wini in winnipeg...

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Time in Winnipeg

Tuesday, October 21

13-14 october, edmonton 2:46 AM

Edmonton's really the capital of the Alberta province, though most non-Canadians may easily mistake that for Calgary. A cultural, governmental and educational centre, Edmonton plays host to a year-round slate of world-class festivals, earning it the title of "The Festival City". Apart from that, it is also home to the largest mall in the whole of North America, the West Edmonton Mall - one of our reasons too to come explore and see it for ourselves, heh.

Alberta Legislature Building and Muttart Conservatory

The structural concept of the Alberta Legislature Building was based on Paris's Beaux Arts style, making use of Greek, Roman and Egyptian elements to convey permanence, power and tradition. It did look majestic and melancholic indeed, perhaps save for the pulling off our best balancing moves, hehe.

The Muttart Conservatory, essentially a botanical garden which consists of 4 glass pyramid structures showcasing plants from all arid, tropical and temperate climates. Sadly though it was closed for renovation when we popped by.

Old Strathcona
Old Strathcona is reputed as a cool district to hang out, where numerous shops, restaurants, nightlife spots and buskers can be found. So yep, as tourists we had to check it out, and not forgetting that we too are hip-and-haps youngsters of course! Haha.

Whyte Avenue on Old Strathcona. The shops here are indeed unique though a little atas, so prices are extravagant. Fashion boutiques play on all sorts of interesting designs and concepts; some even pertain to "sustainable fashion" - fashion that lasts in the sense that it's made from some kind of biodegradable material or something, haha. Wacky gifts shops are also abundant here, but of all of them there's Le Papier (bottom-left pic above), my personal favourite!

Le Papier's really big and sells all sorts of nice papers, cards and gifts. We spent almost a whole hour just fiddling with all the things they have here!

13 Oct - Canada's Thanksgiving Day
Anyway, it was also Canada's Thanksgiving Day, so the 4 of us decided to do a little gift-exchange thingy where we'll draw lots and get something for the "secret person", who'll only be revealed that night before we leave for Winnipeg. Then we all started hinting and disclaiming what we'd NOT like from the other person, It was quite exciting though it wasn't really that hard to guess who's who, especially when people started consulting one another in private about what the other party likes! Haha.

I was supposed to get something for Thalia, and for this I actually observed her discreetly (see, head TA skills at work again!) to see what she fancied. Eventually I got a meaningful ornament that she really liked, yep. Anw Js bought mine, which we both thought was a boring combination. Haha.. but it were a pair of puny gun-shaped reusable heat packs (so you place them in your pockets in winter and scare people by drawing the guns out??), which were cute la. Heh.

Foodies
Okay on to food next! Haha.. we dined at a couple of the Lonely Planet recommendations here, which were really located all over Old Strathcona..

Left: an interesting ice-hockey "foosball" game at some pub-like place
Right: Da-De-O, a casual hip diner with a 50's decor like Billy Bomber's, serving up cajun-spiced food

Da-De-O has this unique starter - a combination of choux biscuits with jalapeno jam. So it's weird that the jam was of a green tint, with a hint of spice to it! Haha.. tasted weird but interesting nevertheless.
And I know I look greedy and unglam in the 2nd candid shot, but that's a really very very good eggplant-parmesan sandwich! Affectionately known as "Po-Boys", these sandwiches are served with cajun sweet-potato fries, a must-try at Da-De-O!

Poutine, a fast-food staple in Canada. Also termed as a quintessential comfort food, this is a dish consisting of french fries topped with fresh cheese curds and covered in brown gravy. I've long heard of and seen this word pop up in many casual restaurants, and finally got to try it! Note: people trying poutine for their first time are called "poutine virgins", haha. And the right pic shows a nice little pot of tea I had in Hi-Level Diner's, a value-for-money breakfast place.

West Edmonton Mall (WEM)

As mentioned, WEM's the largest shopping mall in North America, and 4th largest in the world (used to be the world's largest for a 23-year period from 1981 to 2004). With an approximate area of 570,000 sq metres, it has 800 stores and receives 28.2 million visitors per year; an estimated average of 60,000 to 150,000 shoppers patron the mall daily!

WEM's a hit with the whole family, with amenities pertaining to people of all ages:

Galaxyland, the indoor amusement park

An indoor water park

An indoor full-size ice-skating rink

I keep repeating "indoor" cos well, the mall really spans over such a huge area that such facilities could be located indoors! Haha.. the Mall of America that I visited in Minneapolis also had a Nickelodeon park, but that was not exactly inside the mall premises. In fact, many of the other exchange students went to Minneapolis over the same weekend (that we're in Alberta), and have been swooning over how big the Mall of America is. But now they're jealous with all our pics of the Rockies and WEM! Haha.

The mall also sanctions off special areas to infuse a multicultural, cosmopolitan flavour:

Little Europa, with some atas shops and modelled make-believe "sidewalk" cafes

Chinatown - they have a supermarket here with all sorts of Oriental food and snacks, and Chinese-looking cakes for once! Anyway the lady kinda snapped at me in Mandarin that photo-taking wasn't allowed, and I quickly pacified her by buying Portugese egg-tarts from her (conversing in Mandarin too). But the point here is the egg-tarts la, not the language k. Haha.

"A Piece of Cake" - an exquisite bakery owned by a Chinese lady; she makes really cool extravagant Western wedding cakes, as well as the red cute prosperous-looking (maybe gaudy) Chinese ones!

I spent alot of time in the Yamaha Music School browsing through scores. One of the promoters was also playing the piano, and his varying techniques and expression were just captivating. Now I miss playing my piano too.. roar.

The mall directory did look very complicated and different colours represent various themed sections. The 2 gentlemen here are a Mexican actor and football player respectively - I didn't know who they were but Thalia and Adriana were swooning over them, so I decided to take a picture as well! Haha.

So much for the mall! Yet despite all the above, though, its exterior really looked kinda plain and dull, nothing splendid nor wow from the outside at all. Yep.. actually I felt it looked like Times Square or 1-Utama in KL or even an enlarged version of Parkway Parade.. heh. And so out of curiosity to that, I googled "world's largest malls" - see them here - and as many as 14 out of the 24 listed in the tops are in Asia (China, Malaysia, Thailand and Philippines)! And I've visited some of them before without even knowing that, haha.

So really, I guess for urban dwellers like us who're used to high-rise luxuriant shopping centres, the 2-storeyed (but vast and wide) WEM really didn't appeal as much to Js and I, as it did to Thalia and Adriana. I think Taka or most other places along Orchard Road can beat it hands-down in terms of decor and design.. :)

P/S: Oh yes yes, let me just say that I didn't buy anything here at all, save for the egg-tarts and coffee! Amazing leh, haha.