Hello Manitoba (Day 7)

After a chilly night, we woke up to the company of a friendly juvenile grayjay we named Petey.

Petey liked pitas. A lot. In fact, he made numerous attempts to sneak off with our bag of pitas while I was making breakfast. Good thing he's cute because he isn't the swiftest bird, misjudging a few of his perches. To save face, he made off with one of our teabags instead.

We packed up and got on the road to head to Winnipeg. After stopping at University of Manitoba to see if the summer accomodations were open (they weren't) our grumbling stomachs reminded us of one of the reasons I wanted to stop in Winnipeg. Alycia's.

When Dee and I did a similar cross-Canada road trip a few years ago, a nice guy in the U of Manitoba bookstore recommended we stop at Alycia's Restaurant for the best Ukranian perogies around. Alycia's is hidden in a residential district, all by itself in the most non-descript building. The ambience is fantastic. Sitting in possibly the "coziest" restaurant/living room I have ever been in, adorned with little trinkets, Babuschka dolls and photos of Alycia's family and famous diners, it reminded me a lot of my Ukranian grandmother's apartment. As I remember it, the kitchen wasn't really open yet (we were there super early after a night of non-stop driving) but the cooks fired up the perogies just for us. And man, they were even more delicious than we had anticipated. So, I had to introduce Dan to the goodness of Alycia's.

Although the restaurant had expanded about 500% so it wasn't quite as cozy, but there were still all the little trinkets and the Alycia shrine. And the food. Oh man. It was every bit as good as I had talked it up to Dan. We had perogies (with fried onions and real sour cream), kolbassa, cabbage rolls, coleslaw and homemade raisin pie. Ahhh. If you are ever in Winnipeg, you NEED to stop at Alycia's.

Super stuffed from all the Ukraine goodness, Dan and I made our way down to the Forks to check out the Historic Site. We walked around the waterfront which was still chilly (although the new World's longest skating rink had actually melted) and stopped to read some of the plaques so we actually knew why the Forks was a historic site. Apparently it was a central hub for Aboriginal trading and meeting back in the day. It has some pretty cool scultures

and installations, including Oodena (The Celebration Circle)- one of the coolest astronomy viewing areas I've seen.

These sighting scopes are set up so that you can look through them and see stars that make up different constellations. And there's plaques and stone carvings that explain the history and lengend about each of the constellations. Very cool.

After wandering around the Forks Market for a bit, we got back in the car and headed to Bird's Hill Provincial Park- our intended destination for the night. Note how I said "intended". Turns out the park opened on May 1st...good...but only for day-use. And the huge "Closed to the Public" sign at the gate to the camping area made playing dumb a little risky. So, Dan and I headed back to the city and checked in to another Super8.

Probably not the worst choice considering the temperature was going down and it was getting late. And although I haven't seen any waffle-makers in the lobby, another warm bed and internet access will curb some of my disappointment :)