My first night in Winnipeg was not especially restful: As luck would have it, I was kept awake late by noisy guests elsewhere on the hotel floor. But I did eventually doze off...into a dream that I was back in high school again, but assertive and out as a gay atheist in a way I was never brave enough to be. Oh well: I may never be able to rewrite the past, but I can control the future.
Before I started my trip, I made a list of tourist attractions and their addresses, hoping to go down the list one by one. None of that mattered yet, though, since for now I was captivated by the siren call of shopping. The Polo Park Mall was huge, with over 200 stores (many of them unique Canadian tenants) packed into two floors of space. There, I kissed the rest of the morning goodbye...though the only misadventure I got to show for it was an incident where a store was running a buy-one get-one sale, yet had only a single T-shirt in my size.
Eventually I escaped...and I spent most of the afternoon driving around the city, doubling back, and driving some more. Winnipeg streets are like an obstacle course with pedestrians, buses, one-way traffic, and stoplights that turn red when you least expect them to. I somehow managed to circumnavigate all the obstructions...and got a healthy dose of exercise for my clutch pedal foot. I applied for a visitor's library card at a local branch (which allowed me to use public computers, though not check out books). And, I started to make my way down the list...checking out tourist attractions as I came to them, one by one.
Unfortunately, most of my plans for a Friday afternoon were thwarted. The Manitoba Museum, Science Gallery, and Planetarium turned out to be closed through the 18th...meaning that I couldn't visit it until a day later. The Manitoba Railway Museum had free admission the coming weekend...meaning that there was little point of going there now. The Mulvey Flea Market was only open on Saturday and Sunday. I couldn't visit the Canadian Museum for Human Rights since I couldn't figure out where it was supposed to be on the map. By the time I got to the Assiniboine Park Zoo, it was after 4 p.m. and the gates had already closed for the day. I took four days off to be in Winnipeg, half of which was stitched up in conference time...and it wasn't enough.
But there were some things that I did get to see, including a wealth of additions to the Cliched Landmark Photo File:
Union Station, completed in 1911 and still in operation for VIA rail service today.
The Winnipeg Canadian Pacific Railway station, bearing a 1904-dated inscription and currently housing the Aboriginal Health & Wellness Centre.
The original flagship store of the Hudson's Bay Company, which opened in 1926 (and nowadays has an uncertain fate).
The Manitoba Legislative Building, completed in 1920.
This? Heh...this one seemed to be in a class of its own. Wild Planet was housed in what near as I could tell was a "deconsecrated" midcentury-mod church, reused and reoriented towards metal gods. I actually went inside, and the place blew my senses away...mainly through the reeking odor of incense, which permeated everything there.
Once I was at a stoplight, and I noticed a driver in the next lane over motion me to roll down my window. I did, and I promptly received an introduction by someone who said that he had been in Wisconsin the last time he lived in the United States...years and years ago. He then made wishes for good weather and good traffic...though for whom the wishes were intended, I was less clear about.
Canadian "friendliness" may be a stereotype in league with hockey and poutine, but it's based in some truth: Everywhere without fail, I was always hearing people saying "Hello." People in Winnipeg also generally seemed to be less suspicious, reserved, and paranoid than their counterparts in much of the States...an aspect that I credit to the fact that they didn't live through 35 years of Reagan and his acolytes chipping away at social safety nets, perpetuating income inequality, vilifying public institutions, and brandishing Christianity as a weapon. But will they fulfill their responsibility to prevent 10 years of Harper from turning into the same thing?
Since I talk a lot about license plates in this space, I'll wrap up with two from Manitoba: The most horrible-looking example I saw (on a city bus, no less); and the lowest number I spotted in the present series, which began in 1997.
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