Arrival in The Peg

Brian and I arrived in Winnipeg, known to locals as The Peg, on Friday afternoon, and we spent a couple days in this very interesting city. We stayed at the Hotel Fort Garry, constructed in 1911-1913. It was Winnipeg's first skyscraper at 11 stories, and it forever ended the city's pioneer identity. There is a story that Walt Disney chose the design for his Fantasy Land castle from a memory of seeing the Fort Garry Hotel as a young man. To me, it looked more like the inspiration for Harry Potter!

View from the elevator to the Prairie View 360 restaurant

The Grand Ballroom/Dining Room

Front view of Hotel Fort Garry

Highlights were our dinner at Prairie View 360, a rotating restaurant atop the building next door to the hotel. In the photos we took from the top, you can see the train station, a new museum whose focus will be human rights, and the view of the top of Hotel Fort Garry. Unfortunately, the museum has not opened yet, and this is the second year there has been a delay. We'll just have to come again. The view of all the trains moving about was a bit like the feeling of visiting a toy train display.

Prairie View 360 Restaurant

Train Station in the foreground, and the new, unopened museum in the back

With no museum to see, we spent extra time at The Forks, a Quincy Market of sorts, located at the fork of the Red River and the Assiniboine River. It was a lot of fun! The rivers are frozen (pretty much), and tracks are cleared for several kilometers for skating. There is also a hockey rink cleared on the river. I tried to convince Brian to go skating, but he thought it was just as well to play it safe, heading to Churchill injury free.

Down on the river, there was a tent set up- polar dining at its very best, and we did visit for just a hot chocolate. Chefs were preparing delicious foods for breakfast and later for the evening meal. It would be pretty cold dining, even with the furs they provide at dinner time.

The Raw Almond- Fine Dining ON the River

Polar Fine Dining

Cook??

Also at The Forks, there were displays of warming huts. I think it was a competition, and several of them were quite creative. My two favorites were the fir hut and the noodle hut. The fir hut smelled as if you were living inside your Christmas tree. In fact, it was made from recycled trees. The noodle huts used the pool toys, and you were supposed to snuggle in and pull them around you. Fun, but not too warm!

We are off to the train.