Ten things to know about Winnipeg, Manitoba
- The Manitoba Museum is fantastic and much larger than might appear when looking at the building from street level. (I went on a 90 minute guided tour and it felt like I had only seen half of its contents.)
- Even for a city designed around multi-lane roads dedicated to cars, Winnipeg has very wide streets. That is because the layout dates back to horses, wagons and muddy roads. Heavy rain in the area often made the roads very muddy, which meant that wagon trains wanted to proceed with the wagons in parallel rather than one following the other so as to avoid them getting stuck in each other’s ruts.
- Not everything in the “Everything for a dollar” shop costs a dollar. In fact, you can cause quite a tailback if you stop to read in full the sign by the entrance listing exceptions.
- Winnipeg hotels have cracked the technological marvel that is programmable plastic room keys which do not forget the room they are programmed for if placed in a pocket next to a mobile phone.
- Helpful literary advice shouted across a Winnipeg bookshop: “If a book sounds boring just add ‘in your pants’ to the end of the title”.
- Best name badge seen in Winnipeg (or in fact anyway, ever, FACT): under the name it simply said “In charge”.
- Winnipeg has a lot of car parks. I mean a lot. And then some.
- They do sensible things to utility cabinets on pavements here.
- As they also do to otherwise drab walls which get seen by large numbers of people.
- Every food order I placed when in Winnipeg went wrong. This may not be typical of all Winnipeg food orders, but if it is do not worry for it means half of your orders will result in unexpected extra (and hence free) victuals being provided. You may also get to enjoy a cluster of staff around a cash till, nervously pointing at different buttons in turn and repeatedly shouting “Fish!”, “Fish?” or “Fish”. In fairness, I was trying to get some fish.
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