The end of the line.

One Birkenau's gas chambers that were blown up.

Auschwitz was definitively a heavy day in our itinerary. We were glad we went the distance to see it. Many say "never again", knowing history should make us less likely to repeat it. But it almost seems to be said in vain; it really hasn't. For me, that was the most sorrowful part. Genocide still and IS happening.

The next attraction was much more "light", although it was quite dark, seeing as it was over 300 m beneath the earth. Wieliczka Salt Mines. All these figures are carved out of black salt. This mine was running from the 13th century until 2007.

All these figures were carved by miners, not trained artists. I didn't expect to be amazed by the mine for some reason, but I was.

The cathedral in the salt mine. Everything is also made of salt, from the walls, floor, ceiling, even the "crystals" on the chandeliers. 

Apparently the salt content is similar of that of the Dead Sea's so it's hard to drown as you remain buoyant, but I didn't fancy a dip. 

Miners used timers as supports because they didn't corrode and in time, they would petrify rock hard due to the preservative affect of the salt.

Salt lick, anyone? "It's made of zalt" became a running joke after this attraction. 

When the Nazis invaded Poland, the Nazis used slave labour to build planes, which is why a Star of David is carved in the wall. It was too dark and too far away for a good shot.

The City Square in Krakow.

Wawel Castle, Krakow.

The Wawel Cathedral within the castle complex.

Church of St. Joseph, Krakow.

Thorn, Netherlands. The cutest town ever. Every house had Christmas scenes that looked like storefront windows. Simple and clean, but not the least quaint. 

Almost all the buildings in the town are painted white.

Pannekoeken!! So good. And filling.

Random German village.

Parts of a German eagle at a former Hitler Youth camp (Vogelsang), now a National Park in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.

Women's quarters. Contrary to lore, apparently this was NOT one of the Aryan breeding centres.

"Der deutsche Mensch" (The German Man). This statue was a twin of the one that was made for the 1936 Summer Olympic Games in Munich, were Hitler "showcased" his supposed superior race. It used to be inscribed: You are the torch bearers of the nation; You carry on the light of the spirit in the fight for Adolf Hitler. Hitler's name was defaced post-war.

Aachen Christmas Market.

Köln, Germany- The High Cathedral of St. Peter, AKA "The Dom".

Our ride home (that almost wasn't) on a Canadian Forces C-17. Along with our grateful butts, it was bringing home the best Christmas presents ever: husbands, fathers, brothers and sons from Afghanistan. 

*No female soldiers happened to be on this flight.

Our seats were crew normally sit (they relocated to the rear of the plane where non-flight crew cannot sit so we could all fit on the plane, God bless them). Best seats in the house (directly behind the cockpit) apparently since it's warmer, we could turn out the lights, and it was not as loud as the main cargo hold. 

We saw the flight crew cleaning the heck out of the tops of the pop cans before cracking them open, we weren't sure why. But we did the same.

Bucket List item crossed off on this trip: seeing Auschwitz. 

If you asked Red what his favourite thing he saw on this trip was, he would answer "the Salt Mines". If you asked me, I would say "Thorn". Adorable quintessential European town.