Aylmer Express "MoHo" Extravaganza 2006

Yesterday’s word:

paucity \PAW-suh-tee\, noun:1.
Fewness; smallness of number; scarcity.2. Smallness of quantity; insufficiency.

Today we introduced ourselves to Winnipeg. We decided to start by taking a tour of the Legislative Building and then zip over to the “Forks” area which is close by. The Legislative Building was most impressive. We ended up getting a personal tour which gave us a chance to take many photos and find out many details about the building. For instance, did you know that this is Manitoba’s third legislative building? They started building it in 1913 and it took 7 years to build (2 more than planned) and cost $9 million (6.7 million over budget). The timing of the First World War certainly did not help in their efforts when it came to labour and obtaining materials. But I must say, the resulting building is very nice. The sheer size of it is impressive. It is almost 5 times the size of the White House, without even counting the hallways. And it has over 800 rooms! It has more marble than you can shake a stick at, and you can’t swing a dead cat without hitting a statue of a gargoyle (sure), a bison (Manitoba's official animal), a sphinx (?), or possibly a “Golden Boy” (??). Something else I found fascinating is the fact that when they were designing this building they needed to predict far into the future as to how many people where going to be living in Manitoba so that they could ensure that there were enough physical seats for the people who will represent each riding. Now here is the weird part. Apparently they forecasted that there would about 3 million people in Manitoba by the year 2000. However, there are only about half that many people living here now YET there are only 3 seats not in use out of the 63 that were included in the original design. You may now picture me scratching my head. Notwithstanding the aforementioned logic buster, it was a fun way to learn a little bit about the history of Manitoba’s politics.


Then it was off to “the Forks” which is a touristy place ... but in a good way. It is part park, part artisan boutiques, part skateboard and BMX nirvana. This area got its name from its physical location which is at the confluence (remember that word?) of the Red River and the Assiniboine River. It used to be a strategic location during the 1700's and 1800's for traders to do their thing. Now they have a number of lovely bike paths and walking paths along the river which also extend along each of the three arms flowing out from this point. The section of the Forks with the skateboard and BMX area is quite impressive. If you just gauged by the number of people standing around watching the action, this would appear to be the most entertaining part of the Forks. We biked around some of the paths but none of us took our cycles through the “pit”, although I’m sure Morgan was tempted to.

We then fired up the GPS unit to make our way out to see the Bakers. They are friends of Chantal’s who recently moved from Aylmer to Winnipeg. We enjoyed a lovely afternoon on their deck, in the shade of course, enjoying the weather and sharing stories over a few drinks. They have done a lot of camping throughout Canada in their time and they gave us some good advice on some places to go. They also advised us on a great restaurant to try, not too far from their place. We swung by Bellissimo after our visit where they offered a delicious array of Italian selections fit for a gastronome. Each of us enjoyed a fabulous meal yet none of us were able to get through it all in spite of the wonderful tastes involved. And I must comment on their Calamari which is the best I have tasted since being in Greece! One doesn’t always think squid when one thinks Manitoba, but I will now!

# posted by Jeff, Chantal and the kids @ 2:50 PM