(Winnipeg’s Union Station-now Via, formerly CN)
Starting with the symphony here and a super finale with cannon fire and streamers for the 1812. Then flying into Winnipeg, my hometown, for a full, rich 10 days. Reconnecting with my earliest friend of some 64 years and my grade 5 teacher at her nice house after 60 years. Great stories and laughs.
The rest of the stay included: the absolutely unique and exhaustive Human Rights Museum (which is also breathtaking visually with its architectural views inside and out), the Forks market and grounds, Union Station, the nostalgic railway museum, Rae and Jerry’s (still the best restaurant in town, waited on by a 32-year-server), the Holiday Inn Airport West (with pools and fish on the elevators still), the original pancake house (with giant apple waffle), Assiniboine Park’s beautiful Leo Mol Sculpture Garden and English Garden, the Pavillion (with Ivan Eyre paintings and Winnie the Poo gallery), the Zoo (with polar bears gliding around zoogoers in a glass-surround tunnel, my parents’ memorial bench nearby), a visit to Jeanne’s Bakery (home of my birthday cakes for the past 65 years), the airplane museum, a (monthly) sup with my high-school-alumni friends, the Park Café (where my parents’ memorial stone is located), the Mint, a Salisbury House sup, the downtown Bay, the art gallery (with its Inuit sculptures and French Impressionist paintings), Bailey’s (a long-time nice English-style pub near Portage & Main in the Exchange District), the large Manitoba Museum (with a facsimile of the Nonsuch), two trips to Grant Park’s McNally Robinson (one for brekkie at Priarie Ink café, the other for checking out a jazz show), the wonderful large Lights of the North light show (a one-time anniversary show in the open on the edge of town).
Weather was sunny and in the 20s. It was a tremendous ‘fill-up’ of experiences, adventures, fun, and nostalgia. This was The Trip of 2018 and it will take some time to process and reflect on. A busy month ahead, reading and hosting at the Stroll of Poets’ Upper Crust evenings, and heading toward double cataract surgery.