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Canada - Winnipeg - In Riel's Footsteps
The elms, ash and oak whisper in a background chorus, as Marr speaks, "Over 7,000 Mennonites first came ashore to Canada right here. It's referred to as The Landing."
I am standing on the clay bank where the Rat and the Red Rivers converge. We are just south of Winnipeg, Manitoba. I have cycled here, from the nearby village of St. Agathe, with Ruth Marr, a consultant for Routes on the Red.
This organization has put together twenty thematic trips that can be downloaded for free. We are doing a shortened version of the Mennonite and French settler trail. What would those new immigrants been thinking as they waded through the thick gumbo into this new world? The extreme temperatures, mosquitoes and a government (with a not-so-hidden agenda) that hoped these pacifist people would help settle the increasingly volatile Metis situation, could have driven anyone to depression. I try to imagine sod houses and endless babies and send a silent thank-you to my Mennonite ancestors and all they had to endure.
Taking a break from the bikes, I head down to The Forks, the junction in downtown Winnipeg where the Assiniboine and Red River meet. Six-thousand year old evidence of native trading from as far away as Mexico and Florida suggests that these waterways have always been recognized as the transportation connection necessary for good commerce.
The modern-day version is stuffed full of things to do, including food markets, cafes, shops, a kids' museum and heavily-used skateboard park. It's easy to see why this is where everyone -- locals and tourists alike -- ends up. It's a great place to assemble a picnic for a canoe, kayak, bicycle, car or walking tour.
The Riel Esplanade pedestrian bridge spans the Red River, linking The Forks to St. Boniface, the largest French-speaking community outside of Quebec. It is dusk and here in the St. Boniface graveyard, large oaks shimmer in the hot wind. A gravedigger in late-1800s Metis garb drags his shovel through the crosses. "Louis has been betrayed," he speaks with a heavy French accent as he approaches the young woman in the long, drab dress on our left.
It's Saturday night and I'm part of a small audience that is following an animated theatre group. We are here to witness In Riel's Footsteps. In less than an hour it's over and I realize I've learned more in this portrayal of Canadian history than I ever absorbed in my entire grade ten socials semester.
Finding the stories that inform a place is what gives it depth, but it can also help whip up a powerful appetite.
Luckily, Winnipeg is foodie heaven. My hunger is sated in the nearby Step'n Out restaurant where I throw back cumin-cinnamon-cardamom rubbed duck breast. The next night I try Off Broadway at the Hotel at York. My filo-wrapped lentil and spinach roll sits in a bath of roasted tomatoes and cinnamon-infused coulis.
I sit in my present day of plenty as I contemplate Manitoba's past, and once again am thankful for all those early Canadians who created this country with so much courage.
Step into History: www.routesonthered.ca
www.travelmanitoba.com
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