While heading down toward Broadway and thinking about how I was going to get to the Parliament buildings, I encountered my next surprise, again in an area where I never expected it. The building around St. Mary’s are new, and there’s lots of new and newish (built since the sixties) buildings in the area. Most are not spectacular, as the ones above show.
As I walked down this block, however, I spotted an usual garden between the buildings:
Japanese to be sure…but in Winnipeg? Yes, Winnipeg. Winnipeg has a sister city in Japan: Setagaya, a district of Tokyo, formerly made up of 42 villages, with about an equal population of Winnipeg. This was clearly a garden, so I wandered until I found the entry:
There was a koi pond:
And opposite the pond, a waterfall:
With the irregular diagonal path exiting toward the buildings, with benches and a lantern:
At this point, an older gentlemen had entered the garden, figured out I was a visitor, and told me that the water was blue because they were still treating it before restocking the pond. He turned out to be a resident of the apartments in back of the garden, and wondered whether Winnipeg had sent some piece of Manitoban praire to Setagaya in exchange for this garder. We talked for about half an hour about life in Winnipeg and about our families. He confirmed that Winnipeg is a pedestrian-friendly city. Like Calgary, they have passageways all over the downtown, so you really don’t have to go outside in the winter. Here pictures of a couple of them I snapped inadvertently while looking at other things:
He also said that public transportation is excellent (which I’d already discovered by getting into town quickly on a regularly scheduled bus) and that he has what I call a go-car, i.e., a car available for rental that’s parked in the same place. He shares one parked across the street from his apartment, and is usually available. When it’s not winter, most of downtown is accessible outside by foot. (You can’t get to Shea Park or the Forks by the indoor passageways, but who besides plays baseball in January in Winnipeg?)
While we talked, a number of other residents came down, one with a dog who was very interested at the smells of our dog Bella that remained after 10 days on my pants. They were all friendly and welcoming, and gave me more tidbits about life in Winnipeg. This is one of the things I love about travel, not just seeing the sights, but meeting the people in something other than a commercial transaction when you’re renting a room, boarding a bus, or checking in at the airport.
I left the way I came, a bit calmer for the time spent.
I was now running way behind on my time schedule, but I’d met and talked with several interesting people, seen some great art and wonderful gardens, and still wasn’t sure what awaited me. I headed off toward Broadway, which my map said would take me directly to the Legislative Buildings….if I didn’t see something interesting first. Wanna guesst what happened next?
LessThan3ley 