16 Jun A Photo Essay: Winnipeg, Canada

After moving to Florida, we came to realize that we had never made a road trip up to Canada while we lived in Minnesota. How did that happen?! I have no idea. So, now that we are back in Minnesota (and finally settled in!), we decided that we needed to take a road trip north and head to Winnipeg–our parents still live about 3 hours south of the border, so it was only a short drive away. Growing up, I always heard there isn’t anything to do in Winnipeg, but we found plenty to do, and I was actually pretty impressed with the art and culture in the city! Even though we only spent two days in Winnipeg, we had a great time exploring the various neighborhoods on a self-guided walking tour, visiting the Canadian Mint to see how money is made, and taking a spin around Assiniboine Park.

The Forks Market is located near the Red River. I heard that the market had a wide range of international foods and crafts, but I didn’t realize just how unique everything would be.

I was intrigued by so many tempting treats and crafts, but I decided to leave empty handed so we didn’t have to carry a heavy load with us all day long.

Winnipeg was much larger than we thought it would be–we loved checking out this view of the skyline.

The Provencher Bridge crosses the Red River and it connects downtown Winnipeg with St. Boniface. There is a restaurant in the middle of the bridge that hangs out over the river–it currently is home to a Parisian Restaurant called Chez Sophie Sur Le pont.

The Canadian Museum of Human Rights with part of the skyline in the background–I love the look of the museum!

Our self-guided walking tour around “The Loop” took us on a path around the city that’s about 5 miles long.

St. Mary’s Cathedral is a pretty church near downtown and it was originally built in 1880.

Memorial Park is located near the Manitoba Legislation Building. The park consists of a fountain and memorials, many of which honor the Canadian Military.

The Canadian Mint offers a tour to give people a look into how money is made–it was interesting to see that this facility has made money for many countries worldwide.

We were surprised to head north and have weather in the 90’s–I think it was hotter than Florida was on the same day! It was a gorgeous couple days, but we probably should have put on some sunscreen…

Union Station was under construction, but there were many touches of the old train station in all its glory–the ceiling in the lobby was beautiful.

The St. Boniface Cathedral is located in the French neighborhood of the city. It burnt down twice, and after the second fire the church was rebuilt behind the 1906 facade.

The cemetery at St. Boniface is the final resting spot of Louis Riel, the founder of the providence.

One of the original walls of the St. Boniface Cathedral–I liked how the wall was left in place and the new church was built behind it. It was interesting to see the ruins and the exposed stairwells up to the bell towers.

The buildings in the French Quarter were really pretty–I especially enjoyed the College Universitaire De Saint-Boniface.

I always have fun browsing bookstores, and this one was particularly great because a lot of the books were in French. I found a couple of books that we talked about in my college French class, so it was fun to skim through them!

The old-time train tracks cross over the nearby Red River and remind us through graffiti at the very top to “Press On.”

Surprisingly, there is quite a bit of art and culture in the city–this post was covered with flyers from many upcoming and possibly past events.

Poutine is a signature Canadian dish; the original is made with french fries, gravy and cheese curds. I wanted to try poutine when we were in Toronto, but we didn’t get a chance, so I figured we should try some here instead!

Smokes Poutinerie is a chain, but after some narrowing down, we figured it was the best option to give poutine a try. They have so many different combinations–some of them sounded pretty good, others not so much, but one thing is for sure, they all sounded like a stomach ache!

We settled on the traditional (left) and the bacon cheeseburger (right), and barely made a dent in either of them! There was so much packed into each carton, we could have easily shared one and still have had extra. We thought the traditional was decent and really didn’t care for the bacon cheeseburger.

Street art! There was so much street art all over the city–I loved driving around and finding it on so many buildings.

Assiniboine Park has a great sculpture park in addition to a park, zoo, conservatory and lots of room for walking and relaxing.

What areas of Canada have you visited?