Canada Day fell on a Friday this year. Most people had a short work week; I remained on holidays. I decided to make a day of it, packing my knapsack with a sweater along with my wallet, my journal, my cell phone, and Voyager by Diana Gabaldon.
I went for dinner at Stella’s, savouring vegan chocolate cake while reading the chess scene between Lord John Grey and Jamie Fraser in the novel. The book would also come in handy if I had a place to sit down and kill time before the fireworks.
Of course, that didn’t happen.
I arrived at an already bustling venue and decided to head to the small balcony to take some pictures of the scene below and the skyline:
Did I mention small a small balcony?
In the end, I decided to stake out a spot on the Queen Elizabeth Bridge not far from The Forks. It turns out many Winnipeggers had the same idea:
Many people had their phones out to take pictures to either show later or post on social media. I did a little tweeting, a little Instagramming, and saved some for the blog. At some point the phone has to go away, especially to not miss the fireworks. I recorded a sliver of the moment, making sure it’s not the climax:
I have attended some fireworks displays looking inspiring more ‘meh’ than ‘wow!’ It’s also Winnipeg, out motto not only says ‘Friendly Manitoba’ it might as well say ‘Let’s Keep It Small or Else It Will Get Expensive.’ (Is our motto actually ‘One Great City?’ ‘Heart of the Continent?’ ‘Always Having an Identity Crisis?’) This year’s display had the right amount of colour and sound, some making me say ‘wow’ out loud.
I do have one favourite shot on Instagram, but worth sharing again. I went to the second floor of the parkade, a place many people went to catch a view of the day’s climax. The sun had just set, painting the sky with pinks and oranges, Winnipeg’s skyline standing guard over the display:
While I enjoyed New York, nothing beats a city with trees and an unobstructed view to the horizons.
Unpaused Life 