Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada

As many of you know, I travel a great deal for work.  If you've followed me in the past, you know that I've been to some pretty interesting, if not "off the wall" places.  Every time I've been assigned to a new project in a place I've never been, I try to walk around a bit and Winnipeg was no different.

First of all, I find that I'm a "stupid American" (my term, not theirs).  I know nothing of Canada other than they won't stamp your passport (but I'm not bitter....or am I?)  I found out that they have Provinces which are the equivalent of States here.  There are ten provinces in Canada:  Alberta, Manitoba, British Columbia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, and Saskatchewan.  Winnipeg is in Manitoba.

When I was asked to join the project, my first question was "How in the heck do I get there?"  As a rule, living in Dallas, I use American Airlines as that's the main way in and out of DFW.  But in this case, American doesn't go to Winnipeg.  Now what?

Turns out, I have to fly another airline.  Delta.  You may have heard of it.  They have hubs in Atlanta and Minneapolis among others.

There are not a lot of flight options to Winnipeg but I found one and got there.  I was there for three weeks (not in a row).  My first week I stayed at the Radisson.  Our client is in downtown Winnipeg and I'll be honest, there wasn't much to see.

I had heard it was freezing there so I brought my coat and a bunch of warm clothes but my first week there (in September) was very pleasant.  In fact, people were pointing and laughing because I was wearing a coat.  Ok, no they weren't.  They're Canadian!  They are too nice to point and laugh but you know they were thinking it!

My first day, I walked all over the place.  We all know I love anything historic. This is the Holy Trinity Church Anglican that was right next to my hotel.  It was erected in 1885 and, inside, has memorials to those Canadians who died in World Wars I and II.  I wasn't able to go inside while I was walking around.

 

This is the Masonic Temple, which was completed in 1895.  The city is considering giving it "historical" status despite the fact that it's supposedly haunted. Hmm....

This is the Calvary Temple Tower, which was completed in 1894 as part of a large Baptist Church.

 

This was an interesting photo.  It's a mural of the St. Regis Hotel painted on the side of ...The St. Regis Hotel!  I think this was what it looked like when it first opened.  It doesn't quite look like that now.

The Canadians are sooo nice.  Even their buses are nice!  This bus was headed back to the garage.  So it tells you that it's "Not In Service".  But then the light blinks

And the bus apologizes.  Seriously?

This is St. Mary's Cathedral. It was built in 1880.  It's one of two Roman Catholic Cathedrals in the city of Winnipeg.

This would be a lovely sunset from the window of the Radisson.

This cool looking building is a bar (and possibly a restaurant) that is behind the building that I work in.  My colleagues on this job are not very adventurous and so, we have not tried this place.  I'd stop in after work but this time of year, if you don't get into the tunnel/skywalk before six, you have to walk outside.  And it's cold.  Not just "ooh, it's chilly, i need a sweater".  It's more like "holy hell, I can't feel my legs!"

This is another cool building that is behind my office building.  It's a day care center.  That's right.  A day care center, right next to the bar.  Drop your kids off, and go have a drink.  Those Canadians sure know how to work the system!

My second time there, I stayed at the Delta hotel, which is a Marriott product.  This place was very nice.  This is my room. 

I even had a balcony where I could step out and look around.  Unfortunately, the day after I took this photo, this happened.

Holy Mother of God!  It was barely October!  In Dallas, it could be 70 degrees or it could be 50 but never has it been 38 degrees in October!  At least my fancy hotel had heated floors in the bathroom.  Oh yeah!  That was so nice when I got out of the shower and when I had to get up at the crack of dawn and it was freezing outside.  I wish I'd thought of heated floors when I remodeled my bathroom.

Well, at 38 degrees, I wasn't leaving my room to get food so I checked out the room service menu.  Who in the hell puts pumpkin seeds in their guacamole?  Any why would you ruin a good avocado by putting feta cheese in it?  The nacho offering was even worse!  They had corn and some other un-nacho like ingredient.  I stuck to the grilled chicken.  They couldn't really mess that up.

The next day, this is what I woke up to.

Snow was everywhere!  Luckily, Winnipeg has this system of skywalks and under ground malls so that the amount of time you spend outside is at a minimum.  From my hotel, I could pick up the skywalk.  Granted it was a round about way to get to the office but I was in a climate controlled area most of the way there.  Then for five minutes tops (which is enough to chill you!), I was outside long enough to cross the street to the underground mall. 

 

You could get lost in there if you weren't careful.  In fact, I did.  I had to go to the street level to figure out where I was!  Anyway, if you walk through the mall, you are, once again, out of the weather.  In fact, by the time I got to the mall, I was sweating because I was wearing a sweater and a wool coat!  I had to step outside one more time for about ten minutes to get to our office building.

 

If you leave the office after 6pm, all the other office buildings, which is how you get to the skywalk, close.  I found that out the hard way.  I had to walk to my hotel outside in the cold.  My only consolation was that it was a more direct route.

The next trip back, the city was gearing up for the holidays.  This is in front of my hotel.  The decorations were pretty cool.  The weather was brisk.  Not so cold we couldn't walk to work...

Until the next morning and I was faced with this.  But I'll be honest.  As long as I don't have to live there...it's a nice place to visit.