WINNERPEG NOT WINTERPEG!

The Museum for Human Rights beyond The Forks

Manitoba’s capital city is full of surprises. 

The Peg’s heart lies at The Forks, an historic site at the intersection of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers. The Forks had its beginnings as an early Aboriginal settlement, the centre of the fur trade and the advent of the railway which facilitated waves of immigration. 

A microbrewery in The Forks

The old warehouses are now converted into shops and restaurants and the atmosphere is vibrant. 

Nearby, the exterior of Canada’s Museum for Human Rights is somewhat confounding and perhaps best described as a vision of mixed metaphors. 

Sixty three firms from twenty one countries submitted bids in one of Canada’s largest ever architectural competitions to build the Museum. Antoine Predock’s unusual design was selected. In 2010 the Museum cornerstone was unveiled by the Queen who had personally selected a stone from Runnymede where the Magna Carta was sealed in 1215. Izzy Asper’s dream of a world class human rights centre for Canada became a reality when the Museum opened its doors in 2014. The Museum’s striking displays and exhibits left me touched and pensive after our morning of exploration.  As I emerged into the daylight I felt a tear in my eye and a desire to get a puppy. 

The Exchange District while a little tired in parts, has a series of streets with well preserved twentieth century architecture, a tribute to the times when Winnipeg was destined to be the “Chicago of the North”.  Construction of the Panama Canal put paid to that dream.

St Boniface Cathedral

St. Boniface, Winnipeg’s French Quarter, lies across the Red River, its ruined cathedral a striking sight.  In the early 1900s a fire destroyed the Cathedral’s roof and the heat blew out what had been an enormous rose stained glass window. What is left of the structure, including an impressive bank of bells, are well preserved with another house of worship built within the Cathedral walls in 1972.  Louis Riel, founder of the Province of Manitoba, lies in St. Boniface Cathedral’s graveyard.

Hermetic Code revelations
enthrall the crowd

The neoclassical Legislative Assembly of Manitoba is a striking building with many interesting architectural features, its secrets unlocked during a quirky Hermetic Code tour that explored its numerological codes and Masonic symbols.
  

Union Station in the foreground.  Fort Garry Hotel beyond.

During our Winnipeg exploration we stayed at the Fort Garry Hotel. Built in 1913 by the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway, the hotel is privately owned and well maintained.  Our choice had been a good one.  Friendly staff, good food and a reasonably priced lounge bar that exuded style, the hotel has the additional feature of being one of the most haunted places on the Canadian Prairies.  

While lots of ghostly sightings have been recorded, the epicentre of the hotel’s supernatural happenings are on the second Floor.  One evening I returned to our fifth floor room on my own and felt an icy draught across my shoulders as I walked over to the window.  I found myself checking the large walk in closet while I considered a look under the bed. I gave my head a shake.

Winnipeg's Mint displays the flags of countries
for which it produces coinage

Churchill the Polar Bear on the Toonie

Winnipeg’s Mint produces coins from time to time for 75 countries.  

The assembly line was fascinating from the large steel sheeting coils used to press out coins, to the stamping process and the finished product neatly packed in shipping crates then stored in an enormous vault pending transportation to the customer.  

Coins are shipped in unmarked trucks and other commercial vehicles bearing the livery of grocery stores and the like.  So the next time you are stopped at a traffic light and there’s a dairy truck alongside, it may not actually be transporting milk and butter.The Mint also disposes of coinage taken out of circulation.  The stacked barrels reminded us of a scene from Breaking Bad, but the barrels contained coins, not acid and human remains.

Manitoba's Legislature

A short cruise on the Red and Assiniboine Rivers gave an excellent perspective of the city, particularly the elaborate staircase from the river to the Legislature. We also viewed the high water marks experienced during Winnipeg’s significant flood events.

The Railway Museum at Union Station has some unusual memorabilia, most memorable a poster of a cheque presentation ceremony by Miss Careful Handling.  Stereotypes and perceptions another topic for Palm Lounge discussion.

Our evening ritual always seemed to gravitate to the Palm Lounge in the Fort Garry Hotel where good food and drink was served by pleasant wait staff while a pianist serenaded our recollections of Winnipeg’s secrets, Hermetic Code and Miss Careful Handling among them!