Winnipeg#1

I always love vicarious adventures on other blogs, so I tried to shoot photos and bring you along to Winnipeg with me. I am physically already back home in Kentucky, but here's the first part of the tour.

We stayed at the Fort Garry hotel; this is one of the historic railway hotels. It was so luxurious and a perfect place to stay! I loved the linens and the high-end breakfasts, the complimentary tea and newspapers delivered to our room--it was fabulous. The university booked us at this hotel but it worked out very well since it was also our 10th wedding anniversary!

Here's a shot of the train station, right near the hotel, complete with the Maple Leaf and the RailCanada sign. We walked through the station right down to the Forks. This is where two rivers meet and hence is the historic reason for the settlement of Winnipeg. In fact, first nation peoples have been gathering at "the Forks" for the last four or five thousand years. Now it is a park with shopping, restaurants, and gardens. Here, you can see a pavilion. The yellow stripes on the pavilion mark some of the historic river flood stages. The little girl in the photo is Hutterite, there's a big population of Hutterites in the area...along with practically every other kind of diversity you could imagine!


We wandered through a cleverly landscaped prairie garden in the middle of the Folks. Note the enormous mural above it...there is a lot of mural art in Winnipeg, and it's been going on a long time. There are historic murals, painted advertisements on buildings, and all sorts of modern art too--all of it free and situated throughout the city for passers-by to enjoy.

We then took a short boat tour on the rivers. That big red buoy thing you see in the middle of the river helps to mark the river's deepest channel where boats can go during flood stage. Many of the river trails, park steps and other sites are completely underwater in the spring floods. However, the provincial government has done great planning and built dikes all over the city. They are always planning new ways to help divert parts of the flood to help keep the city dry and functioning during the springtime.

We took the boat right past the provincial Parliament building, and that's when I knew Winnipeg must be a great place to spend a summertime Sunday. Click on this photo and check out the right corner of the image. See the lady spinning on her Lendrum wheel, right next to her fishing companion? Ahh, now that would be a perfect way to spend the day! More to come in the next few days...

PS: Thanks so much for sharing my excitement about Fiber Gathering! Every comment makes me smile!