I wish they still made ice skates like this that attached to some sturdy shoes or boots. I was never very good but enjoyed my early days of venturing out on the ice. Don't you love this illustration?
I enjoyed the article where I found it and learned a lot I never knew about The History of Ice and Figure Skating.
Thomas Heeremans, 1641–1694.
A winter landscape with figures skating and sledging on a frozen moat by a fortified town.
Enjoy. xo
4 comments:
Wow! Interesting article. Hard to believe they've been able to trace ice skates back 4,000 years ago in Finland. Maybe I didn't read it correctly--amazing!! I never ice skated but I sure enjoyed strapping on roller skates (complete with a key, lol). We didn't have many sidewalks on the farm, but we had a large concrete floor in our basement. My brother and I spent many hours racing around on our skates. Good memories!
Pam -- I roller skated too and never lost my key. I can still remember what fun I had. You are correct about the age of the earliest ice skates. People were very inventive in the quest to shorten travel time in Finland across the lakes rather than around them in the winter. Leg bones of large animals strapped to their footwear was the answer. What a great article. xo, Rosemary
can't wait to read this link!
I grew up Loving to skate. first roller skates that I never tired of! and then when we moved to NY and MN! oh my. to learn to skate on ICE! it was heaven. I found that ice skates were much easier than roller skates! I haven't been on skates in half a century... Over even. 59 years. good lord.
but the memories are wonderful. just like yesterday! XO
UPDATE: I added a 17th century painting to this post. xo, Rosemary
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