WINNIPEG: FINAL DAY

Another great breakfast at the Gold Lounge and we're off to Assiniboine Park, home to the Assiniboine Park Zoo and Assiniboine Park Conservatory. Esther, Eunice and I were most interested in visiting the zoo. I was quite surprised with the size and variety of animals. In fact, as I kept on walking around it seemed never ending and that was a good thing. Okay, I forgot to take a map. Here's what we saw: lions (great exhibit and cage); sea eagles; monkey world of lemurs, marmosets and gibbons (always fun to watch; lots of amphibians; tigers; camels; kangaroo; llama; alpaca; reindeer; bison; lots of birds; an Australian exhibit; the Kinsmen Discovery Centre; and prairie dogs, peacocks running about along with turtles in the cages of other animals. I know that Esther and Eunice had a great time. www.society.com

Lunch was at the Velvet Glove lounge where I finally had the opportunity to sample the local fish, pickerel. It was served beer battered with sweet potato fries. Michael Blahuta joined me divulged the name of the best gelato store in Winnipeg.

Located in what was once the Little Italy of Winnipeg, Nucci's Gelati at 643 Corydon Avenue. I could not believe how great their gelato tasted! It's by far the best cold processed gelato that I have had anywhere! Why does the best hot processed have to be in Provincetown (I Dream of Gelato) and this one in Winnipeg!

The test was the dark chocolate, hazelnut, and amarena. The dark chocolate was clearly a chocoholic's dream; hazelnut was obviously not artificial; amarena was the special cherries imported from Italy and not the maraschino ilk. I met mom and pop, Rosa and Gino as well as their son Sebastian. Maria Pepe, their daughter, was not there at the time. Rosa then wanted me to taste the raspberry and lemon to get the true flavors. If I hadn't eaten lunch I would have tasted more! Esther and Eunice were just as happy. I then decided to have a shot of espresso, which I usually don't have. I don't know what the brand of coffee was. I didn't need anything else in it as it seemed to be quite low on that acidic taste. Rosa told me that she's been making gelato for 44 years.

Back to the hotel I rested and hung out in the Gold Lounge for several hours until it was time for the jam session in the Velvet Glove lounge. Those folks from the Folk Festival were doing their own thing while everyone just sat around munching, drinking, and watching the boob tube.

And so it was time to depart this wonderful city but not before my final breakfast and farewells.