Greetings from Winnipeg! Jon did not sleep well at the hostel we’re staying in. At this hostel, it’s really cold because they love air conditioning and the walls are white. Jon characterizes this place as awful but I don’t think it’s that bad. We have our own washroom so I’m happy.
Anyways, this morning, Jon and I walked through downtown Winnipeg in its Shopping, Exchange, and Cultural district as well as Chinatown. The exchange district is where you’ll find the major banks and where they have their Grain Exchange building. This district is the original centre of commerce and culture back in the early 20th century. The Cultural district houses the Manitoba Museum, concert hall and theatres.
In Winnipeg, the Chinatown here is about 1/8th, or even less, the size of Vancouver’s. It consists of a handful of restaurants, bakeries and supermarkets. Maybe Jon and I didn’t go deep enough but from what I saw there were about 5 restaurants, 1 bakery and 1 supermarket. At the supermarket, Jon bought his beloved strawberry pocky. We also went to the Maxim bakery. You may recognize this bakery as it can be found in Chinatown Vancouver and at Metrotown near T and T. Well, I had such a bad craving for Chinese buns so we bought 4. I bought 2 cocktail buns...my favourite! Jon bought a curry bun and a bbq pork bun. He said the curry one didn’t’ taste like much but he liked the bbq pork bun. With cocktail buns, you can’t really have a BAD bun. My favourite cocktail buns come from Michelle’s bakery in kerrisdale, FYI.
Anyways, Winnipeg is having a Fringe theatre festival which showcases theatre companies, and performances. Jon and I walked into it as we were heading back to our room but unfortunately, we were too early. The festival began at noon but we were there at around 11:30am.
I noticed that the town shuts down on Sunday. Many stores are closed on Sundays or open at noon which is quite late. In the Vancouver, you don’t see that much.
After we finished walking through downtown, we drove to The Forks. This reminds me of Granville Island and is located at the junction of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers. Jon and I had accidentally walked over the Provencher Bridge but was surprised to see a restaurant called Salisbury House sitting in the middle of the bridge. We ordered a large twist (chocolate and vanilla) ice cream cone from here and it was deeelicious. It was super creamy! What a good find especially for a sunny day! However, when we went to the Forks market, there were lots of stores selling ice-cream and frozen yogurt. When Jon saw this, he was sad because he wanted frozen yogurt, as well as fish n’ chips. Oh well!
At the market, they had cute stores and was less crowded than Granville Island but there weren’t a lot of stores. As Jon and I were leaving, there was a street performer with his dog. His dog was doing tricks like back twists, jumping on the owner’s back and catching the Frisbees. We walked a little further and saw these boys on bikes playing some sort of street hockey. They were using sticks that looked like it had a cup holder on the other end of it; this is where the ball goes. They were biking back and forth trying to score. Jon and I have never seen it before. Jon suggested that we join them with our skateboard and scooter. Ha-ha!
As we were walking to our car, we came across a skateboard park. We saw two little brothers, the oldest one not older than 5, both on scooters in the park. THEY WERE SO CUTE. The teenage skateboarders around them knocked over a bin and would jump over the bin on their skateboard. The oldest little boy would scooter to the side of the bin and hop on his scooter, as if he’s jumping over the bin. It was so cute. His little brother would follow his older brother around. What a cute sight!
After leaving Forks, we drove to Winnipeg’s French Quarter and Old St. Boniface. There we saw Louis Riel’s tomb, Louis Riel being the founder of Manitoba and the Métis leader. We also saw the house of Gabrielle-Roy, a 20th century author of novels such as Streets of Riches and the Tin Flute. Lastly, we saw the St. Boniface Cathedral-Basilica. This cathedral had been rebuilt due to a 1968 fire.
Jon took a nap and is well rested. We drove to Polo Park Shopping Centre and had Arby’s since Jon was craving it for a while. He had 2 BBQ bacon melts and I had beef and cheddar melt with curly fries and Dr. Pepper. Jon was satisfied. He had been yearning for Arby’s since Alberta.
Afterwards, we drove to Assiniboine Park to see the Leo Mol Sculpture Garden. This garden has over 300 bronze sculptures, ceramics and paintings. Jon kept on saying “it’s Gooorgeous baaaby” (think Fran Drescher). It’s quite annoying after the 10th time but that’s my baby...my goooorgeous baaaby!
We were going to go to Shoppers but the one we went to closed at 6pm. There was a Safeway beside it but that too closed at 6pm. So we returned home.
Jon finished planning for the next few days. Tomorrow, we’ll be Minneapolis. We’ll wash up early and try to watch lord of the rings...or at least part of it. Jon wants me to be cultured in nerdom. Ha ha.
FYI: We (Jon) have/ has driven over 3500kms averaging 22.5mpg.
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