People & Places
Keeping warm in Winnipeg
Winnipeg is an artsy, culturally rich city, and it’s a relief that there’s so much to do indoors when the icy blast of winter arrives
Katy Humphries reminisces about some of the highlights of her trip to this prairie town.
To be honest, I didn't really have any reason to visit Winnipeg. Alana, Chrissie and I were just passing through on our way back to university having visited my friend Chrissie's parents for reading week. But, since I was a foreigner desperate to see as much of the country as I could and my Canadian friends were only too happy to spend a few days in the city, we thought 'why not'?
It turned out to be a good call and in the two days we spent exploring the state capital we managed to take in some interesting sights, absorb a bit of high culture and get very, very drunk.
Winnipeg, or 'Winter-peg' as it was fondly dubbed by my travelling buddies and I, is a cold city in winter. The mere mention of winter there is enough to bring shivers to my spine. We visited in the early spring, and winter still held the city firmly in its grasp. But these long, cold winters lend the city a distinct character: people have been very imaginative in developing indoor activities and this has allowed the creative arts to flourish. Winnipeg is one of Canada's major cultural centres, famous for its galleries, museums and performing arts. Alana was completing a joint major in Contemporary Dance and English at the time and has since gone on to become a professional dancer. So naturally, when in Winnipeg we had to visit the world-famous Royal Winnipeg ballet.
When we hit upon this idea, it just so happened that we were wandering by the theatre where the ballet company were performing. Again the question 'why not?' was posed, and on the off-chance that there were any tickets left for that nights performance, we wandered in. Great news! Not only were there tickets, but also we also managed to wrangle a special last-minute-student-discount-cheap-rate type thing! Rather than paying anything up to CDN$100 that the tickets can go for, we actually spent less than CDN$20. Pretty sweet deal! The performance was in an hour and a half, so we went and found a coffee shop to chill in. In this case, stereotypes are entirely true: in Canada coffee shop culture is a really dominant force – it's the North American equivalent of Britain's pub culture. It took a little getting used to I have to admit.
Coming from a British university where almost all you do is drink beer and, well, more beer, it was a bit strange to have the crutch of 'the local' taken away. But after a short time I actually came to prefer 'the coffee shop'. Even to the point now where, living back in England, I miss getting a delicacy coffee of some kind, curling up in a comfy seat and watching the world go by. Here, of course, there's the likes of Starbucks and Costa (as there is across the pond) but in Canada (and the States) one thing I came to adore were the smaller locally run coffee shops, each with their own distinct atmosphere. In fact, I suspect I could chart my travels in Canada through the coffee shops I visited.
But I digress: the coffee shop that was to become 'our coffee shop' in Winnipeg was particularly cosy (or perhaps it just seemed that way in contrast to the cold, cold wind blustering outside its doors). And here we spent the first of many lazy hours enjoying pre-dinner drinks of a highly sophisticated nature (mine was a hazelnut steamer). It was only when we made our way to the theatre a couple of blocks down the street and I compared our jeans and sweat pants with the glamorous evening dresses of the other culture vultures that I realised how very unsophisticated we were. As we took our seats, I felt decidedly out of place, but these thoughts were quickly driven from my head by the graceful and elegant flow of the dance: Swan Lake. Possessing the grace of an elephant myself, I am always filled with contrasting emotions when I watch an amazing physical theatre or dance performance. I find myself filled with awe and wonder, but at the same time I am hugely envious. This performance was as impressive as you'd expect, the Winnipeg Royal Ballet is one of the top Canadian companies, but I got some added value from Alana's step-by-step commentary, backstage gossip and insider info.
Winnipeg feels older than quite a few Canadian cities. Its imposing stone buildings are very different from the clean lines and glass skyscrapers that I had become accustomed to living in Vancouver, where I attended university. It is a really great place to go if you are interested in Canadian history, with some truly first-class museums to visit. I found that the Manitoba Museum of Man and Nature was jam-packed with riches related to Winnipeg's past. Set aside at least a couple of hours for this fascinating collection of all-things-Canadian. Exhibits here also explain about the Arctic and Sub-Arctic, the Boreal forest, and the Grasslands.
Most excitingly (I say in true-blue geek fashion), the museum boasts a replica of the 17th-century ship, the Nonsuch. You have permission to come aboard the vessel, imagining the trans-Atlantic crossings between England and Hudson Bay that the original vessel once endured. The museum also has a planetarium and a hands-on science gallery, so it's a fun and educational way to spend an afternoon tucked away from the biting winds outside.
Much like Quebec City and Montreal, Winnipeg struck me as a bridge between the old world and the new. Although, rather than the classically French architecture of Quebec's two biggest cities, Winnipeg reminded me a lot of London as it was filled with austere looking buildings that held the important banking institutions of the 18th century.
One of the most famous of Winnipeg's landmarks is the State Capital building with the easily recognisable 'Golden Boy' perched on top of the golden domed roof. An impressive sight that can be viewed from across the river, the exterior of the building was somewhat marred by the fact that restoration work was underway at the time and the building was covered in scaffolding. Nonetheless, the inside is just as impressive, with an unusual combination of 18th-century grandeur depicting prairie life. It was as interesting as visiting any stately home or palace, with the added bonus that visitors are allowed to sit in on the state congress, which was in session. Admittedly, this only held my attention for 15 minutes or so (which perhaps says a lot about my attention span) but for that time it was quite exhilarating to watch these political movers and shakers in action. I think they were talking about some local planning issue. 'The West Wing' it ain't but it was interesting to see Canadian democracy in action. I must confess that I have been known to tune into the 'House of Commons live', so if this isn't quite your cup-of-tea we can turn our attention to more lively subjects.
We decided to say 'good-bye' to Winnipeg by going out to dinner in the alternative section of town. After an afternoon of checking out the off-beat shops that dot the area (and spending far too much money on a funky pair of shoes that seemed a good idea at the time, but I have only worn once since) we began looking for a restaurant. By this time it's fair to say that we were all suffering from shopping fatigue (you know the feeling: when you ache from standing, everyone is getting kind of grouchy and the snatches of random songs have turned your brain to jelly) but could we just settle on the first restaurant that we came across? Certainly not! Remembering the hour that we spent walking the streets, snapping at each other and arguing over what we wanted to eat still fills me with rage. Well alright, not actual rage but the kind of brooding irritation that you can only feel towards people that you are really close to.
Finally, we agreed that the next place we passed, whatever kind of food it served, would be the place for us. Bizarrely, we ended up spending the evening in a 'Ye Olde English' pub, where they had cockney rhyming slang plastered garishly across the walls alongside the Union Jack and served such culinary delights as toad in the hole and steak and kidney pudding. By this time I really was beyond complaint – besides, I quite liked this tacky taste of home.
After we'd eaten our hearty portions of bubble and squeak (Alana, dancer to the end, was quite disgusted that there wasn't a salad to be found on the menu, but after a few bottles of light beer she didn't seem to mind so much) we made our way into the bar area. A few drinks later we got chatting to the friendly local barman. When he heard that we were from out of town he gave us each a free shot of sambuca… and another… and another. In fact, I pretty quickly lost track of the amount of free booze we guzzled, but the myth now speaks of at least a bottle being shared between the three of us.
By the end of the evening, we were (to put it delicately) totally wasted. Intrepid to the end, we stood swaying and precariously holding each other up, determined to walk home because we were too broke to pay for a cab.
As soon as the barman heard our plan he insisted on calling us a taxi and paying our fair. Nice lot those Winnipegians. I think he had visions of us falling in the river! Although the evening itself has now faded into an alcoholic haze, I will never forget the hangover I had the next day when travelling back to Vancouver. Hours of stomach-controlling agony are etched into my memory as my own personal hell. That'll teach me for being such a lush!
Read other articles about Canadian cities:
Halifax: Canada's best-kept secret?
A trip to Saskatoon
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