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.

Post 200 – Winnipeg: A pictorial day in the life

Wow I can’t believe this is my 200th post here on WordPress. It honestly seems like yesterday when Dar and I jetted off to New York City and through the encouragement of some people on another blog I started my own journey through life on the blogosphere.

It’s hardly been a smooth journey, I’ve lost my father, been kicked out and accepted back home.  We’ve been to countless restaurants and concerts, not to mention Blue Bomber football games and the awesome return of the Winnipeg Jets.

I’ve been kicking around a lot of ideas for today’s post.  I thought about doing many grand things, like telling you about the Winnipeg origins of the worlds most famous spy.  Or perhaps taking you on that grand tour of the Manitoba Legislature that I have been promising since almost the first sentence of my blog in late November of 2009.

Then I got to thinking about what this blog is all about, Winnipeg,  sure I write it and Dar and I get bit parts in my posts but honestly the city and it’s people are the stars.

So that’s what I’m going to focus on today, number 200 will take you on a tour of Winnipeg with pictures on a frosty winters day in February.

I hope you enjoy.

Winnipeg Mint

The sun is just climbing into the early morning sky as we begin our journey at the Winnipeg Mint. Here’s a snow sculpture of the Winnipeg Jets logo.

Three days of above seasonal temperatures and fog has covered everything in a beautiful layer of hoar frost.

Even the flags are silent in the cold winter’s morning

Ladies and Gentlemen, The Queen.

It seems very proper that on the eve of Canada’s Victoria Day long weekend, Buckingham Palace has included Winnipeg on our Queen’s itinerary during her Canadian visit this June and July.

Queen Elizabeth II