A balmy 23 degrees it stayed in my room for a night’s sleep in Quebec City’s Ice Hotel the last evening in January.

    Zero outside so four-foot-thick snow walls carved with designs of butterflies, frogs, mountains, flowers and other nature scenes really did raise the temp and protect me from the elements.  Sort of.

    Anxiety warmed me too but the Nordic sleeping bag provided by the hotel really did the job.

    Hotel de Glace as they call it in Canada’s French-speaking Quebec City is no igloo.  This is a sumptuous hotel with 36 sleeping rooms, enough icy beds to accommodate 88 people each night and gathering rooms with intricately carved ice furniture.

    Sit down. Really. Fur pelts are draped over ice benches and chairs to warm bottoms. Of course, when I wiggled much I had to readjust the fur because, after all, ice is slippery and these pelts glide to the floor.

    Floors felt secure to me; I had run into some ice patches on my other adventures in this lovely World Heritage Site city and around the province, so I wondered if my hotel would be slippery.

     Not to worry for fear of falling — the floors are snow.  Soft yet well-packed, quiet and secure. Housekeeping tends them regularly, adding new snow.

    No cleaning carts with sheets and shampoo in the Ice Hotel; these housekeepers are men wielding shovels and wheelbarrows full of fresh snow. Neige they call it here.

    No toilet paper either.  Plumbing is across the yard in a heated building named Celsius.

    That’s where I took a class to secure myself in the Nordic sleeping bag.  Might be simple for winter campers but for me it was a big deal.  Here’s a sign of my anxiety.

Instructor looked quizzical after a display of “Pull this cord to keep a draft out of your neck, fold this Velcro to stay fastened, pull this other cord to tighten your hood, make the whole bag go with you if you roll over …”

I asked permission to do it all with teacher watching.  My classmates drifted off to the Ice Bar but I wanted assurance for later more than I needed a shot of Caribou, one of Quebec’s stout warm-you-inside drinks.

Boots off, and inside the bag I went. Staff here are confidence builders so I claimed the promise all could be well at bedtime and went off in search of Hotel de Glace good times.

Wandering around looking self-conscious seemed everybody’s initial approach. Can’t say I’ve seen that in other hotels. Clearly a “What have we done” attitude.  Expectant, but curious and cautious.

Dressed to the nines in this place means fur-lined boots, freezing-temperature jackets, warm gloves—or mitts as they often call them in Canada, wool hats and scarves.

 Facebook and friendship dressed me; what I call a winter wardrobe in my South Georgia closet would have frozen me. A social media appeal for help a month ago as I prepared for the Quebec City 57th annual Winter Carnival garnered loaners and some sage advice.

Wool pajamas are not on the list. Wear too much to sleep and you might overheat, causing ice to form inside your sleeping bag.  Good grief; imagine that?

 Imagine trusting the experts and stripping down in those temperatures? My Ice Hotel experience called for faith, trust, confidence, and lots of deep breathing.

Stalling too. Seemed a good idea to delay bedtime as long as possible. I wandered the halls like everyone else, peering into rooms to see the different designs in the snow walls and making new friends in the Ice Café, the Grand Reception Hall and, of course, in the lively Ice Bar. All alone zipping down the short ice slide inside the hotel.

Kept my gloves on because drink glasses are, you guessed it, ice. Recycle by dropping them in a big box. They melt in the spring. Dishwashers unnecessary.

No brides and grooms my visit but weddings happen almost every day in the Ice Chapel. High vaulted cathedral ceiling, altar, lectern and rows of pews covered with pelts. Fur coat recommended to say “I do” in this sacred space.

Other ceilings are high too, 19 feet most of them. I don’t know how to contemplate 15,000 tons of snow but that’s what it took to build the hotel. Plus 500 tons of ice.

    Twenty workers put it together in December and ten to 15 artisans sculpt, polish and carve.

    Stainless steel molds come first with wooden walls fixed a distance from them. Snow is blown between and when it’s frozen in place, the metal is removed.

Ice blocks stacked like bricks seemed to me to be support structures at the end of the hallways and bigger ice blocks were carved into tables, counters, furniture and sculpture.

Analyzing all that helped me delay taking off my clothes. Seemed easier walking around than lying awake on my ice bed. Skeptical I was, and all alone without a buddy.

Celsius, the warmed building, has locker rooms and hair dryers, fleece bathrobes and absorbent towels. Comfortable actually to get into my bathing suit, then daunting to go outdoors.

No other route to the sauna and hot tubs except over the snow and through the yard.

Hot tub even if you don’t like to.  Vital to boost body temperature before reaching the sleeping bag.

Get hot enough to survive the walk back through the snow to the lockers, slip into jammies, cross the freezing yard again and remember where your room is.

Cold brain? Warm brain? I wondered how mine would work. Wished for a partner to help, or at least giggle with me, but this was solo travel.

Sharing a Nordic sleeping bag isn’t a good idea; a tight fit with no drafts is the goal. Doubles are available on request, but Hotel de Glace professionals don’t recommend them.

A warm body in a solo bag next to me would have been comforting.  Especially when my zipper stuck at hip level.

 The Ice Hotel isn’t only about romance, but certainly offers a unique shared experience. Families stay too and that amazed the mother in me, zipping up little kids in those bags and then securing yourself. God forbid a bathroom trip.

The 36 rooms are full most nights, open since Jan. 7 and closing Mar. 27. Only 10 minutes from downtown, situated on the land of a former zoo. Cross-country skiing, ice skating, snowshoeing, dog-sledding, snowmobiling and sliding available too.

Confidence builder: check in first at the Sheraton Four Points and leave your luggage there.

Shuttle runs on demand so mind-changers can quit the cold any time, but hardly anyone does. I stayed in bed from 12:30 – 6:10 a.m. and felt rested all through the next day.

Kind of smug too since I managed it.