Monday was our last day in Churchill. We didn’t have anything planned, though if there’d been time, I’d probably have tried to convince Glen to go snorkelling again. Luckily for our bank balance, the tour left at 12 on Monday and our flight was at 2:30. There simply wasn’t time.

Instead, we got up late. Then I worked on putting together some videos of the snorkelling (almost there) and polar bear swimming. We went for lunch (I’m so sick of eating out) at the Seaport. We were served by the rude guy again, and Glen found cling film in his salad. Not a great experience. The girl who settled our bill was much nicer. Not sure what we did to upset this guy because he seemed fine with everyone else. Anyway…

We paid our bill back at the hotel. The trip wasn’t cheap, that’s for sure, but as we stayed at the Polar Inn and went on the Sea North tours, we got 10% off everything (room stay and tours). It helped. Besides, the value of the experience outmatched the price.

The owner’s daughter drove us to the airport. There was no queue, no security. It was wonderful. We boarded a little later than the scheduled time, but it didn’t really matter. Once again, the flight was only half full so we had two seats each. I worked on a newsletter, while Glen watched a movie.

Winnipeg, Winnipeg, Winnipeg

Landing in Winnipeg, we caught a taxi to our hotel downtown, the Place Louis Riel Suite Hotel. The hotel is an old building done in a 70s style, but the room we had had been refurbished and was a good size. It even had a kitchen, and the bed was big.

The hotel’s not in the nicest part of town, and in the evening on a public holiday, it’s practically deserted. Glen researched places to go for dinner and settled on an Indian buffet restaurant nearby. I wasn’t paying attention obviously or else I’d have said no to buffet. There have only been three in my life that have been worthwhile. All the others are just vile. This one was no different. I barely ate half a plate of food. Luckily, the naan tasted good or I would have been really hungry.

With nothing planned for the evening, and struggling to find the charm in downtown Winnipeg, we spent the night inside, hoping that the next day would show us something better.

Unfortunately, the buffet breakfast at the restaurant downstairs in the hotel did not start us off on good footing. We were lured in by the attractive photo of pancakes with berries and syrup. There was none of that. The food was just atrocious. I didn’t think it was possible to make eggs so bad, but there they were, left uneaten on my plate. I had sultana bran and fruit.

But that was food, there was a whole city to explore. Our first stop was the Manitoba Legislature. I’d been there when I stopped in Winnipeg while going cross-country on the train, and the building fascinated me. We arrived just in time for a 45-minute guided tour, along with three other people.

The tour guide was great, friendly and knowledgeable. We learned about the building’s history, the blow-out in cost, the thieving of the foreman, the mistakes on the door decorations with the bison facing the wrong way, and a number of other things. But despite these problems, they add character and make for fun stories.

We checked out the chamber, beautifully decorated with paintings of different figures above. We stood in the centre of the altar of the black star and heard our voices echoed back to us. We looked for hidden thirteens in the building’s design and decoration (to keep bad luck away). It was well worth the time, and it was free too. Checking out parliament buildings is turning into a thing with us.

From there we went to the Winnipeg Art Gallery as Glen wanted to see the 7 Professional Native Indian Artists exhibition. Glen and I are members of the Art Gallery of Ontario so that got us free entry into the WAG. The guy at the front desk was excellent at customer service, giving us directions and telling us what we needed to know. The WAG is small but it’s a nice bite-sized gallery to check out. The exhibition was interesting, particularly loved the work by Janvier. There’s also a sculpture garden on the roof. We had lunch in the cafe, then walked down Portage St, through downtown, back to the hotel to check out.

Next attraction was the Assiniboine Park Zoo. We took our luggage with us, much like we did at National Zoo in Washington, D.C. Unfortunately, there were no lockers to put our stuff so we had to drag it around. On a 30°C day, it’s not the best, but we managed.

Assiniboine Park Zoo is a small zoo but they have some species that I hadn’t seen before like kinkajous and muskox. Their Journey to Churchill exhibition is new, the theming is great, and it’s well laid out. Their polar bear exhibit is pretty impressive, with great opportunities for viewing, including an underwater tunnel where you can see polar bears swim in one side, and seals swim in the other.

The polar bear was bear-ly visible, but we did see muskox, seal and a few other species native to the region. The Tundra Grill that’s built there for the humans has one entire wall that is a window into the polar bear exhibit. I did wonder if the polar bear can see in, and if so, if it decides to keep away from the window all the time.

Other exhibits include a indoor walk-through tropical rainforest with free-flying birds and other discrete exhibits for animals like ocelot and anteaters; a butterfly house; and other outdoor exhibits for bison, deer, goats, tigers etc. There are also Richardson’s ground squirrels running around everywhere. They were adorable.

We caught a taxi to the airport, have had some food and now we’re just waiting to board. As much as I enjoy travelling and seeing new things, I’m also looking forward to having a bit of a routine again for a couple of weeks. I’ve eaten terribly, haven’t been to the gym, and I’ve got a book deadline looming. Not that I’m hope for long. Going to Newfoundland in a couple of weeks.