Sunday, June 19, 2011

W is for WINNIPEG

The first time I visited Winnipeg, in the prairie province of Manitoba (which, by the way, has over 110,000 lakes)was in 1972 when I travelled by car with my best friend and her family. They were living there at the time, so I was able to stay with them and see all the sights. I still have the photos I took that summer, but remember those old sticky-type photo albums? Well, they are well stuck so I can't use them here. However, the internet has lots of great photos, so thanks to Google and Yahoo, you can see some right here.












The name "Winnipeg" comes from the Cree for "muddy waters" because it lies at the confluence of the Assiniboine and Red Rivers. It was a trading center for Aboriginals before the arrival of Europeans, the first fort being built by the French in 1738. Many of these French traders, and later British, married First Nations women and their mixed-race children were called Metis. It was one of these children who grew up to become Louis Riel, the leader of the famous Red River Rebellion, which paved the way for Manitoba to become the fifth province in Canada. You can read more history at Wikipedia here.
I remember our visit to the Lower Fort Garry National Historic Site, which has been named as one of the top ten national historic sites in the country by Canada's History Magazine. It was a lot of fun watching costumed interpreters recreate life in the early 1850's. It was interesting to see original walls and buildings, participate in hands-on activities and view original furnishings. You can read about the fort's history here.

When I visited in 1972, we went to the Assiniboine Park Zoo and I clearly recall seeing polar bears there. Other animals you can see there now include deer, bison, elk, bears, lions, monkeys, koalas, yaks, camels, and zebra. There is also currently a "Boo at the Zoo" and a Pumpkin Patch, both Halloween events.
















An interesting story that comes out of Winnipeg is the fact that Winnie the Pooh was named after a Canadian black bear that Christopher Robin, son of A.A. Milne, used to often see at the London Zoo. The story goes that this particular black bear had been purchased from a hunter for $20.00 by Canadian Lieutenant Harry Colebourn in Ontario and named it "Winnie" after his hometown Winnipeg. Colebourn sneaked Winnie into England during WW1, and left him at the zoo in London while he went off to fight the war in France. After the war, Winnie was officially donated to the zoo, where Christopher Robin saw him. Of course, the toy bears have been practically every child's favourite toy from then until now. Below are the original Winnie the Pooh bear (left) and the one we know today and the one my children had when they were small (right).














I hope you've enjoyed your little virtual tour of Winnipeg, Canada's 7th largest municipality. And if you like perogies or cabbage rolls, be sure to visit Brandon, just 132 miles or 212 kms west of Winnipeg. We stopped there on our way from Vancouver to Ottawa in 1987 and had the most delicious perogies ever! It's because of the high number of Ukranians living in the area. Yummy!
ABC Wednesday is the brainchild of Mrs. Nesbitt who is now assisted by a whirlwind of wonderful assistants, moi included. Check out the ABCW site and join in!

27 comments:

  1. So Winnipeg is an old blues man, eh?
    BTW, I was surprised at the bad behavior in Vancouver last week.
    ROG, ABC Wednesday team

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  2. Again leslie, I enjoyed reading you ABC Wednesday, always so intersting and informative, I particularly liked the analogy about Winnie the Po I had one identical to the bear on the left whilst my daughters had the Winnie the Poo bears, along with my four grandchildren.
    For all the 'political correctors', in this country, there's just a few things they can't erradicate, this includes our wonderful classic childrens' literature, along with classic childrens' toys.
    A 'lefty feminist' Minister tried to ban Enid Blyton's Famouse Five and The Secret Seven Books, deeming them outdated and too middle class!

    Di.xx

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  3. Ooh, Typo's...Winnie the Poo, not po! 'Interesting', not intersting!

    I meant to ask you Leslie, Did your girls read Enid Blyton book?

    Di.xx

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  4. I'd always wondered about the name "Winnipeg" and you have solved the mystery!

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  5. ahan...so that pooh thing is for real..a real bear was called winnie...interesting :)

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  6. Oops Winnie the Pooh, not Poo..tch tch!

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  7. You must have this round of ABC made into a book Leslie - a fantastic travel journal!!! Dxx

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  8. What a lovely story about Winnie the Pooh! I didn't know that he got his name from Winnipeg!

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  9. love it.
    you look cute.

    used to watch Winnie the pooh videos with my kids.
    cheer.

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  10. A very interesting post! I still have my Winnie the Pooh from childhood.

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  11. Oh, yes, another interesting and informative post! Terrific for the W Day! Wonderful captures! I, too, was surprised by the behavior in Vancouver last week. That sort of thing seems to be happening so frequently these days and it's so sad! Hope your week is going well, Leslie!

    Sylvia
    ABC Team

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  12. Wonderful post about Winnipeg. I have some of those sticky albums too and they bug me now.

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  13. How awful about the sticky albums!

    I enjoyed this post about Winnipeg.

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  14. Aren't those sticky albums a pain?
    I love, love, love Winnie the Pooh, the original AA Milne one.
    — K

    Kay, Alberta, Canada
    An Unfittie's Guide to Adventurous Travel

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  15. Wonderful post. Cool facts - I particularly enjoyed the Winnie the Pooh origins!

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  16. We both haed Winnipeg! (I was born there and have been many times.) Loved your info on it though.

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  17. Came via reader wil's site to answer your question what the wizard of Christchurch talk about.

    This is my second comment.


    Once, we had a party, he came uninvited with a friend who was iniovted. he didn't dress as the wizard, Just a very smart man in a business suit.
    No, I didn't go and talk to him, I didn't want to embarass him. He has a masters in sociology. He was wearing a suit, and his long hair was briushed to the back, so you can't tell that he was the wizard. My daughter listened to him and says he was very clever.

    I didn't listen to him because I can't get over him coming to my house univited, and every time, we have a census, he takes a group of his followers in a boat so they don't have to be counted.
    Of course, the police will wait the next morning to get them to be counted.
    He lost credibility when he "ran" away after the earth quake.

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  18. Excellent post - I have several of those sticky albums, too. I read about the way to remove the photos but I don't remember what it was - google for instructions. I vaguely remember putting them in the freezer for a couple of minutes. Hm.

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  19. I'd heard that story of Winnie-The-Poo being named from Christopher Robin's toy bear, which in turn had been named from a real bear in a London Zoo, but I had no idea at all about the fascinating way he happened to land up in there, nor of his strong Canadian connection! Thanks for another great post, Leslie!

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  20. I had to click on your Winnie the Pooh because he came into my post today as well (and I love the books). I'm not sure I ever heard the origin of the Winnie part of the name before - thanks!

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  21. How nice to learn about both the city and the bear! Thank you for this informative post.

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  22. Thanks so much for the great Winnipeg post as we are riding our motorcycle there from Minnesota this weekend. I'm off to see an old, dear friend I haven't seen for 25 years.
    Also, on Monday I posted a clipping about a fellow Libra
    :O)

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  23. Wow, love the pictures. That bear is adorable!

    http://carabossesbedchamber.blogspot.com/2011/06/abc-wednesday-challenge_22.html

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  24. What a beautiful place!

    Would love you to peek at my ABC. You are welcome to come by anytime, have a nice day!

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  25. I almost went to Winnipeg, I was going by train from Windsor to Vancouver, but the long train ride frightened me.

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  26. Love the pooh, thanks for the analogy and story.

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  27. A perogie?

    Fond as I am of the disney Pooh I still prefer less - oh what's the word? - all the same - homogeneous ones.

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