Luminaria at the Devonian Gardens

This past Saturday night Andrew and I drove out to the Devonian Gardens (approximately 45 minutes from our apartment) to take in Luminaria, a special event held in the Kurimoto Japanese garden. I think I read somewhere that this event was first held in 2000 to celebrate the millennium, but I can't seem to find the page where I found this to confirm it. As can be seen from the pictures below, the paths of the garden are lined with paper lanterns, and visitors are offered hot apple cider to sip as they meander about trails. Fire pits were placed in various spots around the garden to allow visitors to warm themselves if necessary.

The nights was crisp (only around -10C, which by Edmonton standards is pretty good, plus I heard someone say last year that the temperature was in the neighbourhood of -35C) and the sky, which started out cloudy, cleared while we were at the garden. Although we were pleased to see the clouds dissipate, we found our view of the stars was somewhat limited as the pink-haze of the lights in Edmonton prohibited a really glorious night sky. We wandered around the garden for almost an hour before we both started to suffer from cold feet and fingers despite our boots and mitts.

This was a really lovely experience. We were both well bundled in preparation for the weather (as were many of the other people there), and the garden walk covered with snow and candles was gorgeous.

Ciao,

Andrea