Yes Winnipeg is still so cold! Its not the -50 that they can see in the dead of Winter, but it’s now the middle of May! -2 overnight and still only 5 degrees at 11am. Our original plan was to stay south until the middle of the summer, but we let ourselves get talked into coming back to Canada. Contrary to popular belief, Summer has not started yet in this part of the Country.
If you have been following this blog, specifically our Memphis, Tennessee post, you may recall we visited the Civil Rights Museum last year. We thoroughly enjoyed it. Well Winnipeg is home to the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. We are not normally overly interested in Museums, but we could not pass this up.
The Museum is very appealing to the eye. Ringing in at $351 Million, I guess that is to be expected.
It took us about 2.5 hours to view the galleries, this is a small sample of what is exhibited inside. For those of you who have not visited a Museum built within the last 5 years, you have no idea what you are missing out on. Technology is incorporated at every level here, gone are the days of simply looking at photos and reading. Videos, displays, lighting, re enactments, interactive touch screen monitors, surveys and much more are found inside.
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Although this Museum is looking thru a mostly Canadian lens, it covers essentially all Human Rights issues, some having nothing to do with Canada. An example is the 1994 Election in South Africa that elected Nelson Mandela as President and ended Apartheid.
This entire wall is a TV screen.
Although Canada did not have segregation laws, sadly we still found ways to segregate minorities. Viola Desmond is Canada’s Rosa Parks.
A dark chapter in Canada. We used to live in Port Moody!
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Again another TV wall.
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The main entrance to the Museum is below ground level, and very dark. During your visit, you slowly climb up many floors. The idea behind this is you are walking “From Darkness into Light”, just as many people who fought for their rights experienced.
The original Proclamation of the Constitution Act, 1982. With this document, Canada cut its final Constitutional ties with Britain and established the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Admission is only $15 and worth it. If you visit Winnipeg, there is not much else to see, but this is a must.
The top of the Museum offers a nice view of Downtown Peg!
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Restaurant in the middle of the bridge.
The Museum is located at “The Forks”, an area of Winnipeg where the Assiniboine and Red Rivers meet. The area is essentially a public market with mostly local offerings. It was interesting, but make sure to bring your bill fold, its expensive!
Forks Market
We shared one meagre Pistachio Cannoli. We have bills to pay after all, we cant blow the entire budget in one place.
It was delish
Yup, we were there! It was soooo exciting.
Next stop was off to Walmart to spend the night. Although we snuck a sleep at a Walmart in Saskatchewan, Canadian Walmart’s are not as clear if you can sleep there or not. We have a list of the 5,000 stores in the United States where sleeping is allowed and where it is prohibited. So after receiving permission from the Store Manager, we settled in for the night. I guess the 3 hour parking signs do not apply to us, it pays to be friendly!
Dinner time: The main purpose of showcasing our dinner to the world was to share a new fish we discovered, but we will get to that.
We don’t pull out the bbq and chairs at Walmart, you have to be a little more covert than that.
pretty basic wrap for dinner
And finally, here is the fish: Smoked Tulibee and Fort Garry Rouge Beer.
Tulibee is found only in cold water lakes in North America. This particular fish most likely came from Lake Superior. They are found in all of the Great Lakes, but commercial fishing is only viable in Lake Superior. ohh and the Beer is great as well. Fort Garry is brewed in Winnipeg.
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Delicious, the smoked flavour made it all that much better!
If you are out east, give Tulibee a whirl.
Our final stop in Winnipeg is the Royal Canadian Mint. Every piece of Canadian Circulation coins are made right here in Winnipeg. The Mint also makes coins for 75 other countries around the World. Interesting to note, We Canadians make a sizeable amount of circulation coins for the Americans! Just if they knew their money is not made in the US! The joke is on them!
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The mint occupies a sprawling parcel of land
The mint makes coins for all of these countries.
And as usual, Security here is a little tight. They are making money after all. No photos allowed during the tour, and I did not fell like talking to the armed security guards. But, we were able to see the manufacturing process from start to finish. And, we were able to see a new quarter coming out this summer. Actually one of the coolest quarters to date. It may or may not have something to do with the 50th Anniversary of the Canadian Flag. It may or may not have a large Canadian flag in color on the side of it. After all, Canada was the first country in the world to make colored coins, remember the poppy quarters in 2004?
The finished product! This would fill our fuel tank many times!
So long Winnipeg.
Tyler and Aya, another great post!! You have a way of creating so much interest from what seems to be only a few things to see…. even to introducing a new fish! I enjoy reading it all and especially the pictures of both of you.
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Thanks. We had to really work to make Winnipeg sound interesting
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You should get someone to pay you to be a travel journalist! Your posts are so entertaining to read. Who knew there were all these interesting things to do in Winnipeg.
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How much would YOU pay me?
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