Le champion du Canada

The weather was colder than 30 below, but the sun was out and the winds weren't bad. I spent nearly the whole day outside and on foot. I was dressed for it, but I was terrified that something awful would happen to my camera.

Things I liked in Winnipeg:

• Mondragon Café & Books and its delicious vegan brunch
  
• Plug In Gallery
• Winnipeg Art Gallery and the Rodin exhibit
• WAG's Inuit Art collection is so amazing it deserves its own bullet
• The exchange district, where Plug In and Mondragon are located had a few interesting record shops, vintage stores and other galleries that are worth a look
• Louis Riel's gravesite
• The Forks skateboard park

Taking the opportunity to eat at Mondragon was very important to me. It might seem strange, but as a vegan, it excites me to eat in vegan restaurants that I've never been to before - especially when they're in cities I'm visiting for the first time. Mondragon in particular was a place I had been hearing a lot about through a Winnipeg record label called the G7 Welcoming Committee. It's a fun place to be...for example, it's run by an anarchist collective so there are no real bosses, but still, it's quite organized and well managed. Going there also allowed me to finally meet a longtime Internet friend so that was kind of cool.

A funny thing about going to the Winnipeg Art Gallery was that it was the first thing I did in the city and I hadn't yet adjusted my watch so I showed up over an hour before it opened and wondered why they were still locked up. The funniest thing though was that there were a number of local women who got there nearly as early as I did and they were getting really upset that it wasn't open yet! OK, it was freezing outside but it seemed rude to me that these people expected the gallery to open thirty minutes early. I just crossed the street and stayed warm in The Bay.

Being able to visit Louis Riel's grave was a very moving experience for me. I am certainly not the only francophone in Canada who admires his efforts and those of his colleagues like Gabriel Dumont but I'm happy that this is something I was able to do. Even walking across the bridge to St. Boniface in the cold felt like a significant part of the experience.

Louis Riel's grave

The Winnipeg Art Gallery

Vegan quiche at Mondragon

Train bridge over the Red River

Some more photos from my day in The 'Peg are on my Flickr.

Before I sign off again, I should tell you to download "Die Jugend Marschiert" by Winnipeg band Propagandhi. It's about video games.