Hé Ho: Le Festival du Voyageur 2013

I know that for most of my southern friends my yearly Festival du Voyageur posts are loved.  This weekend past Darlene and I took in all that Festival had to offer.  From the fiddle music, and meals packed with Bannock, spit pea soup and fresh ham.

The wood fires to warms your bones against the cold, and of course historical re-enactments of life in the 1700’s when this part of Canada was settled.   Any of you who are also using WordPress may have been having trouble with the recient updates in adding pictures.

 

 

 

Related articles

• Winnipeggers brave cold, snow and wind for Festival du Voyageur (metronews.ca)
• Louis Riel celebrated at Festival du Voyageur (cbc.ca)
• Festival du Voyageur wraps up its 44th year (cbc.ca)
• Louis Riel celebrated at Festival du Voyageur (updatednews.ca)
• Manitoba introduces bilingual license plates (metronews.ca)

 

Happy 145th Birthday Canada: a photoblog from the Forks Market

In case any of you were wondering how I was spending my incredibly gorgeous long weekend, wonder no longer.  Today Dar and I decided to take a short hop down to the Forks Market and take in a few of the festivities marking the 145th birthday of Canada.  Locally known as Canada Day, it’s a great excuse to have a bbq or crack a couple of cold ones and enjoy the 30 degree heat.

You’ll hardly ever hear a Winnipeger complain about the heat though, after a good solid 6 months of darkness and winter cold it takes a good few weeks of 30 Celsius weather to thaw out our Canadian bones and get us primed for summer.

As you would expect on a hot and sunny Sunday afternoon, the Forks Market was packed, the food vendors were out in full force and the beverages were indeed flowing.

Esplanade Louis Riel

The Esplanade Louis Riel (Louis Riel Bridge) is one of the newer architectural centerpieces of Downtown/St Boniface area.  It’s dramatic cable stay pedestrian bridge complete with restaurant and spire draw many tourist and photographers alike to the core of the city.

Located at the East end of Esplanade Louis Riel, La Crêperie Du Pont is a great choice for a deliciously thin crepe for breakfast or a pick me up snack.

Esplanade Louis Riel from St Boniface.

Enjoying a lovely crêpe for breakfast.

City skyline and Canadian Museum for Human Rights.

What the #@(! is that: Springtime edition.

Twisted Riel

Well spring has sprung here in Winnipeg, Manitoba and that means a few things.  Road work, mosquitoes and public art travesties.   I have come upon a few new ones and a golden oldie that I had been searching for quite a while.

First up is a rather quaint installation only minutes from my home in St Boniface.

Exhibit One:

A piece dedicated to Gabrielle Roy, a St. Boniface teacher and writer.  Gaining acclaim for her novels The Tin Flute and  Alexandre Chenevert for being a motivating factor for Quebec’s Quiet Revolution .

Gabrielle Roy Plaque

This piece speaks for itself in its simplicity and musical nature.

Roy 1

Roy 2

Of all today’s pieces I find this one strangely haunting, almost lyrical.

Winter in Winnipeg: Part 2

I guess that this past weekend has given a great deal of my readers a blanket of snow to deal with.  Here in Winnipeg we had a little snowstorm, only about 20 centimetres.  Nothing compared to what happened on the East Coast of North America. From what I understand some parts got upwards of 70 centimetres of the white stuff.

For the record,  amounts like that would even paralyse Winnipeg for a day or so.  Well… ahem.. without further adieu.  More snow!!!

Leaving The Forks Market I just had to take a picture of the tower, the Canadian flag flying proudly in the winter wind.

Canadian Flag Flying at The Forks