Canada Day in MB, Day 5
September 21st, 2007 @ 12:31 by NormMonkey
The adventure continues!
July 3rd, Day 5
The day starts with a trip to the local Toyota shop where my aunt and I have our cars looked over. I borrowed the receptionist’s phone to start the insurance process. I thought this would be a quick deal, but apparently there’s a “dude is standing in a busy place on a borrowed phone” flag that pops up on agents’ computers, resulting in a more talkative mode. Half an hour later, we went exploring!
We showed up at the Forks, where the Assiniboine and the Red rivers meet, around noon, which meant exploring the food court first. Ever heard of pizza perogies? (ASIDE: For those playing along at home, Ukranian culture is stronger in the Winnipeg area than, say, Eastern Ontario) Next we wandered around the grounds for awhile:
Rock of Hidden Images
The artist(s?) who made this looked for images important to their First Nation culture and used shading to bring out those images which they saw in the rock already. In this one I see the (obvious) face and two eagles.
My aunt, My HunnyKitty and I
Here we are in front of a sculpture whose significance evades me for the moment. Aren’t I a great guide?!
The Red River
If you ever wondered why it’s called that, now you know. Wait, what’s that in the corner…
Red River Runneth Over
… Why, it looks like a stair rail poking out of the water. The Winnipeg area frequently experiences flooding to some degree - some years are better than others.
Downtown Winnipeg
I wonder if every city has one of those revolving restaurant thingies (left side)? Ottawa has one too, though I’ve yet to go.
Winnipeg, being the Gateway to the West, also has a strong railway presence. At The Forks, they’ve got some old rail cars - still on tracks - near the parking lot. Aside from the old-school style and interior, there is another interesting facet to one of these cars:
Giant Rockets! 63g instead of 7.4g! Actually the whole car is a Sugar Mountain outlet, but these are (naturally) the most interesting candy to be found. Rockets of this oversize pedigree are never found in the wild. I wonder if Ottawa’s Sugar Mountain has some of these? I’ve never been, whenever I walk near it I always hold my hands to the side of my head like blinders and walk quickly past, murmuring things like, “There’s nothing here, there’s nothing here, just walk away.”
After The Forks we visited at my Uncle’s place. Uncle D. is the most friendly and kindhearted person I know, the sort of friend you know you can always count on. After hanging out for a bit - and taking a stab at solving a LAN issue that he had going on at the time - we headed to one of my favourite Winnipeg haunts, Mongo’s.
At this Mongolian restaurant, you grab a bowl and fill it with raw ingredients served buffet-style. You choose your veggies, meats, noodles, sauce, etc. and give your fixin’s to the cook, who throws it on a huge stainless steel grilling table where they toss it around with giant paddles ’til it’s done. Then you go nom nom nom and come back for more.
Afterward Uncle D. gave FBD and I a ride to the only store in town selling the new Olympus E-510, a London Drugs at St. Vital. He showed me one of his new toys, a little GPS-based device that sits on your dashboard and warns you of various things. Its database has a list of hazardous intersections, speed zones, red-light cameras, school crossings, etc. and it calls them out to you.
After the store we headed home to hang out for a bit - and unbox my new toy - before going to bed.
Up next: more exploring!
