American Reacts to the 10 Best Things in Winnipeg

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As an American I have never seen Winnipeg before. Today I am very interested in learning about some of the best things to see and do in the Canadian city of Winnipeg. If you enjoyed the video feel free to leave a comment, like, or subscribe for more!

[skruface]

Lifelong Winnipegger and History Teacher here.

Winnipeg is an indigenous name, meaning "muddy water" (in reference to the silt-clay filled Red River, which splits the modern city in half) in the Western Cree language. It is located the the meeting point of the Red & Assiniboine Rivers, which has been a meeting place and trading centre for indigenous people for thousands of years. A few quick things:

1. The Canadian Human Rights Museum is the only national museum outside the National Capital area (Ottawa). It's a new museum, and mostly interactive, without a lot of artifacts like you would normally see. The bridge you see in the exterior photos with the round "building" on top was intended to be a restaurant, but it was hard to find nearby parking, and to get food to the restaurant so they closed it down. Interesting fact - because the bridge had a full service restaurant on it, it needed flush toilets and running water, so they built a run of heated water and sewer pipes onto the bridge at the cost of over $1million in order to ensure the water and sewage did not freeze, which was quite the scandal at the time of construction. If you're ever in town in summer, go there and make sure to use the million-dollar toilet.

2. Assiniboine Park Zoo has the largest Polar Bear research centre in the world. Churchill, Manitoba, to the north of Winnipeg on Hudson's Bay, is the Polar Bear Capital of the World, and orphaned cubs often end up in the zoo. The centres' most famous resident, Debbie the Polar Bear, was the longest-lived captive polar bear in the world (1966 - Nov 17, 2008).

3. The Forks is named after the intersection ("forks:) of the Red & Assiniboine Rivers. It was an indigenous meeting place and spiritual centre for thousands of years. Later it was turned into a railyard, but in the last 40 years has been converted into a shopping area and green space.

5. The Winnipeg Art Gallery is world famous, and contains many works by Winnipeg's most famous sculptor, Leo Mol (who's works are also displayed at Assiniboine Park). Quamajuq is a recently-completed art gallery that focuses on Inuit art from Canada's arctic regions.

9. The Manitoba Museum is a more traditional museum in that it focuses on artifact displays and interpretation, and includes everything from a dinosaur room, to indigenous culture and history, the history of the world largest fur trading company (The Hudson Bay Company, established in 1640), local history, and much more.

10, The Exchange District is Winnipeg's "old downtown", and is very much like it was back in the 1880s. Many old warehouses converted into apartments, boutique shops, and restaurants, and incorporating Winnipeg's historic Chinatown district. Many movies are shot here due to it's authentic look and cobblestone streets.

Other things this video missed out on:

- Upper Fort Garry, which is the remains of the Hudson Bay Company's major fur trading post in the area. It's 2 minutes from The Forks.

- The Hotel Fort Garry and CNR Train station, which was built by the same architect who designed Grand Central Station in NYC. Also right next to the Forks. Plus, the Fort Garry Hotel is allegedly one of the most haunted places in Winnipeg.

- St. Boniface Cathedral, across the river from The Forks, was the tallest building west of Toronto at the time of it's construction, and the burial place of Metis leader Louis Riel, who led an armed rebellion against the Canadian Government (twice!) and is generally recognized as the Father of Manitoba. We even have a statutory holiday in February to celebrate Louis Riel.

- The Manitoba Legislative Building, which is a very impressive architectural sample with a ton of secrets and hidden meanings.

[APG]

Winnipegger here!

This is only scratching on the surface!

- Royal Winnipeg Ballet.
- Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra & Philharmonic.
- Folk Festival.
- Folkorama Festival.
- Festival Du Voyageur.
- Fringe Festival.
- Osborne & Corydon Villages.
- The Leaf Botanical garden (at assiniboine Park).
- an impressive cottage country.

My favourite festival, Folkorama. Is a 2 weeks city wide celebration of 40-50 pavilions of all sorts of different cultures, that present their food, performances, traditions, it’s so much fun!

[susieq]

Winnie the Pooh was a real bear and mascot of a WW1 Canadian army regiment and was named Winnie after Winnipeg. A soldier rescued her. She was tied up at a train station and he smuggled her to the UK and she was put in the London Zoo when the soldier went to war in Europe and she lived there the rest of her life as a beloved resident.

[AKsASMRR]

As someone who lives in Winnipeg, we’re the only ones who are aloud to make fun of Winnipeg

[nozomikurai]

I'm quite surprised that the video didn't show Folklorama. It's a festival over two weeks, where different countries/regions from around the world have dances and food that you can experience. It's not too expensive. To answer Tyler's question, Winnipeg is in Southern Canada, but because we're in the prairies, we get nasty winds that make the -35 to -40 winters that much colder. Still, if you bundle up and are active, you can easily enjoy yourself skiing, tobogganing, snowshoeing, etc. We have over 100, 000 lakes, so canoeing, kayaking or using personal watercraft is a good way to enjoy nature, when the sun doesn't go down until 11:00 PM.

[tylerwinfield]

I'm from Winnipeg. It's nice to see someone see our little city in a positive light. A lot of people often lose sight of the better parts of what they see every day and hearing it seen positively by an objective stranger is refreshing. My kids and I met an American that came to vacation in Winnipeg in February (when its colder than -40) to see our bright winter sunshine that he had apparently heard about. We were a little confused that someone would visit a place so cold by choice but quickly realized that we do have some beautiful skies all through the winter. Thank you. Also the park is named after the river that runs through it, prounounced 'ass-in-a-boine'. And it is a beautiful place

[billbishop]

The ship at the Manitoba Museum is not just a display. The Nonsuch was an actual sailing vessel that the English used to trade for furs through Churchill Manitoba off of Hudson's Bay in the 1600s. To celebrate Canada's centennial in 1967, they commissioned a replica to be made as closely as possible to the original, which sailed in the Atlantic and later the Pacific oceans, before being trucked in and placed at the site, where the museum was built around it.

[phrtehHDawg]

Fun Fact: Winnipeg actually used to be known as "the Gateway to the West" because it was often seen as the border city between Eastern and Western Canada. I've been to both the Museum of Human Rights and the Assiniboine Park Zoo a few years back. The museum was amazing with its multiple floors dedicated to different eras and chapters of human rights history. Quite a few places in there allow you to interact anonymously with polls and votes on topics concerning both past and present issues, allowing you to see if your choices were a majority or not.
The polar bears at the zoo were so cool and I remember us being present during a point when one of the bears sat down on the transparent tunnel to just chill. There is even a cafeteria that lets you eat lunch right beside a giant glass window that lets you see inside the large polar bear enclosure.

[TheSobeysworker]

I live in Winnipeg. It doesnt have the flash and glamour of other Canadian cities, but it's home and overall I'm happy here.

[zacharyfevold]

Minnesotan here! I grew up in NW Minnesota, about 10 miles from the border, and my family would spend lots of time in Manitoba, with Winnipeg just being 2 hours away. I ended up meeting my partner in Winnipeg and now I spend more time there now than ever. The ‘city’ sometimes gets some hate from the locals but it’s pretty amazing to see such a huge city seeminglessly arise from the middle of the prairies. Growing up in a town of 2000, the big city always peaked my imagination!

[terrancebrown]

Hey Winnipegers! Much love from Halifax ❤

[shawncarson]

I like Murderpeg! It might be cold af in winter, a bit dingy here and there, and maybe not the most extravagant architecture, but it's a pretty nice place!

[Anagrams]

The Royal Canadian Mint mints money for about 75 foreign countries. Also, many popular movies are shot in Winnipeg and surrounding countryside.

[susangoldstein]

Love your enthusiasm for Winnipeg. Born, raised and live in The Peg!

[BarbNordman]

Tyler, thank you so much for this reaction. I love this city of mine and will just keep this reaction in mind when the disparaging remarks from my fellow Canadians start rolling in as they always do. We are a seldom mentioned province and city but when we are mentioned we are referred to as Winnipeggers from the Peg. Thanks again!

[Wereagreatbunch]

We are winnipegers & manitobans.
It’s an easy city to get around. I’m originally from Calgary but I like the more laid back feeling in Winnipeg.
We are very diverse in culture. Very bilingual.
Very cold & dreary in the winter though.
We get very warm summers. We are considered western & eastern Canada starts in Ontario even though we look right in the middle. We are on central time zone. Saskatchewan next door never does the time change, fall back & spring forward. So half the year they are the same time as us or the same time as Alberta.
We are known for our provincial parks & lots of fishing, hunting, camping, & heading to the beach or lake. It’s almost a staple to also have a cabin somewhere in Manitoba besides where you live. People are friendly here but I’ve noticed the farther you go east like Nova Scotia & on you get the friendliest of people.
Canada is beautiful & I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else.

[andriylakusta]

Ontario considers themselves the center of the universe, so anything west of it, is "western Canada"

[juliebell]

Thanks for highlighting my awesome city. I was grinning from ear to ear watching the whole thing.

[PunkNPetty]

If you ever stop by, make sure you hangout at the Northern!

Alex :“I didn’t expect winnipeg to be a dump or anything”
WPG: **subtly hides garbage hill**
“Uh, yeah no, we’re not a dump”

[HMMMakeup]

I have travelled to 27 countries and I am convinced that Winnipeg is a beautiful city and I am proud to call it home.