Manitoba: golden balls... I mean boy.

Hi team!
Do you ever get that feeling and ask yourself "what the he'll have I done?" well that's sort of how I felt flying over Winnipeg. There have been some minor setbacks but some great plus so far. 
I arrived at Pearson an hour early only to find possiblythe longest line for domestic air travel ibthonk I've ever seen and I'm sorry but Air Canada you are not a very good representative of our country. The check in system is possibly the dumbest and slowest system I've ever seen. I'll explain:
1. Wait in line to check in, print your boarding card and luggage tags. I undestand I can print my boarding pas and check i. From home but I can't print my luggage tags at home so I waited. Had I printed the first two I still would have had to wait.
2. So once you've managed through the check in Process on your own which I feel takes double the time as the desk you get to wait in line number 2 so you can have an employee put your luggage tag on and weigh your luggage.... She didn't  even look at my passport....
I hate to complain but inone year I've had three negative experiences with Air Canada.... Westjets negative experience record? 0. just sayin'
Anyway, we landedi Winnipeg and it was cloudy and the area around the airport is fairly industrial, which is why I had some nervous thoughts. But I checked into my hotel and things were looking up. I didn't  really know what to expect frommanitoba or Saskatchewan really. I mean I knew what to expect out east and in Alberta and BCbut you never really hear anything aboutthe prairies.
1. Even though i didnt have any specific expectations, i was a little surprised. Here are some of my initial observations about Winnipeg :
It's sort of weird. It's really small and everything is really close together. The exchange district is the main business centre( ithink) but not two blocks away there is a giant together and a dollarama. But the. Just west is a small little artsy neighboorhood right next to Chinatown and the theater district. Sometimes it felt like a big city bu then I realized I could walk the while thing so it didn't seem big at all. Itreally makes you realize how big Toronto really is. 
2. Winterpeg? More like WINDYpeg... Seriously, so windy. Apparently it's known as the Chicago of Canada.
3. First nations: there is a huge Cree population! They were actually having their cheif election in my hotel! Now I don't know if it's a larger population in the city or if it just seemed that way because Toronto is so much bigger. But the language and culture is much more obviously and dare i say celebrated?English French and Cree are all printed on info signs all over the city.
4. The gov has a lot if "action plans". There were signs in the east too but there seems to be way more in Winnipeg.
5. It's really flat....I mean REALLY flat.
6. Winnipegs got Pride! It says "Winnipeg! Take pride!" On every garbage can or municipal thing on the street. A lot of them are painted too with historical scenes from winnipegs and Canada history. Speaking of which, Ontario doesn't teach students ANYTHING about the west.... I mean I've heard of Louis Riel and wheat but I didn't recognize ANY of te names on the historical plaques. It's sort of sad really.

So the first day I pretty much just wandered around the city and sorted out where everything was. I wanted to go to the mint but I didn't work out. I'd have to take a bus.
The next day it was sunny! And everything looked a little different. I wandered down to the Forks which is where the two rivers meet which was a popular trading place for first nations and Europeans back inthe day. 
Thereare a lotmore visibly homeless people in Winnipeg who like to yell, but I as only asked if I knew where to get some weed once! Haha
Anyway after the forks I went over to the Manitoba legislative buildings and did a tour.... Queens park you need to pick it up. The main building is pretty big and built in the neoclassical style, so it's incorporated a lot if ancient Greek and roman styles. It also has Life size bison statues standing next to the huge marble staircase.... Yes this is where I took my locals picture.... I also saw a Magna Carta... Winnipeg was quickly changingmy innitial reactions! It also has a 17 ft statues of a golden boy on the top. It's meant to symbolize Manitoba moving into the future. He holds a torch and (surprise!) some wheat.
I wandered around bit more and decided to see a movie... Eat pray love seemed only appropriate as I'm also solo travelling.

Here's the Big news that happened in winnipeg while I was there:
1. A building caught fire
2.  Ladies open
3. The PM is stuck in Churchill
That's pretty much it. 

So my train was supposed to leave at noon.... It didn't pull into Winnipeg until 330, so we didn't leave until 630. I was alittle bummed during the day because it was too hot to walk around butthere was nothing to do but wait. So I did. This was the best comment I overheard while waiting:
- what is this place?
- it's a train station...
- oh so people wait for trains here?
That is not a lie and im pretty sure the one womb wasn't being funny or ironic... Time to get out of Manitoba ....
- 
I had callled ahead though so I knew that it was going to be late.
The train is probably the coolest way to travel and a lot of people come prepared! Computers, DVD players cooler sleeping bags, it was all there. 
It was the first time I also realized how HUGE ourcountry actually is!
We drove through the wheat fields and they just keep going for km and km! No end in sight. I tried to take pictures but they don't loom to great through the window. It was fantastic though. I like te train a lot and I really like travelling long distances too so I dontthink I'll have any issues in my next three train trips.
I also got to see the sunset over the prairies.... Whoa. Canada is huge. The sunset is pretty everywhere but here it goes on forever. There are no edges here. At home there is he edge of the city, the edge of buildings, edge ofthe water, there are things to break up the sky but there is nothing in Manitoba. Just space, and the trains creaks and squeaks right through it. it was awesome. I'll get to see a sunrise in my next train trip too!

I like the train a lot better than planes and I think it might be because it ricks and makes noise and shakes, not violently but you're aware of it. You get used to it thoughand it's pretty great. Planes,I find are a little weird thatway, there is ( hopefully) no sense that you're moving. 
The trainride didn't even seem that long(10 hours) mostly because you can sleep on the overnight ones. They even give you blankets and pillows and come and gently wake you up! 
In conslusion very pleased with the train and via.

I'll write about Saskatoon soon, right now pleasantly surprised!

Have a great day!
Kate