WINNIPEG, CANADA

                                     Provincial Capitol 

A population of 650,000 makes Winnipeg Canada’s seventh largest city. It is the Provincial capital of Manitoba.  In spite of being geographically isolated, Winnipeg is a center  of commerce and culture which includes a symphony, opera, ballet, theater, and local native artists. Buffalo hunting plains Indians as well as French and English settlers,  the first inhabitants.

            We learned the city has seen steady growth since the boon days, and has a diverse economy which includes manufacturing, banking, transportation, and agriculture.  Today, distinct ethnic areas are found in the city including Ukrainian, Jewish, Italian, Polish, Chinese, Mennonite, Hungarian, Portuguese, French, and English.

            In 1738 the fur trading company, NorthWest Company, established a trading post at the juncture of the Red and Assiniboini Rivers. In 1812, Lord Selkirle, a Scot, brought an agricultural settlement to the area. The city incorporated in 1873, and in 1886 the Canadian Pacific Railroad followed the European immigrants.  Winnipeg, the principal city in western Canada, is a railroad hub for livestock and grain.

Provincial Legislative

The Provincial Legislative building, built in 1920, is made of Tyndall stone, a type of local limestone. The stone is heavily fossilized and fossils can be seen everywhere giving the stone an unusual texture. A statue of Queen Victoria is in front of the legislative building.

 A huge bronze buffalo stands on each side of the grand staircase in the foyer of the building. The bison or buffalo, stands for strength and endurance and is the symbol of Manitoba. It is also on the Provincial flag.

       Golden Boy sits on top of the building’s dome. A French sculptor put a sheaf of wheat, representing agriculture, in one hand of Golden Boy, and a light, representing economic development of the future, in the hand raised above his head. The 5-ton 13 ½ feet tall statue is sheathed in gold,

The area that is now Winnipeg was under  a body of water known as Lake Argosy 10,000 years ago.

Winnipeg is the home to the city government, headed by a mayor, a rural municipal government, and the Lt. Governor, who is appointed for a five year term, and has the responsibility of handling all royal arrangements and protocol whenever any member of England’s royal family visits. He lives in a house, built in 1883, located just behind the legislative building.

Winnipeg is very flat and the name means meeting of muddy waters. The Assiniboini River runs into the Red River. The east side of the river was settled by the French, the west side by the English.  Today there still remains two large, distinct areas. In the French Quarter, the signs are  in French first, English second. One half of Manitoba’s population lives in Winnipeg.

Our guide said, “Alberta, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan are Canada’s three Prairie Provinces. Manitoba, also known as the keystone province, is the easternmost province, and is nearly in the geographic center of the country. Manitoba is derived from an Indian word meaning Great Spirit. Manitoba was the fifth province to join the union and did so in 1870.

“The province is divided into three sections, north to south.  In the north is the sub arctic, then the Canadian shield or boreal forest, and in the south are the low lands or grasslands.”

     In 1997 the Red River flooded becoming several miles wide. Today, it is a few hundred feet across the river. Lake Winnipeg and Lake Manitoba, two large lakes, are north of Winnipeg. Interlake, the area between the lakes, has a large Icelandic settlement. Winnipeg is home to both the University of Winnipeg and the University of Manitoba

The Museum of Man and Nature is one of the best museums I’ve ever visited. It was nice of them to open up just for us, since they are closed on Mondays. Providing us with a docent, to escort us through the museum, with an interesting and running commentary, was certainly a real plus. It would have been a shame to have missed this fantastic venue. Obviously our tour company knew the right people and for us provided a real bonus to the trip to this cold country.

We moved from the pre-Cambrian area, on to, and through that of modern man in the urban gallery. We stopped to construct an Indian teepee, which was a fun hands-on exercise. The docent even unlocked the gate for us to board the replica of the Nonsuch,

She  told us, “The Nonsuch was a 50 foot ketch that sailed into  Hudson Bay in 1668. She returned to England with a cargo of furs. (the beginning of the Hudson Bay Company) This full size replica was built in England, and sailed to  Hudson Bay for our tricentenary in 1970.”

 “Buffalo hunts took place only twice a year, in spring and fall. The indigenous people would build a stone chute, ending at a cliff. Then, they would chase the animals into the area. After falling off the cliff, the animals were finished off with an arrow. One well know place is called Head Smashed In Bluff!” I’d read about this before and seen a couple of movie versions of the exercise. I know the indigenous people had to eat and that this was a very effective way to harvest meat, but it seems so cruel. I’m just glad it was only done twice a year.

FORKS NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE

                   An Interesting Site and Fun Afternoon

        In Winnipeg, Manitoba, the historic site is part of the Forks Complex, a 56 acre site, built in 1988, at the junction of the Red and Assiniboini rivers. The Forks is a crossroads, meeting of the old and the new, meeting of diverse peoples, and a place for people to meet, work, and play.   The complex contains markets of all kinds, a public market, shops, eateries and restaurants.

       The adjoining park contains many bike and walking trails with many interpretive displays. A children’s museum, and an aboriginal ceremonial pit, with some interesting art surrounding it, are also part of the complex. An old four story warehouse has been converted to a shopping plaza, housing unique shops and more restaurants.

We wandered the many shops, and the public market. The tables in the market place and solariums were full, so we decided to go inside a restaurant for lunch. Mid afternoon, we chose Branagans, and requested a window table, so we could watch the activity outside.

After this pleasant respite, we climbed the observation tower for a look over the complex. Then we

Aboriginal ceremonial pit at Forks

wandered through the park, took some pictures, and read many of the interpretive markers. Suddenly the day was gone.    

We spent a couple of days in isolated Winnipeg on our way to Churchill to see the polar bears. We enjoyed our stay at the national historic Fort Garry Hotel.  The old Grand Trunk Pacific Railway built the hotel in 1913 and it has defined the skyline and been a symbol of Winnipeg's importance as a North American transportation hub ever since. The chateau style architecture first found expression in the magnificent railway hotels built across Canada in the early 1900s. Similar hotels can be found at Lake Louise and Victoria, B C as well as other Canadian cities. By the 1950s, the chateau style, with its steep rooflines, expansive wall surfaces, turrets, ornately decorated windows, and lavish ornamentation, was internationally acknowledged as distinctly Canadian.

Originally the hotel was to be called The Selkirk, but instead was named The Fort Garry after Upper Fort Garry, which once stood at the junction of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers. Today all that remains is the gate in a little park just east of the hotel. It was the northern entrance to the fort. One enters the hotel lobby through an impressive front door only to see a grand staircase in the spacious 44 by 66 foot lobby. The Napoleon grey marble floor with inlaid Belgian black marble supports the high-beamed ceilings and heavy Corinthian pillars supporting the overlooking mezzanine gallery. Looking up one can’t miss the glittering chandelier. The brass mailbox beside the elevators is original.

There are numerous other features to the hotel, these happen to be the ones that grabbed my eye and interest. It was great fun to stay at the historic hotel and I imagined what fun a child might have had years ago playing hide and seek behind the red velvet drapery.

You may also want to check post: Oak Hammock Interpretative Center 2/512 

Winnipeg 6/17/12,    Tundra buggies 1/9/11    Polar Bear jail 9/21/10

BAHAMIAN HISTORY

I Little About the Bahamas

      When I took my granddaughter to the Bahamas as a graduation present, it had been years since my first trip which concentrated on the out islands. Then only two and a half days had been spent in Nassau, so a little review of my diary refreshed my memory. The Bahamas is an archipelago of 700 islands and 2400 uninhabited cays and islets extending 720 miles. It is just fifty miles off the Florida coast. The capital is Nassau on New Providence Island.  The Arawak Indians were the first inhabitants and the first British settlement took place in the 17^th century.

    No longer a sleepy little town that often characterizes its sister islands, Nassau stands out for its high-energy atmosphere and dynamic attitude. The capital city of the Bahamas with a bustling port, Nassau’s history can be traced back to days of the legendary pirate Blackbeard.

     Beautifully preserved cathedrals, pastel-colored Georgian buildings and 18th-century fortresses collide with bouncing jitneys, street vendors and duty-free shops and occasionally fine shops. Historic Bay Street is great for local markets, pubs and cafes, while the nearby straw market offers unique crafts and Potter’s Cay is the place for fresh produce, conch and fish.

   I was anxious to introduce her to a new culture and show her the city. We had a fabulous time and

pretty much covered the entire island, often walking and walking. We enjoyed riding the local jitney to and from our distant  hotel.

     I was happy to find many positive improvements such as the lack of litter and friendly people.

Music

All through the islands of The Bahamas, music is woven deeply into the fabric of daily life. Musical traditions reflect both the impact of history on the islands and a homegrown, distinctively national character. Blues and spirituals made their way down from the American South and took on a Bahamian flavor---in breezy shore-side church choirs where "rhyming spirituals" are sung, and on homemade guitars in the hands of virtuoso performers.

Junkanoo, goombay and rake 'n' scrape all incorporate the handclapping and drum rhythms of West African dance music. Goombay is a secular Bahamian tradition, danceable music full of stories about love and other daily dramas.

Rake 'n' scrape bands are purely instrumental. A carpenter's saw, a goatskin drum and an accordion are all traditional rake 'n' scrape instruments.

True Bahamian

Bahamian English is a fascinating mixture of the Queen's diction, African influences and island lingo. Unfamiliar sounding words you'll hear on the streets and beaches may be survivors from the early English settlement (true Shakespearian English!), echoes of Africa or local slang. The "h" is often dropped in daily speech ('ouse for house or t'anks for thanks). Conversation is easy here – the distinctive sounds of daily speech are all part of a true Bahamian experience. At times it seemed as if I were listening to a foreign language.

Food

Fresh seafood lovers can appreciate the Bahamian fondness for conch (pronounced "konk") that is the most popular seafood in The Bahamas. The meat of conch is firm and white, and local restaurants have found delectable ways to serve it. Conch may be served uncooked with lime juice, steamed and added to other dishes such as soup or salads, or deep-fried, which is known as “cracked conch”. This seafood can be found in some form at just about every traditional restaurant in the Bahamas. Traditional desserts feature coconut. The Bahamas certainly do not have a shortage of coconut trees, and shredded coconut is found on just about everything!

City  sites next time.

SUB-ARTIC TUNDRA

             A Whole Different Ecosystem

In spring, the tundra is vibrant with life when more than 400 species of native plants burst into a rainbow of color; a magnificent sight after a long gloomy dreary winter! By fall, the tundra is covered with scarlet bearberries and yellow willow shrubs. Interspersed among the color, one may find downy white fluffs of arctic birds. The dark winters and the harsh Arctic climate produce a poverty of the soil, and a hostility to life.  We were told that bugs and black flies are really terrible for about six weeks in the summer.

Less than ten species of birds live year round in the Arctic, however, about 100 bird species breed there, but head south for the winter. Of the 30,000 species of fish less than 100 live in the northern seas. There are no reptiles.

BIG trees on the tundra

By fall all Arctic life prepares for winter.  Urged on by special hormones, birds feed incessantly to build fat reserves, for the long flight south. Ground squirrels, who have already doubled their weight, stock dens with a food supply. Arctic foxes also cache a winter’s food supply. Caribou have produced 1/5 of their body weight as fat. Plants store lipids in their roots and rhizomes to await spring. Insects produce a glycerol-like anti-freeze, efficient enough to survive temperatures of 70 degrees below, and spend the winter in a suspended animation.

I never visualized water on the tundra, but we saw many frozen ponds, some as small as a 10 X10 foot puddle, but many were quite large.     The frozen water areas are called thermal karst. In summer they are all liquid water in a soggy tundra, and in winter a frozen pond.

Both the federal and provincial governments strictly regulate the tundra. Running over the tundra like a wild off-road vehicle is strictly prohibited.

An esker is a narrow raised area on the tundra that has long been the highway of the tundra.  The permafrost of the tundra is only 6-12” below the surface. 

Taiga (tee ga)  means small sticks, and the area has long been known as the land of small sticks.  Because of the permafrost and shallow growing area, trees send up shoots vs. digging the roots deep. It’s easy to find north, as there are no branches or foliage on the north side of the trees. The trunks are small.

The low stuff growing was willow. It grows in fair abundance, is 18”-48” tall, and has yellow blooms in the fall.  Other small plants in various colors also grow on the tundra. Their blooms are also small. Lichen, which grows very slowly, can be seen in black, yellow, or orange growing on many of the rocks.

The tundra is an interesting ecosystem and I enjoyed learning about it, especially since we were riding over it each day in a tundra buggy!