This weekend Sarah is taking me to the Ice Hotel in Quebec City as a gift for my (and, I guess Jesus’) birthday. I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone so thoughtful. And when I say this, I don’t just mean thoughtful in the usual sense of “oh, that’s going to be a nice weekend” – it’s more like when someone remembers something from a long time past conversation and then uses that information to plan an unexpected, extra-special getaway.
So how did we end up heading to the L’Hotel de Glace on a Sunday morning in February? Well, the whole thing started over one year ago on our first date. We were about 30 minutes into our first drink and I was sharing with her my passion for all things toilet. Regular readers of my blog are well aware of this fact, but if you are new here I should probably mention that I love discussing washrooms and all their various components – especially their most important feature: the toilet.
From the energy crisis-averting, terrorist-defeating summer cottage toilets of northern Finland, to the mysterious Turkish water blasters of central Istanbul. From the everyday squat toilets of the Chinese mainland to Algonquin Park’s famous, rodent infested shitboxes. From the German wall-mounted, ultra-efficient energy savers, to the heated seats of the Japanese washlet standalones with built-in cold water hand sinks. From the old-school German inspection stations to the low-flow toilets they installed at my work that rendered the washrooms unusable within twenty-four hours of their first use. I also regaled her with stories of my searching around Paris on my birthday for strange and unusual commodes and, at the end of the conversation, I (boldly?) claimed that “I’d seen them all”.
So this brings us to my Christmas / birthday gift. During that first date conversation, a light must have gone off (or is it on?) in Sarah’s head as she realized that there was one type of toilet I had not tried.
An ice toilet.
I figured that’s why she’s taking me to stay for one night in a hotel that is made entirely of ice. And I have to say I’m pretty excited. I thought I had seen them all but I guess I was wrong. It’s taken every ounce of self-restraint to not do a Google Images search – I want to be surprised by what’s in store!
Via Rail, you better send someone to righten up those telegraph poles.
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Die Hard Three 
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