Day 8 - Friday May 26/17

Well, it was a wonderful day in Winnipeg today. Of course, our planned agenda was far more ambitious than we could actually accomplish in a day, so some adventures have been transferred to tomorrow - or to our day in Winnipeg scheduled for the trip home.

A 45-minute drive took us down to The Forks (photo)

We were going to do a boat tour, but there was a considerable wait as a large group had just boarded. So we decided to go to the Manitoba Legislative Building first instead. Winnipeg has a marvellous free downtown shuttle bus service, so we took a loop route through downtown, about a 20-minute ride to the Legislative Building. (photo)

The Legislative Building is a beautiful edifice built between 1913 and 1920. (photos)

On top of the the Legislative Building is the famous “Golden Boy” sculpture, symbolizing hope and prosperity for Manitobans. (photos)

The building is built from Tyndall Stone quarried at Garson, MB. This limestone is from the sediment of a huge semi-tropical inland sea (Lake Agassiz) that covered much of N.America some 4-500 million years ago. Embedded in the stone are many fossils, and we had fun time  using a Fossil Hunt guide to find many of them (photos).

After a self-guided tour for about an hour, we took the shuttle bus back to forks and had empanadas for lunch. 

After lunch we followed a walking trail, that first led us on a foot bridge across the Red River right at the forks (photo), and then across the Assiniboine on another foot bridge to St. Boniface, the 'French Quarter' of Winnipeg. A lovely walk along the south side of the river (the area had obviously been flooded this spring, as there was a lot of dried mud) past St. Boniface Hospital, operated for many years by the “Grey Nuns” of Ste Marguerite d’Youville fame (from Montreal).

In the cemetery at the old Cathedral was the tombstone of Louis Riel (photos).

York Street, which leads to the Museum of Human Rights, is also known as Mahatma Ghandi Way. Just adjacent to the museum is a bronze sculpture of Gandhi, a gift from India. Mahatma Gandhi is a personal icon of human rights, dignity and the struggle for justice for both of us. (photo)

After battling rush hour traffic, we got back to our campsite around 5:30. We used the barbecue for the first time on the trip and prepared a delicious steak dinner.