Winnipeg

Alison currently travels a lot for her work. The company she works for was bought by a company in Manitoba and she works on the integration of the two company’s computer systems, so she sometimes has to be in Winnipeg. This time I decided to join her for a few days, because I could use a break.

Manitoba is located in the middle of Canada, on the prairies. A three-and-a-half hour flight from Montréal (2400 km), or a two and a halve day, 1000 dollar train ride if you have the time and money. I flew. It’s my third Canadian province that I visit.

We stay on the executive 19th floor (the rest of the hotel was full with a union meeting of the steelworkers union) of the plush Fairmont Hotel, and the view is really nice. It’s like resembles the Netherlands, it’s all flat, but there are way more trees. Actually as far I can see there are trees.

The hotel is located in downtown Winnipeg and in the evening the downtown area is completely deserted. We even had difficulty finding a restaurant that was still open.

What I also noted was that taxis here all have cameras on board and GPS and a protective shield around the back of drivers. It appears they have a big problem with crack-cocaine here, and the crime related to it. So yet another resemblance to the Netherlands. We’re lucky in Montréal with our low crime rates.