Remembrance Day Poppy-ular in Canada

On Friday, when faced with a day off, my friend Tara and I decided to head north to Winnipeg. Our first taste of Canada was at the border. And I think the guard would have been happy to see us turn around and head home. I realize, of course, that the border guards are not there to promote tourism...... it's not like they say, "Do you have any mace, knives, or firearms?" Any tobacco or alcohol which you intend to sell and by the way, here's a lovely little tourism gift pack complete with a chocolate sample and coupons for dinner." Instead when she asked the destination and duration of our trip to Canada, she paused and looked down her nose at us and said, "You realize there's a holiday on? There's nothing open." We smiled bravely as panic seized us, nodded and drove on through. This may be true but she really didn't need to be such a bitch about it.

Our first few minutes in the city were a search for signs of life... I mean EVERYTHING is open in the U. S. and so we couldn't believe an entire Canadian city could shut down. We decided as long as we could eat we didn't care. So we scanned the shops on Pembina Highway... "Hey Burger King is open.... I think that hair salon is open.... Value Village is open... Oooohhh Bank. Closed. Hmmmm....

Well, it turned out the lady at the border was half-right. A lot of businesses didn't open until noon or 1 pm. Still we had lunch at a Greek place on Corydon avenue that was new to me... Nikos.

We drove to the Forks and though we weren't really up for any shopping we strolled along the river.... this was the first time in years that the river has been low enough to permit that river walk. If we'd been ambitious we could have walked all the way to the legislative building.

Once the shops opened we made up for lost time, beginning with the Exchange District. I took Tara to Red River Books so she could bear witness to the mess and marvel over the stacks, the smell, the men looking at the used pornographic magazines. Yum. Of course I still bought stuff.... mostly so I could listen the sales staff once again. Apparently their foreign language section is upstairs and we were told we could look through the books up there though many of them are in boxes... the terror in Tara's eyes spoke volumes and I declined and then the man behind the counter made a joke about how maybe the next time we come they'll have an escalator going up there. Not likely, I'm afraid. At Into the Music I picked up a Harry Nilsson Greatest Hits CD and we hit a few clothing shops for skinny rich people and then decided it was time to head in the direction of Baked Expecations.

Before we got there though I had to stop at the Indian grocery store for some cooking supplies and I'm happy to say the store was easy to find and the items were inexpensive. I now own a rolling pin for making roti and one of those over the burner metal screens for "fluffing" the roti.

Then on Osborne we stopped at Safeway so we could "legally" park in their lot while we shopped. I picked my supply of Aero bars and Smarties and Macintosh toffee. I love my Canadian candy. Our next stop Kustom Kulture was worth the stop though neither of us bought anything. Their products were a little edgy but cool... and if you were in need of a bong.. apparently you can buy one there. The main focus for this series of stops was to have that coffee and dessert break, without which a trip to Winnipeg would be pointless. Baked Expectations continues to deliver rich and delicious desserts. I got the crazy chocolate.... Tara got the mocha torte. Neither lasted long.

Next stop.... The Bay department store and a clothing store called Nygard which sells reduced price Zara clothing.... I managed to restrain myself, but I loved Zara when I was in Spain.

For our evening meal, we were in the mood for pizza or some kind of drippy cheesy dish and couldn't think of anywhere to go for that so we asked around... our response? Pizza Hut? No thanks. However, after we gave up on our original idea, we decided to stop at A & W and I had poutin. Apparently this is not a familiar concept to Tara and she almost had a heart attack when I told her what it was I wanted... Is this a Canadian thing? Or an A & W thing? Do people not know what poutin is?

Finally, we stopped at Value Village in an effort to replace my holey black cardigan sweater that I insist on wearing constantly, yet there was nothing quite like it. And so we drove home. A friendly welcome at the US Border.... Today was a day that defied stereotypes--Friendly Manitobans, not so friendly... but full of remembrance. Yes, all day poppies were in abundance and we learned that this was a day Canadians took very seriously.