my winnipeg

tulips in Assiniboine Park - ml 2012

I'm just two days back from Winnipeg and PEI has already swept me up in the enchantment of summer such that it's hard to imagine being anywhere else.  However, while I was out there, I cheated a little bit on my island, and gave my heart to the Peg while I was in it. 

Winnipeg often gets a bad rap; people think it's cold, barren, inhospitable to human life.  It's totally untrue.  First of all, the weather is actually pretty great.  Winters are very cold, yes, but also dry, so it doesn't feel anywhere near as cold as, say, Montreal, and the other three seasons are spectacular.  It is full of elm trees, which may well be the most beautiful of all the trees.  Winnipeg has amazing restaurants, galleries, shops, nightlife, some of the most innovative architecture I've ever seen anywhere, and one of the most thriving and interesting cultural scenes in North America.  You can cycle all over the place on beautiful trails.  You can have a bonfire on the riverbank, right in the city.  Now that is civilized.

I've been there 5 times now, so I'm a bit of an expert :)
Here are some of my favorite spots:

The Exchange District - I'm nuts about this part of town.
Toad Hall Toys - you could easily spend a whole afternoon in there.
Ragpickers - one of the best vintage stores in the country.  A bit of a counter-culture institution.
Platform:  Centre for Photographic & Digital Arts - one of the most interesting artist-run centres in Canada.
Mondragon - a yummy vegan cafe & radical/anarchist bookstore

copperplate entryway at the Martha St. Studio - ml 2012

Martha Street Studio - home of the Manitoba Printmakers Association, also has a gallery & shop & really kind people.  Printmaking heaven.

Then you can shoot up to Osborne Village, get some sweet clothes/books/papers at Kustom Kulture, check out the weird old stuff (my fave!) in the gigantic Osborne Antiques Mart
and then have the most delicious Ethiopian food at Massawa - but be prepared for a bit of a wait for your food, they're notorious for taking a long time.  It's soooo worth it though ;)

playful cubs in the Leo Mol Sculpture Garden, Assiniboine Park - ml 2012

Of course, no visit to Winnipeg is complete without a beer at Cousin's Deli in Wolseley/West Broadway, an afternoon trip to the WAG and its neighbour, Plug In ICA, pastries from Tall Grass Bakery, either in Wolseley or at the Forks (while you're there you can gaze in awe at the new Canadian Museum for Human Rights ), groceries for a picnic in Vimy Ridge Park from Deluca's & Organic Planet, and a stroll through the stunning and enormous Assiniboine Park.

If you've had prejudices about this city and have never been, give it another chance.  The sunsets alone are worth the trip.  And don't even get me started on the trip I took up north through Riding Mountain!

one of the many lakes in Riding Mountain National Park - ml 2012