Indian Railway Time Table

the famous book by anton chekov THE BET

the bet by anton chekov

IT WAS a dark autumn night. The old banker was walking up and down his study and remembering how, fifteen years before, he had given a party one autumn evening. There had been many clever men there, and there had been interesting conversations. Among other things they had talked of capital punishment. The majority of the guests, among whom were many journalists and intellectual men, disapproved of the death penalty. They considered that form of punishment out of date, immoral, and unsuitable for Christian States. In the opinion of some of them the death penalty ought to be replaced everywhere by imprisonment for life.

"I don't agree with you," said their host the banker. "I have not tried either the death penalty or imprisonment for life, but if one may judge _a priori_, the death penalty is more moral and more humane than imprisonment for life. Capital punishment kills a man at once, but lifelong imprisonment kills him slowly. Which executioner is the more humane, he who kills you in a few minutes or he who drags the life out of you in the course of many years?"

"Both are equally immoral," observed one of the guests, "for they both have the same object -- to take away life. The State is not God. It has not the right to take away what it cannot restore when it wants to."

Among the guests was a young lawyer, a young man of five-and-twenty. When he was asked his opinion, he said:

"The death sentence and the life sentence are equally immoral, but if I had to choose between the death penalty and imprisonment for life, I would certainly choose the second. To live anyhow is better than not at all."

A lively discussion arose. The banker, who was younger and more nervous in those days, was suddenly carried away by excitement; he struck the table with his fist and shouted at the young man:

"It's not true! I'll bet you two millions you wouldn't stay in solitary confinement for five years."

"If you mean that in earnest," said the young man, "I'll take the bet, but I would stay not five but fifteen years."

"Fifteen? Done!" cried the banker. "Gentlemen, I stake two millions!"

"Agreed! You stake your millions and I stake my freedom!" said the young man.

And this wild, senseless bet was carried out! The banker, spoilt and frivolous, with millions beyond his reckoning, was delighted at the bet. At supper he made fun of the young man, and said:

"Think better of it, young man, while there is still time. To me two millions are a trifle, but you are losing three or four of the best years of your life. I say three or four, because you won't stay longer. Don't forget either, you unhappy man, that voluntary confinement is a great deal harder to bear than compulsory. The thought that you have the right to step out in liberty at any moment will poison your whole existence in prison. I am sorry for you."

And now the banker, walking to and fro, remembered all this, and asked himself: "What was the object of that bet? What is the good of that man's losing fifteen years of his life and my throwing away two millions? Can it prove that the death penalty is better or worse than imprisonment for life? No, no. It was all nonsensical and meaningless. On my part it was the caprice of a pampered man, and on his part simple greed for money. . . ."

Then he remembered what followed that evening. It was decided that the young man should spend the years of his captivity under the strictest supervision in one of the lodges in the banker's garden. It was agreed that for fifteen years he should not be free to cross the threshold of the lodge, to see human beings, to hear the human voice, or to receive letters and newspapers. He was allowed to have a musical instrument and books, and was allowed to write letters, to drink wine, and to smoke. By the terms of the agreement, the only relations he could have with the outer world were by a little window made purposely for that object. He might have anything he wanted -- books, music, wine, and so on -- in any quantity he desired by writing an order, but could only receive them through the window. The agreement provided for every detail and every trifle that would make his imprisonment strictly solitary, and bound the young man to stay there _exactly_ fifteen years, beginning from twelve o'clock of November 14, 1870, and ending at twelve o'clock of November 14, 1885. The slightest attempt on his part to break the conditions, if only two minutes before the end, released the banker from the obligation to pay him two millions.

For the first year of his confinement, as far as one could judge from his brief notes, the prisoner suffered severely from loneliness and depression. The sounds of the piano could be heard continually day and night from his lodge. He refused wine and tobacco. Wine, he wrote, excites the desires, and desires are the worst foes of the prisoner; and besides, nothing could be more dreary than drinking good wine and seeing no one. And tobacco spoilt the air of his room. In the first year the books he sent for were principally of a light character; novels with a complicated love plot, sensational and fantastic stories, and so on.

In the second year the piano was silent in the lodge, and the prisoner asked only for the classics. In the fifth year music was audible again, and the prisoner asked for wine. Those who watched him through the window said that all that year he spent doing nothing but eating and drinking and lying on his bed, frequently yawning and angrily talking to himself. He did not read books. Sometimes at night he would sit down to write; he would spend hours writing, and in the morning tear up all that he had written. More than once he could be heard crying.

In the second half of the sixth year the prisoner began zealously studying languages, philosophy, and history. He threw himself eagerly into these studies -- so much so that the banker had enough to do to get him the books he ordered. In the course of four years some six hundred volumes were procured at his request. It was during this period that the banker received the following letter from his prisoner:

"My dear Jailer, I write you these lines in six languages. Show them to people who know the languages. Let them read them. If they find not one mistake I implore you to fire a shot in the garden. That shot will show me that my efforts have not been thrown away. The geniuses of all ages and of all lands speak different languages, but the same flame burns in them all. Oh, if you only knew what unearthly happiness my soul feels now from being able to understand them!" The prisoner's desire was fulfilled. The banker ordered two shots to be fired in the garden.

Then after the tenth year, the prisoner sat immovably at the table and read nothing but the Gospel. It seemed strange to the banker that a man who in four years had mastered six hundred learned volumes should waste nearly a year over one thin book easy of comprehension. Theology and histories of religion followed the Gospels.

In the last two years of his confinement the prisoner read an immense quantity of books quite indiscriminately. At one time he was busy with the natural sciences, then he would ask for Byron or Shakespeare. There were notes in which he demanded at the same time books on chemistry, and a manual of medicine, and a novel, and some treatise on philosophy or theology. His reading suggested a man swimming in the sea among the wreckage of his ship, and trying to save his life by greedily clutching first at one spar and then at another.

II

The old banker remembered all this, and thought:

"To-morrow at twelve o'clock he will regain his freedom. By our agreement I ought to pay him two millions. If I do pay him, it is all over with me: I shall be utterly ruined."

Fifteen years before, his millions had been beyond his reckoning; now he was afraid to ask himself which were greater, his debts or his assets. Desperate gambling on the Stock Exchange, wild speculation and the excitability whic h he could not get over even in advancing years, had by degrees led to the decline of his fortune and the proud, fearless, self-confident millionaire had become a banker of middling rank, trembling at every rise and fall in his investments. "Cursed bet!" muttered the old man, clutching his head in despair "Why didn't the man die? He is only forty now. He will take my last penny from me, he will marry, will enjoy life, will gamble on the Exchange; while I shall look at him with envy like a beggar, and hear from him every day the same sentence: 'I am indebted to you for the happiness of my life, let me help you!' No, it is too much! The one means of being saved from bankruptcy and disgrace is the death of that man!"

It struck three o'clock, the banker listened; everyone was asleep in the house and nothing could be heard outside but the rustling of the chilled trees. Trying to make no noise, he took from a fireproof safe the key of the door which had not been opened for fifteen years, put on his overcoat, and went out of the house.

It was dark and cold in the garden. Rain was falling. A damp cutting wind was racing about the garden, howling and giving the trees no rest. The banker strained his eyes, but could see neither the earth nor the white statues, nor the lodge, nor the trees. Going to the spot where the lodge stood, he twice called the watchman. No answer followed. Evidently the watchman had sought shelter from the weather, and was now asleep somewhere either in the kitchen or in the greenhouse.

"If I had the pluck to carry out my intention," thought the old man, "Suspicion would fall first upon the watchman."

He felt in the darkness for the steps and the door, and went into the entry of the lodge. Then he groped his way into a little passage and lighted a match. There was not a soul there. There was a bedstead with no bedding on it, and in the corner there was a dark cast-iron stove. The seals on the door leading to the prisoner's rooms were intact.

When the match went out the old man, trembling with emotion, peeped through the little window. A candle was burning dimly in the prisoner's room. He was sitting at the table. Nothing could be seen but his back, the hair on his head, and his hands. Open books were lying on the table, on the two easy-chairs, and on the carpet near the table.

Five minutes passed and the prisoner did not once stir. Fifteen years' imprisonment had taught him to sit still. The banker tapped at the window with his finger, and the prisoner made no movement whatever in response. Then the banker cautiously broke the seals off the door and put the key in the keyhole. The rusty lock gave a grating sound and the door creaked. The banker expected to hear at once footsteps and a cry of astonishment, but three minutes passed and it was as quiet as ever in the room. He made up his mind to go in.

At the table a man unlike ordinary people was sitting motionless. He was a skeleton with the skin drawn tight over his bones, with long curls like a woman's and a shaggy beard. His face was yellow with an earthy tint in it, his cheeks were hollow, his back long and narrow, and the hand on which his shaggy head was propped was so thin and delicate that it was dreadful to look at it. His hair was already streaked with silver, and seeing his emaciated, aged-looking face, no one would have believed that he was only forty. He was asleep. . . . In front of his bowed head there lay on the table a sheet of paper on which there was something written in fine handwriting.

"Poor creature!" thought the banker, "he is asleep and most likely dreaming of the millions. And I have only to take this half-dead man, throw him on the bed, stifle him a little with the pillow, and the most conscientious expert would find no sign of a violent death. But let us first read what he has written here. . . ."

The banker took the page from the table and read as follows:

"To-morrow at twelve o'clock I regain my freedom and the right to associate with other men, but before I leave this room and see the sunshine, I think it necessary to say a few words to you. With a clear conscience I tell you, as before God, who beholds me, that I despise freedom and life and health, and all that in your books is called the good things of the world.

"For fifteen years I have been intently studying earthly life. It is true I have not seen the earth nor men, but in your books I have drunk fragrant wine, I have sung songs, I have hunted stags and wild boars in the forests, have loved women. . . . Beauties as ethereal as clouds, created by the magic of your poets and geniuses, have visited me at night, and have whispered in my ears wonderful tales that have set my brain in a whirl. In your books I have climbed to the peaks of Elburz and Mont Blanc, and from there I have seen the sun rise and have watched it at evening flood the sky, the ocean, and the mountain-tops with gold and crimson. I have watched from there the lightning flashing over my head and cleaving the storm-clouds. I have seen green forests, fields, rivers, lakes, towns. I have heard the singing of the sirens, and the strains of the shepherds' pipes; I have touched the wings of comely devils who flew down to converse with me of God. . . . In your books I have flung myself into the bottomless pit, performed miracles, slain, burned towns, preached new religions, conquered whole kingdoms. . . .

"Your books have given me wisdom. All that the unresting thought of man has created in the ages is compressed into a small compass in my brain. I know that I am wiser than all of you.

"And I despise your books, I despise wisdom and the blessings of this world. It is all worthless, fleeting, illusory, and deceptive, like a mirage. You may be proud, wise, and fine, but death will wipe you off the face of the earth as though you were no more than mice burrowing under the floor, and your posterity, your history, your immortal geniuses will burn or freeze together with the earthly globe.

"You have lost your reason and taken the wrong path. You have taken lies for truth, and hideousness for beauty. You would marvel if, owing to strange events of some sorts, frogs and lizards suddenly grew on apple and orange trees instead of fruit, or if roses began to smell like a sweating horse; so I marvel at you who exchange heaven for earth. I don't want to understand you.

"To prove to you in action how I despise all that you live by, I renounce the two millions of which I once dreamed as of paradise and which now I despise. To deprive myself of the right to the money I shall go out from here five hours before the time fixed, and so break the compact. . . ."

When the banker had read this he laid the page on the table, kissed the strange man on the head, and went out of the lodge, weeping. At no other time, even when he had lost heavily on the Stock Exchange, had he felt so great a contempt for himself. When he got home he lay on his bed, but his tears and emotion kept him for hours from sleeping.

Next morning the watchmen ran in with pale faces, and told him they had seen the man who lived in the lodge climb out of the window into the garden, go to the gate, and disappear. The banker went at once with the servants to the lodge and made sure of the flight of his prisoner. To avoid arousing unnecessary talk, he took from the table the writing in which the millions were renounced, and when he got home locked it up in the fireproof safe.

The Bet is an 1889 short story by Anton Chekhov about a banker and a young lawyer who make a bet with each other about whether thedeath penalty is better or worse than life in prison. The story has a twist ending.

“The Bet” is the story of a bet that stakes a banker's two million rubles against fifteen years of a young lawyer's life. As the story opens, the banker is recalling the occasion of the bet fifteen years before. Guests at a party that he was hosting that day fell into a discussion of capital punishment; the banker argued that capital punishment is more humane than life imprisonment, while the young lawyer disagreed, insisting that he would choose life in prison rather than death the bet was on and the lawyer cast himself into isolation for fifteen years.

The list of things the Lawyer did while imprisoned each year: Year 1: Read entertaining books, played the piano Years 2–4: Read the classics; no piano Year 5: Read no books, drank wine, ate, listened to music, cried, and often wrote but tore everything up by morning. Years 6–9: Read 600 volumes, studied language, philosophy, history Years 10–13: Read the Gospel, theology, histories of religion Years 14–15: Reads a variety of things: Shakespeare, Byron, books on chemistry, medicine, natural sciences, philosophy, theology; also, a novel

few things need to be done in emergency

There are a few things that can be done in times of grave emergencies. Your mobile phone can actually be a life saver or an emergency tool for survival. Check out the things that you can do with it:

1. Emergency

The Emergency Number worldwide for Mobile is 112. If you find yourself out of the coverage area of your mobile; network and there is an emergency, dial 112 and the mobile will search any existing network to establish the emergency number for you, and interestingly this number 112 can be dialed even if the keypad is locked. Try it out.

Also in Australia , the Australian emergency number 000 can be dialled whilst your mobile phone keyboard is locked. This is another reason why 000 receives so many false emergency calls!

2. Have you locked your keys in the car?

Does your car have remote keyless entry? This may come in handy someday. Good reason to own a cell phone: If you lock your keys in the car and the spare keys are at home, call someone at home on their mobile phone from your cell phone.

Hold your cell phone about a foot from your car door and have the person at your home press the unlock button, holding it near the mobile phone on their end. Your car will unlock. Saves someone from having to drive your keys to you. Distance is no object. You could be hundreds of miles away, and if you can reach someone who has the other "remote" for your car, you can unlock the doors (or the trunk).

Editors Note: It works fine! We tried it out and it unlocked our car over a mobile phone!"

3. Hidden Battery Power

Imagine your mobile battery is very low. To activate, press the keys *3370# Your mobile will restart with this reserve and the instrument will show a 50% increase in battery. This reserve will get charged when you charge your mobile next time.

4. How to disable a STOLEN mobile phone?

To check your Mobile phone's serial number, key in the following digits on your phone!:

star-hash-zero-six-hash

* # 0 6 #

A 15 digit code will appear on the screen. This number is unique to your handset. Write it down and keep it somewhere safe. When your phone get stolen, you can phone your service provider and give them this code. They will then be able to block your handset so even if the thief changes the SIM card, your phone will be totally useless. You probably won't get your phone back, but at least you know that whoever stole it can't use/sell it either. If everybody does this, there would be no point in people stealing mobile phones.

Not only the above, but also in Australia your stolen phone is added to a "Stolen Mobile Phone" database, so if your phone is found later on it can be returned to you.

navratna companies of India

List of Maharatna, Navratna and Miniratna CPSEs

As per available information

(as on 20^th July, 2011)

Maharatna CPSEs

1.     Coal India Limited

2.     Indian Oil Corporation Limited

3.     NTPC Limited

4.     Oil & Natural Gas Corporation Limited

5.     Steel Authority of India Limited

Navratna CPSEs

1.     Bharat Electronics Limited

2.     Bharat Heavy Electrical Limited

3.     Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited

4.     GAIL (India) Limited

5.     Hindustan Aeronautics Limited

6.     Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited

7.     Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited

8.     National Aluminium Company Limited

9.     NMDC Limited

10.                        Neyveli Lignite Corporation Limited

11.                        Oil India Limited

12.                        Power Finance Corporation Limited

13.                        Power Grid Corporation of India Limited

14.                        Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited

15.                        Rural Electrification Corporation Limited

16.                        Shipping Corporation of India Limited

Miniratna Category - I CPSEs

1.         Airports Authority of India

2.       Antrix Corporation Limited

3.       Balmer Lawrie & Co. Limited

4.       Bharat Dynamics Limited

5.        BEML Limited

6.       Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited

7.        Bridge & Roof Company (India) Limited

8.       Central Warehousing Corporation

9.       Central Coalfields Limited

10.   Chennai Petroleum Corporation Limited

11.     Cochin Shipyard Limited

12.   Container Corporation of India Limited

13.      Dredging Corporation of India Limited

14.      Engineers India Limited

15.       Ennore Port Limited

16.      Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Limited

17.       Goa Shipyard Limited

18.      Hindustan Copper Limited

19.      HLL Lifecare Limited

20.    Hindustan Newsprint Limited

21.      Hindustan Paper Corporation Limited

22.     Housing & Urban Development Corporation Limited

23.     India Tourism Development Corporation Limited

24.     Indian Railway Catering & Tourism Corporation Limited

25.     IRCON International Limited

26.     KIOCL Limited

27.     Mazagaon Dock Limited

28.     Mahanadi Coalfields Limited

29.     Manganese Ore (India) Limited

30.    Mangalore Refinery & Petrochemical Limited

31.      Mishra Dhatu Nigam Limited

32.     MMTC Limited

33.     MSTC Limited

34.     National Fertilizers Limited

35.     National Seeds Corporation Limited

36.     NHPC Limited

37.     Northern Coalfields Limited

38.     Numaligarh Refinery Limited

39.     ONGC Videsh Limited

40.    Pawan Hans Helicopters Limited

41.      Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilizers Limited

42.     RITES Limited

43.     SJVN Limited

44.     Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Limited

45.     South Eastern Coalfields Limited

46.     State Trading Corporation of India Limited

47.     Telecommunications Consultants India Limited

48.     THDC India Limited

49.     Western Coalfields Limited

50.     WAPCOS Limited

Miniratna Category-II CPSEs

51.       Bharat Pumps & Compressors Limited

52.     Broadcast Engineering Consultants (I) Limited

53.     Central Mine Planning & Design Institute Limited

54.     Ed.CIL (India) Limited

55.      Engineering Projects (India) Limited

56.     FCI Aravali Gypsum & Minerals India Limited

57.      Ferro Scrap Nigam Limited

58.     HMT (International) Limited

59.     HSCC (India) Limited

60.    India Trade Promotion Organisation

61.      Indian Medicines & Pharmaceuticals Corporation Limited

62.     M E C O N Limited

63.     National Film Development Corporation Limited

64.     National Small Industries Corporation Limited

65.     P E C Limited

66.     Rajasthan Electronics & Instruments Limited

ice hotel Quebec, Canada

Ice hotel

An ice hotel is a temporary hotel made up of snow, sculpted blocks of ice, and, in some cases, some steel framing. They are promoted by their sponsors and have special features for travelers who are interested in novelties and unusual environments, and thus are in the class of destination hotels. Their lobbies are often filled with ice sculptures, and food and beverages are specially chosen for the circumstances.

All of the ice hotels are reconstructed every year, and are dependent upon constant sub-freezing temperatures during construction and operation. The walls, fixtures, and fittings are made entirely of ice or compacted snow, and are held together using a substance known as snice, which takes the place of mortar in a traditional brick-built hotel

Existing each year between December and April, the Icehotel in the village of Jukkasjärvi, about 17 km from Kiruna, Sweden was the world's first ice hotel. In 1989, Japanese ice artists visited the area and created an exhibition of ice art. In spring 1990, French artist Jannot Derid held an exhibition in a cylinder-shaped igloo in the area. One night there were no rooms available in the town, so some of the visitors asked for permission to spend the night in the exhibition hall. They slept in sleeping bags on top of reindeer skin – the first guests of the "hotel."

The entire hotel is made out of snow and ice blocks taken from the Torne River – even the glasses in the bar are made of ice. Each spring, around March, Icehotel harvests tons of ice from the frozen Torne River and stores it in a nearby production hall with room for over 10,000 tons of ice and 30,000 tons of snow. The ice is used for creating Icebar designs and ice glasses, for ice sculpting classes, events and product launches all over the world while the snow is used for building a strong structure for the building. About 1,000 tons of what is left is used in the construction of the next Ice Hotel.

[edit]Canada

Main article: Ice Hotel (Quebec)

The Hôtel de Glace (Ice Hotel) first opened in January 2011. It was originally located on the shores of Lac-Saint-Joseph, Quebec, 30 minutes north of Quebec City, but has since moved closer to the city, 10 minutes away from Old Town Quebec.^[1] It operates from the first week in January to the last week in March.^[2] It was the first in the world to make a bed and everything else out of ice.

[edit]Norway

[edit]Kirkenes Snow Hotel

Kirkenes Snow Hotel is situated in the eastmost town of Norway, close to the Norwegian-Russian border. The hotel had its first season during winter 2006/2007, the hotel had 20 rooms and the largest snow dome in Norway (8 metres high and 12 metres in diameter). All the rooms were individually decorated by the ice artists from Finland and Japan. The west Snow Hall was decorated by a local sculptor Arild Wara. A night in the snow hotel is combined with a special dinner prepared on an open fire, the visitors can also get a sauna before or after staying at the hotel. There is also a reindeer park and a husky farm in the hotel area.

[edit]Ice Lodge

The Ice Lodge is one of the largest in Norway and part of the Bjorligard Hotel. It has a longer season than most ice hotels because of its altitude (1,250 meters above sea level).

[edit]Sorrisniva Igloo Hotel, Alta

Sorrisniva Igloo Hotel, Alta has been rebuilt yearly since 2000. It is Europe’s northernmost ice hotel, as it is located in the Finnmark region and is approximately 250 km from North Cape. The 2000 square meter hotel has 30 rooms, including 2 suites and it is decorated with numerous ice sculptures and ice furnishings, including lighting systems which enhance the different types of crystalline formations. Besides the bedrooms the hotel also contains an ice chapel, ice gallery and ice bar where drinks are served in glasses made of ice. The Sorrisniva Igloo Hotel in Alta has a changing theme every year. In 2004, it was a Viking theme, in 2005, Norwegian fairytales, and in 2006, the theme was wild animals of the region. The guests use sleeping bags that sit on top of reindeer hides.

[edit]Romania

Ice Church in Romania, 2011

In 2006, the first ice hotel in Eastern Europe was built in Romania, deep in the Făgăraş Mountains, at an altitude of 2034 m. Due to its altitude and remote location the Ice Hotel is only accessible via cable car in the winter.

This picturesque setting is next to Bâlea Lake, where each year local craftsmen wait for the lake to freeze, before using the ice to build the small 14 room Ice Hotel and its adjacent Ice Church. Local artists imitate sculptures by Romanian modernist sculptor, Constantin Brâncuşi. Typically the hotel is completed in December and is open until it melts in late April or early May.

Bedding, furs, specialist sleeping bags are all provided, with bathroom facilities nearby. There are also two chalets within walking distance, which also provide accommodation. Activities such as skiing, sledging or perhaps a ride on a snow bike are on offer. For those who are more organised and adventurous you can even arrange heliskiing.

The Bâlea Lake Ice Hotel is Romanian owned, but has a relationship with a travel company Untravelled Paths Limited, based in the United Kingdom.

[edit]Finland

[edit]Lainio Snow Village

Snow Village is located in Western part of Finnish Lapland, in close proximity of Ylläs and Levi ski-resorts and easily reachable from the international airport of Kittilä.

The annual construction of the Snow Village begins when the temperature drops to about −10 °C (14 °F) which is usually at the end of October or the beginning of November. Approximately 1500 tonnes (1650 US tons) of snow and 300 tonnes (330 US tons) of crystal clear, natural ice are used for the construction. The constructors, specialized in using snow and ice as building material, are constantly developing new tools and instruments for snow construction and exploring innovative ways of taking this artform into new levels.

Snow Village is built entirely of snow and ice covering approximately an area of 20,000 square metres (220,000 sq ft). During the winter season, about 3,000 square metres (32,000 sq ft) of covered indoor spaces are built as a combination of different snow and ice structures. The architectural design and the themes of interior decoration vary from year to year. Visitors can find in there for example the biggest ice dome of Europe and an à la carte restaurant with ice carved tables and bar, in addition to snow galleries full of beautifully illuminated ice art.

At Snow Village the visitors can also spend a night in a room made of snow and ice. Because of the good insulating qualities of snow, the indoor temperature of Snow Village remains always between -2 and -5 °C (28 and 23 °F), regardless of the outdoor temperature. There are approximately 30 rooms, all made of ice and snow. Individually decorated suites with different themes are also available.

Ice Hotel (Quebec)

The Ice Hotel (French: Hôtel de Glace) near Quebec City, Quebec, Canada is the first ice hotelin North America.^[2]

[edit]History

The Ice Hotel opened on New Year's Day in 2001.^[1] For its first year it was located in Montmorency Falls Park, which is on the outskirts ofQuebec City,^[1] with plans right from the beginning to move to the nearby Duchesnay resort for its next year, where it has been built ever since.^[1]

The hotel is located 5 km north of Quebec City, on the first slopes of the Laurentian mountains, in the Charlesbourg borough. It is the first ice hotel in North America and is built each December for an opening date in early January. The hotel has a four-month lifespan each year before being brought down in April.^[3] It had 22 beds when it first opened in 2000. In its last iteration it had 85 beds, all made of ice but lined withdeer furs and covered with mattresses and Arctic sleeping bags. Only the bathrooms are heated and located in a separate insulated structure.

It takes about a month and a half to build with 60 workers. The Hotel makes its own snow using a special mixture to adjust the humidity.^[3] It is built with metal frames, it is allowed to harden for a few days, and then the cranes are removed.^[3] The hotel is made of 15,000 tons of snow and 500,000 tons of ice and the walls are up to four feet thick.^[3]

[edit]Description

Ice Hotel Chapel, Quebec (February, 2006)

Same Chapel from afar

The hotel is usually made (the architecture and size may vary from season to season) in arches over rooms with 16 foot (5 m) and larger and higher spaces for one art galleries a club dubbed the N'Ice Club, an "Ice Café" and a 60-feet slide. The walls are over 4 feet (1.2 m) thick on average. All furniture is made of ice. In addition to using ice glasses as in the Kiruna ice hotel, the bar (and room service) also serves cold cuts on ice plates.

Amenities include a nightclub, movie theater, indoor heated washrooms and outdoor hot tubs.^[4]

[edit]Tourist site

The hotel has been described as a "tourist hotspot"^[3] and is backed by Quebec's tourism department.^[5] For its first year, it costs $350,000 to build, including $125,000 from the Quebec government.^[6]

Tours are available in French or English, seven days a week, and the hotel is otherwise open to the public.^[5] After the fourth season, the official statistics reported 220,000 visitors and 10,500 overnight guests.^[4] In its fifth season, it hosted around 70,000 tourists.^[3]

[edit]Weddings

There is a chapel where weddings are celebrated. The Ice Hotel has been described as one of the "10 dream wedding locations."^[7]

Eighteen weddings were conducted for the 2003 season,

Ice hotels are a kind of destination hotel found in northern climates. The Quebec Ice Hotel (French: Hôtel de Glace, oh-tel de glass) is the only one in North America.

The notion of staying in an ice hotel may be a romantic one (possibly the word "cosy" comes to mind); but what are the cold, hard facts of staying in this arctic accommodation? Let me answer some of the most common questions about staying at the Quebec Ice Hotel.

1. Where is the Quebec Ice Hotel?

Photo: Roderick Chen / Getty Images

In 2011, the Quebec Ice Hotel moves its location closer to Quebec City at The Quebec Ice Hotel is about 30 mins out of downtownQuebec City or about 20 mins from the Quebec City International Airport.
Address: Station touristique Duchesnay
75 Montée de l Auberge
Phone:(418) 875-4522

The Ice Hotel itself is set just apart from a simple lodge where guests check in and leave belongings in a locker room.

2. How Cold is it inside the Ice Hotel?

The temperature inside an ice hotel runs between -3°C and -5°C.  Like an igloo, the 4-foot thick ice walls insulate the interior and protect guests from the wind.

3. Can I Just Visit the Quebec Ice Hotel without Staying the Night?

Photo © 2009 Scott McLean

Tours of the Quebec Ice Hotel are available until the early evening, but ticket holders may stay on at the Ice Bar until midnight, after which the hotel remains open only to those people who have bought an overnight package.

For an additional cost, tours can include transportation to and from hotels in Quebec City.

4. What Are the Advantages To Staying Overnight at the Quebec Ice Hotel

Photo © 2009 Scott McLean

As I hope my pictures reflect, the Quebec Ice Hotel is a unique, fairytale-like structure. The artistry and work that has gone into its erection are truly impressive, and the interior lighting gives the Quebec Ice Hotel a strange and glorious glow. All of this magic is best appreciated at night when fewer people are actually in the hotel. Tours stop in the early evening, the DJ amps it up, and the hotel is turned over to the brave souls planning to stay the night.

Another advantage to staying at the Ice Hotel overnight? Don't underestimate bragging rights. "I stayed at the Quebec Ice Hotel" is a statement bound to intrigue and impress.

5. What's it Like Staying Overnight at the Ice Hotel?

Photo © 2009 Scott McLean

Staying overnight at the ice hotel is for hardy people who don't mind foregoing the comforts of a conventional hotel for the experience of sleeping in an upscale igloo. After a drink in the ice bar and a soak in the outdoor hot tub (however, not hot enough to warm us up), we moved to the sauna (thankfully, hot). Upon bedtime, we followed exactly the instructions as laid out earlier by Ice Hotel staff. I got into my sleeping bag, warm and dry and enjoyed 3 or 4 hrs of sound sleep; after this, even my -30°C North Face sleeping bag couldn't save me from the chill of the Quebec night and I arose cold and miserable.

Certainly, there is a novelty and indeed a magic to staying in an ice hotel. I'm glad I did it. Would I do it again? Not a chance.

6. Do I Actually Sleep on a Bed of Ice?

Yes, but you are separated from the solid ice base by a wooden boxspring and mattress.

7. What about Going to the Bathroom?

A heated structure adjacent to the outdoor hot tubs and sauna has electricity, male / female changerooms, flush toilets, hairdryers and lockers.

8. Do the Rooms have Doors? Lighting?

Photo © 2009 Scott McLean

Rooms at the Quebec Ice Hotel do not have doors, but do have a pull curtain for privacy. Noise does not seem to be a problem. Most people conserve their energy and retire quietly into the the hollow silence you would expect of an igloo.

Beds have a light switch built right onto the bed for convenience.

9. Where Do We Eat?

Meals - if they are included in your package - are served just up the road at the Auberge Duchesnay. The meals we had there were excellent.

10. How Should I Prepare for Staying at the Ice Hotel?

First decide whether a night at the Ice Hotel is really something you want to do, or is it just a romantic notion. I saw some shivering, shell-shocked people in the locker room and lobby at 6 am, who, when I talked to them, were just not versed in the realities of staying overnight in an ice hotel. Remember, a tour and a drink at the Ice Hotel is an option (and there's a glorious and warm lodge just a stone's throw away from the Ice Hotel for accommodation).

If you decide that staying at the Ice Hotel is what you want, check out the promotions and packages available online. Most packages include a delicious dinner and a room at the neighbouring Auberge Duchesnay (a kind of insurance policy against the cold). Promotions are more bare-bones.

11. What's Included in Staying at the Ice Hotel? What is the Cost?

Promotions and packages vary in price and in what they include. Overnight stays include an Ice Bar cocktail, access to the *hot* tubs (not too hot the night we were there!) and sauna, gear to sleep in the Ice Hotel rooms (thermal sleeping bag and camping pillow) plus instructions on how to stay warm, and hot morning beverage. Many promotions also offer a hot breakfast at the Auberge Duchesnay, just a 3-minute walk up the road.

Packages are more comprehensive in their offerings, including a room at the Auberge Duchesnay - either as back-up or primary accommodation - and dinner at the Auberge restaurant. Packages generally have themes, such as romance or adventure.

Rates run from about CAD$180 - over $500 per night, per person plus taxes.