The Zoo,the RCMP and a boat ride!

 July 26, 2019

This morning we both agreed that we wanted to see more of Winnipeg and decided to buy tickets for a trolley ride through the historic and downtown area of Winnipeg.  Time was of essence, so we skipped breakfast, thinking we could get a bite downtown, and headed into Winnipeg.  

When we arrived at the ticket wicket at the Forks, we found out that the trolley doesn’t go on Fridays.  That was not written in the brochures.  We opted then to take the free trolley to the Winnipeg Zoo, but that was an hour later, so we then had our breakfast.  The Zoo had been recommended to us several times since we planned this trip.

Of course, as we were eating our breakfast that big grey cloud appeared and we got a torrential downpour for about 45 minutes.  It stopped just in time for our trolley ride.  The sun came out and for the rest of the day it remained sunny. The trolley ride wound its way through several residential areas that had heritage mansions located along the banks of the Assiniboine River.  

When we arrived at the zoo we realized that the Zoo and Assiniboine Park is a huge park. There were several exhibits that we wanted to see and the Zoo provides an electric shuttle that makes a regular tour around the property.  We hopped on and our first stop was the “Visit to Churchill”.  This exhibit is a mini replica of the town of Churchill, Manitoba and we wanted to see it to compare what we saw in the actual place. The exhibit is very comprehensive in its explanations on polar bears and the efforts made in Canada to preserve the polar bear and its habitat.  Canada has 2/3 of the world’s population of polar bear.  We are the leaders in the world in our research, preservation and documentation of the polar bear. 

While we were in the exhibit, my phone rang and I stepped out of the building to answer it.  It was the RCMP calling!!  Cst. Leclaire was calling from the Thompson RCMP detachment.  She had received a call from a follower of this blog, who was concerned about our welfare.  I had not been posting any blogs since our trip to Churchill.  The reader was aware that we were in the area of the manhunt for the two teenagers who were on the run from the police.  They had committed three murders in BC and were last sighted in Gillam, Manitoba, which is a community, on the way by train to Churchill. I thanked Cst. Leclaire for calling me, (she had obtained my phone number from Sorab, her boss, and she had to call me in order to close the file.) but she couldn’t reveal to me who had called her.  I assured her that we were fine and would she please advise the reader that I was grateful for their concern.  How ironic, that we should be in a Churchill exhibit in Winnipeg and how blessed we are that there are people out there (who we don’t know), that care.

We visited several other exhibits in the Zoo, all of them impressive.  We stopped in at the stingray exhibit.  The building houses two large shallow aquariums that house many stingrays.  They glide along the floor of the aquariums and people are given an opportunity to touch them as they glide past.  We are usually not Zoo goers as we enjoy seeing animals in the wild, however, the Winnipeg Zoo is an excellent and well-done attraction particularly for children and those folks who can’t see the animals in the wild.  

We then took the trolley back to the Forks and enjoyed a beer on the patio, and decided to take a boat tour on the river.  We hopped on a pontoon excursion boat and the driver, Don, gave us and three other passengers a very comprehensive half hour tour of the river.  He showed us the various historic sites along the river, the horse stables of the City of Winnipeg, the old train stations and docks from the Hudson’s Bay Company. The view of the impressive legislative buildings and the iconic statue of Louis Riel as well as a view of the Human Rights Museum from a different vantage point made this trip wothwile. We looked at the remains of the Saint Boniface Cathedral.  This cathedral, built in 1906, was one of the largest churches in Western Canada.  Unfortunately it burned down in 1968 and only the large stone façade still stands.  Don also strongly advised us to visit the Canadian Mint before we left Winnipeg.

We made our way back to the campsite after picking up some supplies and then went to the campground office to extend our stay for one more day.  Don had convinced us to visit the Mint.  We enjoyed a roast chicken that Debbie had purchased on our way home, and I worked on the blog.  That ended another great day and we went to bed, looking forward to another day in Winnipeg tomorrow.