Growing up in Havana, Eugenia Druyet Zoubareva loved a special treat called raspadura. Made by boiling sugar cane, raspadura is usually sold in light brown blocks. It's a bit like the brown sugar in your kitchen cupboard when it's exposed to air for too long.
Forty years later and more than 2,000 miles to the north, Zoubareva took the opportunity to talk about her childhood as lead gardener at the Leaf, a glass-enclosed garden in Winnipeg's sprawling Assiniboine Park.
Opened last December, the Leaf aspires to celebrate the relationship between human and plant life. It may be the only public garden in North America to take this approach.
As you travel the winding trails through four distinct biomes, you'll see large signs highlighting the people, many of whom work in the park, and plant-related crops.
There, in the middle of the sugar cane, is a large banner with Zoubareva's photo and the story of her connection with the plants. She hosts “gardener talks” at 10 a.m. and is always happy to answer questions.
The Leaf is also home to the Gather Craft Kitchen & Bar. Billing itself as “globally inspired modern prairie cuisine,” Gather incorporates fruits and vegetables straight from park gardens and Manitoba growers.
The Leaf and the beautiful gardens of Assiniboine Park are among the many reasons to visit Winnipeg NOW. Manitoba's capital – a seven-hour drive or 85-minute flight from the Twin Cities – continues to grow and evolve as an attractive tourist destination, center of cultural activities and, yes, a place to see a real flying saucer .
Indigenous art and history
THE Winnipeg-Qaumajuq Art Gallery is a source of understanding and inspiration for the Inuit people. Although the modern WAG Museum building has been around since 1971, the Qaumajuq opened next door in 2021 to house the world's largest collection of Inuit art. We were intrigued by the Visible Vault, a three-story glass silo that features 5,000 soapstone sculptures made by Inuit artists.
Watch curators work inside or push one of the touchscreen installations to learn more about the artists and each work. Listen to the soft music that fills the space – sounds of Nunavut nature, reflecting the spirit of the art. Located just inside the entrance, the Visible Vault is always free to the public.
The current exhibition is titled “Inuit Sanaugangit: Art Through Time.” The exhibition features 400 works of art from the circumpolar Arctic region and will run until January 7.
Any visit to Winnipeg should also include Forks. At the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, it is the traditional gathering space of indigenous people dating back approximately 6,000 years.
There you will find many good restaurants, shops, shows and the Manitoba Children's Museum. But there is something new, in a place so small you could forget it.
It's the Treaty Understanding Center, a small space with the massive mission of explaining the 11 numbered treaties that First Nations groups made with the British crown and later the Canadian government. The center interprets the treaties from the First Nations perspective as well as the English perspective.
Indigenous treaties may seem like a thing of the past, but they remain binding in Canada and much of the United States today. Exhibitions and programs show us how treaties work and what they really mean for the people involved — and that's all of us.
“Flying canoes” and a flying saucer
Another newcomer to Winnipeg is the Royal Aviation Museum of Western Canada. Founded by bush pilots who flew to the most isolated parts of Canada, the museum is a great place for children and adults. You can't touch many old planes, but you can climb on others.
Spend a few minutes appreciating the old “flying canoes” that helped map the remote Canadian wilderness and imagine what the pilots saw and experienced. There was a level of courage in this work that we don't often need today.
Among the collection of nearly 100 planes and helicopters are aircraft that participated in various military conflicts, including the De Havilland Tiger Moths built in Canada during the Second World War. There's even a flying saucer. Yes, Avro Canada designed a flying saucer in the 1950s, but it had stability issues and was eventually scratched. Still, how much fun is it?
The Aviation Museum is adjacent to the Winnipeg International Airport, so you can plan a visit when you arrive or before your flight home. Delta Air Lines offers daily direct flights from MSP to YWG.
Where to stay
The city's newest hotel is the Wyndham Garden Winnipeg Airport. What makes this franchise hotel intriguing is that it is owned by the Long Plains First Nation – the first lodging in Winnipeg operated by an Indigenous group.
Unique paintings reflecting Long Plains culture greet guests as they step off the elevator into their room. The corridors curve gently to reflect the circle of life. Each of the 132 rooms also has individual paintings created by Long Plains artists.
The gift shop sells original crafts from Long Nation artists; staff speaks English, Dakota, and Ojibwe; and the restaurant offers bison tacos, fried pike cheeks and wild rice. A games room is open to the public.
Diana Lambdin Meyer is a travel writer based in Kansas City.
