Jo's sister, Priscilla, husband Gary, and the two of us took a
whirlwind tour with stops in Manitoba and Ontario.
According to our restaurant server , no one has a
positive view of Winnipeg. This sentiment was echoed by our motel
front desk clerk who even seemed to suggest that we were a little
shallow, and were only interested in things like architecture.
Both seemed to be more interested in night life, and preferred to
visit the States on their vacations. To that we could only say, "come
on down, we need the money". Perhaps it's just us... but we
found Winnipeg to be an interesting town.
The moment you drive into the city, you can just sense that
something is a little off... Perhaps it's the honking horns, or
maybe it's just the fact that there are few truly square blocks. If
you miss a turn, and want to go around the block to try again, you
find that the block is not really 4-sided, but a triangle, and you come up one side short when you try to get back on your
street. Then, just when you decide to roll with the 3 sided flow of
blocks, they throw in a 4-sided one and you get confused all over
again. Add to that the one way streets and you have quite a mess.
That's about the time you realize that many of the honking horns are
aimed at you ! Seems that in this part of Manitoba, Canadians are a little
impatient with those of us from the US.
Manitoba Parliament
In spite of the confusion, we did manage to locate a number of
attractions. There is an area locally known as "the forks" that has several attractions.where two rivers merge The province
capital building brandishes some pretty impressive architecture.
The
English Gardens are a memorable display of botanical wonders.
The
sculpture garden is a beautiful wooded setting for the many well done
sculptures.
There are museums, the ruins of the St Boniface Church, the impressive pedestrian bridge that
adds to the view of the sunset, and restaurants and shops galore that
add to the overall impression of the city.
Signing of Women's Right to Vote Documents
We only spent an afternoon and the following morning in Winnipeg,
but all four of us enjoyed the time there.
