Winnipeg Manitoba

The next stop on my journey east was Winnipeg, Manitoba. I had been there a couple of times in the later 1990's for Christmas visiting with my then boyfriends family, but had never really done anything touristy there. There are quite a few people I know who live in Toronto, who are happy to be FROM Winnipeg, or in other words, not living in Winnipeg anymore. 

I stayed at the Town & Country Campground on the outskirts of town, next to a water-slide park that wasn't open this early in the season. The park seemed to be owned and run by a nice young couple that were really enthusiastic. A whole different vibe than at the place I stayed near Calgary. Their water wasn't turned on at the sites yet, but the sewers were working. You could fill your trailer with water next to the office, or you could borrow their water tanker truck, fill it up and take it to your trailer to fill it. I filled up on my way in. 

The Jets (NHL team) were in the playoffs and the entire city had caught the fever and were on the bandwagon. Each night of their games, home or away, there was a giant street party on the streets adjacent to the arena. They had a jumbo "goal light" 

Selfie with the goal light.

set up as well as a stage for live bands to play from and big screen TV's to watch the game on, if you couldn't/didn't want to get a seat indoors. They had food and beer concessions outside. I wasn't happy that they were only selling beer in pairs. I went downtown to take in the festivities prior to the start of the game and was interested in getting a ticket for the Manitoba Moose minor league teams playoff game the following night. Low and behold, when I got to the box office, they actually had a few single seats left for the Jets game. (Prior to this, I was hoping that the manager of the campground in Saskatoon, who's son is the equipment manager for the Jets would have been able to arrange a ticket for me, but sadly that didn't work out.) It was a bit on the pricey side, but I figured it was a once in a lifetime opportunity, so bought one of those and one for the following night. (If you dollar cost average them, it works out a little more palatable.)

View from my seat for the Jets game.

View from my seat for the Moose game.

As it happened, both teams lost, so I have vowed to never attend another hockey game in Winnipeg.

Saturday morning I attended synagogue and in the afternoon I visited The Royal Canadian Mint,

Photo op, outside the mint.

Large Lone outside The Mint.

where not only all of our Canadian coins are struck, but also those of 62 other countries from around the world. Each countries flag was flying on a separate pole outside. There were so many it wasn't possible to take on photo with them all in it. There is a display inside with details of these countries and the coins the mint produces for them. I found it quite interesting. For security reasons the raw materials arrive and the coins are shipped out in nondescript trucks. The mint wasn't in operation so the tour was less expensive, and the place is reportedly much quieter and the floor wasn't vibrating.

They had a very large gold bar on display, which was well guarded, but there was an opportunity to pick it up, which pretty much required two hands as it weighed about 400 troy ounces, which is equal to about 28 lbs and at the current price of gold was worth a bit over half a million Canadian dollars.

Large bar of pure gold.

On Sunday, prior to my planned visit to The Canadian Museum for Human Rights I decided to treat myself to some Dim Sum. I did a google search for a good place and headed there, however it seemed that there were more other people heading to the place across the street, so I decided to follow the crowd and wasn't disappointed. This is just one of the carts they had going around with items on it:  

Dim Sum the old fashioned way, on wheeled carts. Yummy.

The museum, approaching its 10th anniversary, is quite an interesting shaped structure situated next to the river and not far from an area of small shops and restaurants. 

Museum of Human Rights, from behind it.

Overall, I found my visit to the museum worthwhile, though rather depressing, which I guess is only natural, given how badly many groups of people have been treated over the years, and the need to keep human rights front of mind. The museum boasts 10 galleries, which touch on indigenous people, the holocaust, doctors, Canada 150, a big timeline, among other things related to human rights. I chose to proceed through the museum from the bottom to the top, which meant walking up innumerable rather steep and long ramps, imposing some misery on me, which I suppose rather intentionally helped dull my mood as well. (As I recall The Guggenheim Museum in New York City had lots of ramps, but my impression of them was quite different than here.) I think I would advise others to visit in the reverse order, by taking the elevator to the top and walking downwards.

After visiting the Museum, there was still enough daylight for me to play the 9 hole Winnipeg Canoe Club Golf Course. I had practiced a bit of chipping and putting earlier in the week. It was very early spring like conditions, so I didn't have very high expectations for the course conditioning, but it was nice to get out and play now about a month removed from the decent golf in Arizona and a couple of weeks since I last played in Utah. I played on my own, and a couple of slower groups let me through so it didn't take long. There is some talk of closing the golf course soon, because the land would be very valuable for development as it is virtually downtown. So, if it meets its demise, I can say I had played it. Sadly for the golf enthusiasts quite a few courses are going that way.