Winnipeg Rocks. That is really all there is to say about it. We loved our time in Calgary, but the place felt like a large suburb rather than a city. Vancouver feels like a large provincial town rather than a city. Regina looked like a city, but the place was dull and empty. The feeling in the city is great, there is a tonne of old Canadian history, there are wonderful locals, great riverside parks, beautiful tree lined streets, a thriving french neighbourhood, and an active urban feeling along Portage Avenue. Winnipeg is a city, Winnipeg rocks, too bad its -15 on a good day in the winter.
We had a general feeling coming into town that this part of Canada is home to many descendants of Eastern European immigrants, in particular Ukrainian. We have been anticipating great perogies since we left Calgary and have devoted considerable time and energy to finding the best perogies in town. My friend Lori suggested our best bets would be an Orthodox Churches Perogie dinner, or Mom's Perogies. We decided to go for Mom's perogies for dinner last night. After getting directions from our Hotel we left at about 6:00, much later than our usual dinner time, resulting in two very hungry children in the back. We get to the Deli at about 6:30 to find out that it closes at 5:00 on Monday. Somewhat disappointed, but far more hungry, we begrudgingly stop at a Wendy's for some fast food. Given our hunger it didn't really matter what it was we were eating (Thankfully).
This morning we were at the Market at The Forks and came across a perogie place and decided to have lunch there. This was a horrible decision. There was absolutely nothing positive to say about the place. The counterwoman was grumpy and tired, the signage and pricing was confusing, the prices were outrageous ($6 for 5 perogies), and the perogies were disgusting. They were mostly dough, with very little filling (and none of the cheese promised), and tasted like chewing this gummy mess. The taste was non-existent, they literally had absolutely no flavour. The only sensation was gummy. It was one of the two worst meals I have ever had.
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| Zaid's reaction after his perogies |
Given our debacle with food in Winnipeg over the last 2 meals, we decided to put some serious effort into dinner tonight. We settled, after much deliberation, on Chave D'Ouro, a Portuguese place that seems to, according to locals, serve the best chicken in town. The dinner was wonderful, served by a talkative and cheerful Portuguese Grandmother, we had wonderfully charred and flavoured Chorizo, roasted Potatoes and Chicken covered in Piri Piri Sauce. It was a welcome warm and tasty meal after our perogie disaster.
We had a busy day today. On top of our food hunting we spent a great 3 hours at the Forks, just outside of downtown Winnipeg. This place has a huge importance in Canadian history as it marks the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine River's - a hugely important place for trading and commerce for over 6000 years. We had a great time walking around the market, checking out the Prairie garden (where we sampled Earl Grey plants and a relative of Mint that smells of licorice), playing in the Children's Museum and playground, and then walking across the Esplanade Riel footbridge over the Red River into St. Boniface (the french quarter where all signs were in French). After our perogie disaster we headed to St. Boniface to pay a visit to Louis Riel and the St. Boniface Cathedral. The Cathedral burned down 45 years ago, leaving just the outer shell, but it was very beautiful. I cannot imagine what it looked like when it was a full church. The residential neighbourhood around the tourist zone was wonderful - large tree-lined streets with wonderful old houses. If only it wasn't -15 in the winter I could see spending some time here.
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| St. Boniface Cathedral. Louis Riel's resting place is on the left. |
As a long-time Vancouver resident we hear repeatedly about who beautiful our city is. This often gives us a bit of a complex, that because Vancouver is beautiful other places must not be nice. I love being proven wrong, especially in the wonderful city of Winnipeg.
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