Thursday, August 10, 2017, Winnipeg, MB
Day 91

We began our Winnipeg adventure at the Manitoba Legislative Building built from 1913 to 1920 (construction slowed to a crawl during WWI). We were the only ones there at the 11:00 tour so we had our own private tour guide who did a great job. It does seem as though every Capitol building is competing with how many different stones can they include but the results are beautiful. Unfortunately, the assembly room was not available to tour. We did get our photo with one of the 2 bison that flank the base of the grand staircase. Each bison weighs 5,000 pounds and they arrived late, after the marble floor was installed. So a large block of ice was cut from the local river and the bison was lifted from the ship onto the ice and the ice was pushed into the building without any damage to the floor. Lunch at Kum Koon Garden for dim sum was good but not great. We then walked around Chinatown which was not a large area and also walked around the Exchange area. Next we visited the Forks, an area of shops and eateries at the confluence of the Red River and Assiniboine River. We walked along the river front and back and forth across the Esplanade Riel footbridge. Although high temp was only 76, the sun was bright so back to the Forks for refreshments. Rosemary got her bubble tea and I got a beer. Locals told us we cannot truly be in Winnipeg until we go to Portage and Main so off we go. The intersection has no crosswalks. Crossing is by underground only so we walk the underground and go to all 4 corners. Then we continue the underground until we meet up with the skywalk and we walk along that for awhile while viewing the downtown. We visited the Assiniboine Park and walked among the English Garden and the Leo Mol Sculpture Garden. Dinner is at Gohe, Ethiopian, and is quite good.