Canada

My digs were very convenient for Dalhousie University, which is just a few blocks up my street (Morris). Going in the opposite direction, there are only about four blocks before you hit the waterfront. Almost next door is a Chinese restaurant, open very late, one I told myself I must go into, just to be neighbourly but never did. Down a block, on opposing sides of the road there's a brilliant magazine shop and a gift/sweet shop. Further down, there is the wonderful Morris East pizza restaurant (where I had my first meal in Halifax) and across the road, an extremely late night pizza and kabob shop, to which I might have had to make emergency recourse once or twice. Next block down, there is an OK sort of cafe, one I went into more for the name and because it was convenient than because it was a great experience. This is one block up from the waterfront. In between these shops, it is mostly housing, but none as interesting looking as the houses in the final block of Morris.



Straight ahead, there is Georges Island - it is presently closed, but work is underway to restore Fort Charlotte, an important part of the defences against the French built in the mid 18th century. If you go right, you'll see the Halifax Seaport Farmers' Market, the Garrison Brewery and end up in the railway station. Although the premises for the market are pretty impressive, the market itself is not - just a few stalls selling produce, others food and the rest the normal sort of crap you find at markets. I guess the cruise boat passengers bought it (the boats tie up outside, and one day while I was there, the prediction was that there would be five of them).

Morris Street

Halifax Harbour

Georges Island

Georges Island

Halifax Seaport Farmers' Market

Pumpkin Carving @ Seaport Farmer's Market

Turning left is much more impressive - the waterfront is very accessible to pedestrians and there is plenty to see as you wander along - there are probably about 2 kilometres of boardwalk. I was there four times at least - mostly it was sunny, but one day the weather was a bit grim, so there were very few about.

Fishing @ Halifax Waterfront

Halifax Waterfront

Pilot Boats

Climbing Challenge

I did not try to go up that challenge - some seemed to just stroll up as easily as I walked the boardwalk, others found it impossible, and would slide back down again unless rescued by their friends at the top (who might get pulled down in the process). All very amusing. Nearby is an interesting enclave of shops (with condos built above them) - there's an exclusive cigar shop, an equally exclusive wine shop, some clothing shops, a most excellent Italian restaurant (Ristorante A Mano - I went in on a whim on a Friday night - the place was packed, but they found room for me at the bar, so I could enjoy my linguine frutti di mare) a not bad coffee shop, the Smiling Goat, and foodtrucks and musicians during the day.





There are plenty of other restaurants along the way - most of the wharves have been turned over to their use - but the big event on the waterfront is probably the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic. As expected, it has lots of maritime bits and bobs and models of ships but the top floor has been devoted to maritime disasters in the area: most will have heard of one of them - Halifax was the closest port to where the Titanic met its end, and about 150 of the passengers and crew are buried in Halifax cemeteries. Titanic is not actually the first White Star Line ship to sink near Halifax - the Atlantic was actually entering the harbour when it hit rocks and sank in 1873, with a loss of 530 lives. They had surprisingly few actual exhibits from the Titanic, but there were a rather poignant pair of shoes which belonged to an unknown four year old boy.

Shoes of Titanic Boy

Goose Boat

Parrot

My favourite part of the museum was actually the Wm Robertson Chandlers Shop, which is presented as it was about a hundred years ago (apart from the girl doodling on her smart-phone).








Outside, they had a couple of ships that could be explored. The K181 (HMCS Sackville) is Canada's oldest fighting warship and the last of her 123 corvettes built during WWII, credited with 2 U-Boat kills but unfortunately put out of action when her own depth charges blew up a nearby torpedo. Acadia is a very different sort of ship, a 100 year old survey vessel which saw action in both wars and as an occasional ice-breaker.

K181

Acadia

Acadia Speaking Tube

Emergency Wheelhouse, Acadia

Captain's Cabin, Acadia

First Mate's Cabin, Acadia

Among all the restaurants, there were also several brightly coloured kiosks selling food, tickets and souvenirs - it was such a long time since I'd had fish and chips (Vancouver!) that I couldn't resist.



At the far end, and not really accessible by boardwalk, is the Canadian Atlantic Fleet - I took a ferry ride to the dark side, also known as Dartmouth (its a place that came in for a lot of cheek from my mates at the meetup group, even more when someone from Dartmouth attended).

Canada's Atlantic Fleet

Angus L McDonald Bridge

Halifax Harbour

Halifax is the end of the line when it comes to train travel in Canada. That's pretty much the only reason I ended up there, plus the fact they have a University which suited my needs (St John's, Newfoundland has one too, but no law school). There are freight trains still running north and south, but the last passenger service north to Cape Breton stopped in 1990 and south to Yarmouth in 1989. The latter is a bit of a pity, as they're trying really hard to keep a ferry running between Yarmouth and Portland, Maine but I found it very difficult to get there.

The train across from Montréal was of the same design as the ones I caught from Vancouver to Toronto, but much quieter - not many passengers and no onboard entertainment. As I left Montréal, I had two surprises: I ran into the German couple from the Winnipeg-Toronto train, and my train left on time. Even more surprising, it arrived on time. Once on the train, the announcement came over - people with reservations, but only people with reservations, can come and eat dinner. I was a bit confused about how people would have made reservations, since we had just got on: it turns out the dining car was so close to empty that everyone dining had a table to themselves. I had a delicious beef dish, washed down with a couple of fine ales - a very nice start to a pleasant journey. It was rather similar to what I had seen before, so much so that I have zero photos, but not boring. I could watch the world go by, watch a couple of episodes of Breaking Bad and finally finished The Alexandria Quartet, which is very dense, but having the ability to read it for an extended period made it very rewarding.

I spent a whole month in Halifax, and pretty much had tears in my eyes when it came time to leave: I had a completely wonderful time. The weather helped - sunny most days, cloudy for a few but actual rain for just two. My first week or so was in the hostel on Barrington Street - a very relaxed space where it was easy to meet people - I even found myself wandering the streets in search of coffee and smoking furiously with a retired gent from back west at 3 in the morning. Next door is Bearly's House of Blues, where I went a couple of times - the first time because I was hungry and I'd heard they have great burgers (they do, plus a wonderful Belgian IPA). Despite what you might think from the size of the audience, the singer was pretty good. I went back the next night for another of the beers, and the place was packed - kareoke night. Surprisingly: not shit. Across the road was a very traditional English pub, Henery's House, where I had dinner a couple of times. I also meant to go to the underground games cafe but somehow run out of time.

Bearly's House of Blues

Henry House

I spent my last three weeks in a place called Novel Stay - short term furnished accommodation, with a proper kitchen and lounge (and what is the one thing I cook? Sausages, eggs and beans. A bit tragic, but I was seduced by the fact they were artisinal, hand-made sausages). I hardly saw a soul the whole time I was there, even though it had ten rooms and a "host" who supposedly came in every evening. I did have an odd encounter with a neighbour - she and some mates were celebrating the end of their degrees: she came over (this is another 3 in the morning thing) and declared that there would be two weeks of fall, then it would get so cold people would either lock themselves away for the winter or go out and kill people.

My first encounter with the law school was a bit off-putting: I misread a sign the Dean had put outside the building and thought I had to show Dalhousie ID just to get in. That's not what it said, and in a month of going in and out, I was never challenged so spent my days here

Sir James Dunn Law Library @ Dalhousie University

In the evenings, I'd relocate to what must be one of the ugliest libraries in the world

Killam Memorial Library @ Dalhousie

but once inside it was fine, and there was food and coffee available until midnight (not that I ever stayed there quite that late). Ordinarily, I'd also use the public library, for a change of pace and access to wifi, but central Halifax is currently without a library. It closed its main Memorial Library at the end of August, and the new ($60 million) one was not opening until late fall (no date yet - they want to be ready).

Old Halifax Library

Churchill statue @ Old Halifax Library

New Halifax Library

It certainly looks impressive, although at least one person I spoke to thinks it is an eyesore. Apparently it is the first major building built in downtown Halifax for decades, and has several associated projects, as the Council sold vacant land to developers to help fund the project. I did find a public library I could use, but it was quite awkward to get to.

Architecturally, Dalhousie doesn't have much going on, although it physically merges with the University of King's College, which is the first Canadian University, and looks rather good.

University of King's College

One of my first priorities was to find a regular coffee haunt, and after a couple of false starts, I had three. There was one right beside the hostel I thought might do but by my second visit, I had decided their coffee was dull. On campus, I took the advice of the library staff, but they also sent me on a false trail, to Second Cup. At least a week after I arrived, I just walked around the block and found one of the sweetest coffee shops I have ever experienced, Coburg Coffee. I'd pop in every afternoon and developed a terrible habit of eating grilled cheese sandwiches. One of the staff I only ever saw about three times, but every time she smiled at me as if we'd been friends for ages - in fact, she served my very last Halifax coffee, and it was her smile that almost had me in tears. There was another staff member, so tiny she can't even be seen behind the cash register even when she's standing up, but who had an enormous smile, one that made me glad to be alive.

Coburg Coffee

I was also lucky to have a great place just around the corner from my house - I nearly didn't go in because it has such a lame name (Humani-T) but it became my lounge - I'd go in on my way to and from the uni for a coffee and a wicked ginger date slice and use their wifi or read, it was open till 10:30 most nights. It only took a couple of days and some of the guys working there knew what I'd be wanting. Nice as it was, in the last week they were gazumped by my third cafe, which also had a lame name - Just Us - but their coffee was fabulous (and came in proper sized cups as standard).

Wanting to meet people, I found a few groups on Meetup.com - there was one for Halifax singles of a particular age, but the one meetup I attended was strange - it was for a movie, a random romcom, but as soon as it finished, everyone just left. I got on far better with a group called Halifax Friends International - it met every Sunday night at Humani-T just to talk, and talk we did! One evening we hadn't done talking when the cafe closed, so we moved on to a pub. Good times, and I may have come away from one of those evenings just a wee bit smitten with another member.

I managed to hit two film festivals - the tail end of the Atlantic Film Festival, where I saw four movies over two nights - including the latest from David Cronenburg, Maps to the Stars and a very strange locally made movie, Roundabout. It has been panned a bit by critics, but I just loved God Help the Girl, made by Stuart Murdoch of Belle and Sebastian fame, about three lost kids who find each other and start a band, and also a vehicle for some songs Murdoch had written which were for female vocalists rather than Belle and Sebastian. I also went to the Japanese Film Festival at St Mary's University and saw every film in the festival: there were only two of them. The Consul-General himself came from Montreal, and gave a very strange introduction, talking about the great films they'd shown at Montreal and then saying "but they're not what we have for you". Instead, you'll be watching Hospitalité and Until the Break of Dawn. The first one was cute: this couple runs a printing shop and live above in a tiny space. They take on a new employee, who moves in, then moves his wife in, with whom the boss sleeps. This gives the employee power over the boss and how does he use it? He takes control of both workplace and home - the latter, by running it as a backpackers, with around 30 people crammed into every nook and cranny. The latter was pretty cool too - about a tsunagu, someone who can facilitate a meeting between a live person and a dead one - not like a seance, they actually get to sit down and talk to each other. Of course, there's more to it - the film focuses on three people who want to contact a dead person, why they do and what happens to them. Oh, and I saw Gone Girl.

On the way down to St Mary's, I was totally impressed by the great housing I saw, and they may have inspired me to paint my own house a bit more colourfully when I get home: I'm thinking purple (not that I seem to have captured any purple houses in a photo, but they exist). A lot were in a couple of blocks of Tower Road - built in the late Victorian period for merchants, who had a bit of cash to flash.



This post is an overview - I have more to show you Halifax as I walked around it.

Because of my poor research, I only had my last day to spend looking around Old Montréal. The city was first established as a French colony in the mid 17th century, called Ville-Marie. The existing inhabitants were none too happy about this and it is likely they would have wiped out the French settlers had reinforcements not arrived: from that point on, the place thrived, spurred on by the fur trade. When Louis XIV declared it a province of France in 1664, the building style changed: craftsmen had to make all important buildings in stone and the town had to follow a particular pattern. Luckily, moves to make the area accessible to cars in the 1960's did not succeed, so walking around it now, both are still very much in evidence. I have no idea how many of the buildings are from the 17th century - there has been a steady process of revitalisation and refurbishment which makes Old Montréal a great place to wander.

My starting point was the Sherbrook Metro station - I walked down Rue St Denis towards the old port. As I got closer, things got more interesting - cool, stone apartments, the former archives building (all the archives have been moved into the Grande Bibliothèque), outside which there is a rundown park with a couple of rundown old gentlemen sitting on park benches (I nearly joined in) and a couple of disused hotels. One, the Place Viger, had been the main railway station for downtown Montréal as well as a luxury hotel. The hotel closed in the 1930's and the train station in the 1950's - it has been empty for decades, although there are plans to turn it into an apartment building.

Archives Building, Montréal

Place Viger, Montréal

I had a clear idea in my head of how the Old Port would be - little shops along the waterfront, falling down old sheds and other port buildings and still a bustle of activity on the water. I was completely wrong - it is a marina, a park, a boardwalk and, at the tip, a tiny man-made beach stuck behind a concrete edifice - both closed for the season. The one significant landmark left from its days as a port is the clocktower, which operated as both beacon for sailors and memorial for lost ones.

Old Port @ Montréal

Old Port @ Montréal

There is a pretty significant road between it and Old Montréal, on which is to be found the Bonsecours Market, the Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel, a line of stern-faced buildings which were probably port-related and now feature bars and souvenir shops, and carriages for those who want to travel around the area in style. The market was built in the 1840's to house the main public market, although for a year it provided a home for the United Canada Parliament. The market ran for over a hundred years - now there are restaurants on the ground floor and posh little shops in the upper floors. It gained its name from the nearby chapel, built in the 1770's, which has long been a place of pilgrimage for sailors.

Bonsecours Market, Montréal

Bonsecours Market @ Montréal

Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel

The main street through Old Montréal is Rue Notre-Dame, although it veers off about half way through and other streets carry you through. It is still cobbled and a bit quaint, despite all the traffic and modernisation. Its lined with all sorts of little business and shops as well as, of course, cafes and bars. One thing it does not have (I know, because I was in need of one) is a stationery shop.

Rue Notre-Dame, Montréal

Rue Notre-Dame, Montréal

Rue Notre-Dame, Montréal

Cute B & B, Rue Notre-Dame, Montréal

Side Street off Rue Notre-Dame, Montréal

I did my best to wander up and down every side street in the area, but probably skipped a few as I got towards the end. The Town Hall is about half way down, and has the Place Jacques Cartier running down hill from it - this had been the formal garden of a château: when that burnt down, this was turned into a public square and named in honour of the French explorer who found Canada (who knew that?). It was a busy spot when I was there - several performers, stalls selling various sorts of food and tragic tourist restaurants down each side.

Town Hall, Montréal

Town Hall, Montréal

Place Jacques Cartier, Montréal

A typical style for smaller buildings developed: Château Ramezay - the former home of former Governor, built in 1704 - is an example. It is now a museum and national historic place.

Château Ramezay

With all the walking and the bars and cafes, I was a bit hungry, but I wanted to eat somewhere which spoke to me - not some chain restaurant, not a basic cafe - and I found what I was looking for in La Suavagine Restaurant - serving up game in a classical French style, It opened in 1980 and most of the waiters (there were no waitresses) looked like they were the original crew - old timers, the lot of them. I had a very pleasant wild boar stew, although the vegetables were a bit sad.

La Suavagine Restaurant, Old Montréal

Somehow, I failed to take a proper picture of one of the main attractions in the area, the Notre-Dame Basilica. They wanted quite a lot of money to go in and there was quite a queue so I decided to wander on.

Notre-Dame Basilica of Montréal

Square opposite Notre-Dame Basilica of Montréal

Quiet Side Street, Old Montréal

Time to go: after picking up my bag from the hostel, I made my way to the train station, between an anonymous huge bank and the Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral. As I walked, I heard a pretty loud BANG - I am not sure exactly what happened, but there was a collision involving a bus and a car. The bus didn't look like it had been much affected, but the side of the car was all pushed in - with a woman sitting in the rear passenger seat who looked absolutely terrified. Since I hadn't actually seen anything, I didn't see any point in hanging around to talk to the police and went off to catch the last train of this part of the journey.

Visiting the Manitoba Museum, I learnt about the Hudson Bay Railway, and it created a great desire in me to take a ride up to Churchill. Construction started in the 1880's but the line was not actually finished until 1929 - there were plenty of engineering, financial and political challenges standing in the way of completion, as well as a diversion of energies to World War 1. Having a northern port was important, as it would provide a short route to Europe for the grains grown in Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Originally it was to go to Port Nelson, but that port proved to be too difficult - shallow, riptides and bad storms combined to see the port operate for just four years and the railway diverted to Churchill (just one of a number of cul-de-sacs and false starts). Various photos made it look like quite a trip but, alas, I was committed to heading East.

When I arrived in Winnipeg, my train was a couple of hours late, so I had no real expectation that the train I was to leave on would be on time. I checked in my bags at around 8:00 and was told that my train, timetabled to leave at 22:30, would not even arrive until 1:30, and probably not leave for another 3 hours because there were problems with one of the fuel tanks, so re-fuelling would be a slow process. I hung round the Forks area in a bar having drinks and dinner as long as I could, but it was a long long wait in the Winnipeg Station, although the train did get away before 3:00 in the end.

While in Winnipeg, I'd spent a day out at the University of Manitoba, and finally found a University that had some traditional university-looking buildings. I also really liked the look of the Fort Garry hotel - it was my back-up if I'd arrived too late for Tara.

University of Manitoba

University of Manitoba

University of Manitoba

Fort Garry Hotel, Winnipeg

The train to Toronto was essentially the same as the one from Vancouver although with a different crew, naturally. It probably had even fewer passengers, so there was plenty of room to spread out and no problems with getting space in the dining car or up in the dome. The scenery was much the same as the scenery to the west - mile after mile of trees, although with more lakes and rivers. I just settled into my Alexandria Quartet, my nightly Breaking Bad episode and enjoyed the ride.







There was a young German couple who got on in Winnipeg with whom I had breakfast the first morning, along with a local fellow - the four of us spent most of the day in the dome car, but the local and the guy from the couple got so engrossed in discussions of hunting that the girl left them to it and I returned to my book. At one point, four guys from various parts of Canada who had flown in to do some fishing surrounded me and I got caught up in their conversation. Apart from that, there wasn't much socialising this trip.

Rumours went up and down the train as to how late we'd be getting to Toronto - at one point, people were saying we'd made up quite a lot of time but the reality was rather different. I was supposed to arrive at 9:30, but didn't actually make it in until after 18:00! Via Rail does give discount vouchers when they are more than 4 hours late, but they were no good to me. I did appreciate the fact that the guy running the snack bar just gave up charging for coffee and on the last day made us all lunch. It did mean that my day of checking out Toronto didn't happen - by the time I arrived, my two friends were already waiting for me, so we wandered over to the Mill Street Brewhouse, ate far too much and had a great time.

CN Tower, Toronto

The train to Montreal was a different sort of train, used more by people commuting between Toronto and Montreal - just standard seats, a wee food cart trundling through the carriages, wi-fi and most importantly, on time! I think four different people sat in the seat beside me, but it was not the sort of train that people would talk to strangers.

I spent five nights in Montréal, although I didn't plan things very well. My first two nights, I stayed in a wonderful old hotel, the
Hotel Abri du Voyageur, with creaky, polished wooden floors, corridors that twisted and undulated, friendly staff and a very pleasant vibe.

Hotel l'Abri du Voyageur, Montreal

Because I wanted to see the old city, I moved out into the hostel, which was at the other and, as it turned out, wrong end of town - I was MUCH closer in the hotel, and it was a better experience. The hostel was chocker, stank of weed the whole time I was there (which is really unusual for a Hostelling International property) - I was even offered "hash" at one point, and there were no potatoes involved. The hostel was quite adamant about allocating beds, so when I found someone had taken the one they allocated to me, they moved all his stuff out - didn't stop him trying to climb in with me at about 4:00 in the morning.

I visited the library at McGill one day, which turned into an unusual experience - during the afternoon it was pretty quiet, but come evening, it was pretty much totally deserted. They put a security guard on after hours to ensure only authorised people could come in - which meant once I was in, I had to stay in until I was finished for the day. Going home one evening, I got off the subway and was disgorged into the bowels of Concordia University, which looked like a cross between a hollowed out office block and a mall. Their library is open 24/7 - it occurred to me that it would have been interesting to just stay in the library and not bother with a hostel - I'm sure they have the occasional student nod off. Most of my work was done in the Bibliothèque et Archives Nationales du Québec, another grand and practically brand new library.

I had three really good food experiences when I was there. Montréal is famous for two types of food - poutine (which I have no desire to eat) and smoked meats. Although it is a New York institution, the reuben sandwich is a natural fit with this, and I went to a restaurant called Reubens to have one: it was the most ridiculous sort of sandwich I have ever eaten - two thin slices of bread, as normal, but attempting to contain a mountain of smoked beef. I had to use a knife and fork on this one.

I also found the perfect cafe, Pikolo Espresso Bar, which was a tiny space, full of interesting people, great coffee and food. I would have happily set myself up to work there (several others had) but I didn't think it would be very fair on the number of people wanting to sit down.

Pikolo Espresso Bar

Pikolo Espresso Bar

Pikolo Espresso Bar

Pikolo Espresso Bar

Right next door was a very dangerous place for me, the Papeterie Nota Bene: a shop stuffed with beautiful papers, journals, pencils, pens, satchels and associated goodies. I was very good and only spent $22.50 - on pencils alone (to add to the 4 dozen I bought in Hong Kong, although here I only netted 8 pencils).

Papeterie Nota Bene

Papeterie Nota Bene

On the Friday night, I popped into a bar, thinking I'd have a drink and some food. I'm pretty good about travelling on my own, but for some reason, sitting in this bar saw my mood sink beneath the floor - I had to leave. I was still hungry and on the way back to the hostel saw what I thought was a Japanese cafe, which turned out to be mainly Korean. The two wait-staff were incredibly nice, one even warned me that the plate of Korean Fried Chicken I was ordering was "very large". Sitting in this space, chowing down on my fried chicken (I ate the lot), having a beer, watching the young Koreans having a great time restored my mood and I went home with a smile on my face. The staff had been so nice, I thought they deserved a generous tip, so told them they'd increase their business just by putting pictures of their glorious fried chicken outside.

I'm going to do a seperate post about my wander through the old city, so just have a few random photos of a few things that caught my eye as I walked between the cafe and the library

Boulevard de Maisonneuve Est, Montreal

Boulevard de Maisonneuve Est, Montreal

Boulevard de Maisonneuve Est, Montreal

Sculpture, Boulevard de Maisonneuve Est, Montreal

My previous entry had me at the Provincial Legislature, which was very open to the public. This idea of being accessible was also reflected in something else I encountered on my walk: in the shadows of the Legislature (and the Manitoba Supreme Court), there was a war going on, the kind of war I like - a Foodtruck war! It was part of Manyfest - Broadway was closed off for several blocks, there were three or so stages pumping out music, multiple stalls selling crap (way too many selling mini donuts), and the Foodtruck war. This had 20 or so foodtrucks lined up, seeing who could have the most customers. I visited twice, and pigged out on pulled pork (sorry), tacos, sausages, burgers and all sorts of goodies. Off to the side there was a fenced off area where I could take my food and enjoy a quiet ale or two. Off to the other side, there was something completely different - a demonstration of an antique threshing machine.

Supreme Court

I had another phase of the walking tour - this saw me start on main street, take in the Exchange District, which is a 20 block area where all the original commercial buildings of Winnipeg are located. The town has moved away a bit, but there are still 150 or so buildings still standing - a couple of hotels in original condition, but mostly the buildings have been done up quite nicely, with several condominium conversions and ground floors being used as restaurants. I was a bit pressed for time so didn't really spend long there - it would have been ideal to actually stay in the area and get a good look.

Pantages Playhouse Theatre

Pantage Playhouse

Selkirk Settlers

Towards the end of the 18th century, things were pretty awful in Scotland - rich landowners were a bit tired of all the people living on their land with their small enclosures and wanted to switch to the more profitable sheep-farming, so had a bit of a pogrom, burnt their houses, sold some into slavery, sent others off in so-called (for obvious reasons) coffin ships. This was "The Highland Clearances": one Lord Selkirk decided to do something about it and arranged for a group of 23 to be settled in what is now Winnipeg - back then, it was probably nothing. These Selkirk settlers brought wheat with them and turned the land into farmland.

The Manitoba Museum is in this area. The plan had originally been to see the Railway Museum which occupies a couple of platforms of the railway station, but they had some sort of power outage which saw them close for the weekend, so I swapped in the Manitoba Museum. I was not planning to see it because Tara, who is on her way to being a museum designer, was a bit down on it, but it turned out to have so much going on that it was a bit much to take in in one visit. It has some pretty good exhibits



One area is set up as a port town, in which there is a replica of a small ship called the Nonsuch, which made the very first trading journey into the area for the Hudson Bay Company - which now seems to exist as large, glamourous department stores (although not so much in Winnipeg).

Seafaring Village

Nonsuch Replica

Main Cabin, Nonsuch

Cabin on the Nonsuch

Hudson Bay Store

The last one amused me, because this is apparently how the Hudson Bay store first looked - a far cry from the department stores. In another area, there is a replica small town, complete with a wee cinema where I spent an enjoyable 20 minutes watching Buster Keaton's The Blacksmith. There is also a miner's cottage and the sort of cabin the early settlers to Red River lived in.

Red River Settler's Cabin

Outside again, I crossed the Red River to the French Quarter, which was a bit disappointing - there were some nice looking cafes but they were all closed, and a bookshop in which all the books were in French, so no use to me. I quite enjoyed the small Garden of Sculptures (I have since discovered there is a much larger one near the zoo). There is a small Catholic University (St Boniface) and Cathedral. The students showed a bit of pluck - the local citizenry were a bit disturbed by a statue of Louis Riel. He is credited with founding Manitoba, and was a staunch advocate for the rights of the local Métis people - he led a couple of rebellions against the Canadian government, established himself at the head of a provisional government of Manitoba and was ultimately hanged for treason. The artist wanted to reflect this difficult life in the statue, and did have it established in the grounds of the Legislature, but people thought he looked a bit too anguished and wanted it gone. The St Boniface students decided it should feature at the University, and it stands immediately outside.

Red River Railbridge

Entre chien et loup or Between Dog and Wolf by Joe Fafard

Curiosities by Francis Montillaud

Louis Riel Monument

Saint Boniface Cathedral

Crossing back over the Red River, it was hard to miss a weirdly shaped building - some have said it is grotesque - this is the so-new-it-was-not-open Canadian History of Human Rights. My journey finished at the Forks, where the Red and Assiniboine Rivers meet. It is apparently a place of great historic significance for the Métis people, but the main reasons people go there are the play area, the shops and the cafes. It is immediately behind the rail station and Main Street.

Museum of Human Rights