Day 9 - Saturday May 27/16

Another fine day! It was bright sunny when we got up and travelled into Winnipeg again today for more touring. 

We started off our adventures with a half-hour boat tour on the Assiniboine and Red Rivers at The Forks. Our Captain, Jay, convinced us that it isn’t really a ‘fork’, but a ‘confluence’ of the Assiniboine flowing south and east from Saskatchewan and the Red flowing north from North Dakota and Minnesota, jointly flowing into Lake Winnipeg. (photo)

About to board the Splash and Dash Tour Boat

We learned about the usual spring water level, and the flood levels of 1950 and 1997, and the Red River Spillway created under Premier Duff Roblin in the 1960’s.

We also saw the Legislative Building from the water, with a statue of Louis Riel on the riverbank (photos). Louis Riel, hung for treason, has been granted a pardon and is now considered to be a ‘Father of Confederation’ for his role in negotiating Manitoba’s entry into Canada.

We saw the area of an historical wooden wharf (the Exchange docks) on the Red River, formerly the busiest in Winnipeg for shipping goods on riverboats, (photo) but soon to be removed as the Eastern Exchange District continues to be redeveloped. Winnipeg seems to be experiencing an economic boom!

Also noticed many large trees washed up on the riverbanks from this spring's floods. (photo)

We lucked out in that it was Doors Open Winnipeg, and we got a free Doors Open ‘behind-the-scenes’ guided tour of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. (photos)

After a picnic lunch, we toured several of the museum galleries on our own, including Indigenous Peoples Gallery, the Canadian Story Gallery, and an exhibit about Izzeldin Abuelaish, a Palestinian doctor in Gaza whose three daughters and a niece were killed in an Israeli air attack and who has written the book “I Shall Not Hate: A Gaza Doctor’s Journey”.  He is now a professor of medicine at U of T and an ambassador for peace. We finished our tour with a trip up into the Israel Asper Tower of Hope that crowns the museum building. (photo)

We picked up a new camping coffee perc at Canadian Tire and got good gas price ($0.95.4) (first time under $1.00/litre in a while!) at Costco on the way back to Birds Hill Park.

Had great burgers and salad for supper, and then did a load of laundry at the park store complex.

Another fabulous and full day!!