On a lighter note ... I was researching for a business trip to Winnipeg and accidently came across this list ...

1. In 1914 a WWI Winnipeg Captain, Harry Colebourn, took a black bear cub to England as his Regiment's mascot. When Colebourn shipped out for France, he donated the bear named "Winnipeg", after his home town, to the London Zoo. Author A.A. Milne and his son Christopher Robin loved "Winnie" and his father later crafted stories about a boy and his bear, "Winnie the Pooh".

2. The Royal Winnipeg Ballet is Canada's oldest and North America's second oldest dance company. It was granted the "Royal" title in 1953 by the Queen of England, the first such distinction awarded in the world.

3. The Winnipeg Art Gallery has the world's largest collection of contemporary Inuit art, including over 9,000 works from sculpture, prints, and textiles to paintings.

4. The Prairie Theatre Exchange is the only live theatre in the world that is located in a shopping centre.

5. Winnipeg's French theatre company Le Cercle Moliere is Canada's oldest continuously operating French theatre.

6. In 1909 the Grain Exchange was recognized as the largest cash wheat market in the world.

7. The Countess of Dufferin was the first railway engine to operate in Manitoba. It was brought to Winnipeg aboard a steamer down the Red River in 1875. It can currently be seen in the Railway Museum at the VIA rail station in Winnipeg.

8. Winnipeg is a Cree word for "muddy waters".

9. Pine Street in Winnipeg's West End was home to three WWI soldiers who received the Victoria Cross for their bravery in battle. The street was renamed Valour Road in honour of its three courageous citizens.

10. Winnipeg's contribution to popular music includes rockers Neil Young, Burton Cummings (Guess Who), Randy Bachman (BTO), the Crash Test Dummies, the Watchmen, Chantal Kreviazuk and most recently popsters McMaster and James.

11. The St. Boniface Museum is the oldest building in Winnipeg and the largest oak log structure in North America.

12. Officers of the Hudson's Bay Company brought the game of golf to Winnipeg in the early 1800's. It seems to have caught on with 25 courses in the city and another 23 within an hour's drive.

13. American comedian Bob Hope played his first game of golf in Winnipeg.

14. Winnipeg has the largest number of publicly owned elm trees in the world (60,000). They provide a graceful arched cover over many Winnipeg neighbourhood streets.

15. Winnipeg's Living Prairie Museum remains one of the few unploughed native tall grass reserves in North America.

16. The Second World War's most famous spymaster Sir William Stevenson, whose incredible story was immortalized in the best selling book "A Man Called Intrepid", was born and raised in Winnipeg.

17. In 1896 The Winnipeg Victorias won the Stanley Cup hockey championship.

18. Winnipeg is the largest city closest to the geographical centre of North America.

19. TV's Monty Hall, of long-running game show "Let's Make a Deal", was born in Winnipeg.

20. Winnipegger Charles Thorson worked as part of the design team that created Bugs Bunny, Snow White, Elmer Fudd and Little Hiawatha.

21. Winnipeg produces over 25,000 pounds of gold medal-winning Golden Caviar and sells it worldwide.

22. Winnipeg's Exchange District has been designated as a National Historic Site by the Canadian government due to its rich collection of turn-of-the-century terracotta and stone cut buildings, unrivalled in the world.

23. The first million-dollar hockey player was the "Golden Jet", Bobby Hull. He played for the Winnipeg Jets of the World Hockey Association in 1972 and received his cheque at a public celebration at Portage and Main.

24. The Harlequin Romance publishing empire began in Winnipeg.

25. Winnipeggers Richard Condie (The Big Snit) and Cordell Barker (The Cat Came Back) have both been nominated for Academy Awards. Richard Condie won an Oscar for his short film.

26. Winnipeg's Union Station was designed by the same architects responsible for the Grand Central Station in New York City.

27. Canola is a crop prized for the edible oil it produces. It was developed by Professor Baldur Stefansson at the University of Manitoba.

28. Rainbow Stage is Canada's oldest outdoor theatre, providing over 45 years of beloved musicals.

29. FitzGerald was a Winnipeg painter who became a member of Canada's famous "Group of Seven". These artists heavily influenced Canadian art and Canadians' impressions of their country.

30. It is said that The Fort Garry Hotel is haunted by a ghost who visits travellers staying in room 235.

31. International media mogul Izzy Asper has headquartered his company CanWest Global in Winnipeg.

32. The Golden Boy, the statue that graces the top of the Manitoba Legislature, spent World War I in the hold of a troop ship criss-crossing the Atlantic Ocean after the foundry that cast it in France was bombed.

33. Winnipeg is the home to the second largest community of French- speaking Canadians outside of Quebec.

34. Winnipeg is situated on the fertile deposits of a prehistoric lake, Lake Agassiz.

35. More than half the population of the province of Manitoba lives in Winnipeg.

36. In 1912 dignitaries celebrated the completion of the new St. Boniface sewer system by holding a lavish banquet in the main chamber of the sewer itself.

37. Winnipeg-born author Gabrielle Roy is arguably the best French- language writer in Canada. She is most famous for writing "The Tin Flute", which won the Prix Femina in France and the Literary Guild award for North America.

38. Folklorama, held in Winnipeg each August, is North America's largest cultural festival featuring pavilions celebrating over 40 ethnic cultures.

39. The Manitoba Theatre Centre is the oldest English-language regional theatre in Canada. It operates its Mainstage Theatre, the Warehouse Theatre, and each July, the Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival, which is the second largest in the Nation.

40. Winnipeg was the first city in the world to develop the 911 emergency phone number.

41. The Costume Museum of Canada is home to 35,000 artifacts spanning 400 years and is the only museum in North America uniquely dedicated to the collection of costumes, textiles, and related accessories.

42. At the time of construction, the Winnipeg Floodway was the second largest earth-moving project in the world after the Panama Canal.

43. The Pan American Games have been held twice in Canada, both of those times (1967 and 1999) in Winnipeg.

44. Portage Avenue was originally named Queen Street and was changed to direct immigrants towards the town of Portage la Prairie to the west.

45. The first retail store at the corner of Portage and Main was built by Henry McKenney in 1862.

46. Portage and Main is often referred to as the windiest corner in North America.

47. Pantages Theatre, built in 1913-14, hosted vaudeville performances by Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin, and the Marx Brothers. Tickets cost 10?, 15?, or 25? for an exclusive box seat.

48. Pantages Theatre was the first air-conditioned building in Winnipeg. Huge pieces of ice were placed in the basement and large fans were used to blow air over the ice and cool the patrons.

49. The Winnipeg Free Press published its first handmade issue in 1887.

50. The Winnipeg Foundation was established in 1921 with a donation from William Forbes Alloway. It was the first community foundation in the country. Its current assets top $315 million.

51. The earliest known inhabitants of the area were nomadic aboriginal peoples from three tribes: the Cree, Assiniboine, and the Ojibwa.

52. French explorer La Verendrye is credited with being the earliest European to visit, in 1737, the eventual site of Winnipeg.

53. The motion picture theatre business began in Winnipeg in 1899 when John A. Schuberg, whose stage name was Johnny Nash, showed a short film on the Spanish-American War in a canvas tent in a vacant lot on Main Street.

54. In 1915 the opulent Marlborough Hotel, then called the Olympia, had gone bankrupt and was used as the home of the 184th battalion during World War I.

55. In 1917, after two wet summers, the grass on the new Kildonan Golf Course was in poor shape and the city's parks department did not have the budget to weed the area in preparation for re-seeding. In true inventive Winnipeg spirit, a herd of sheep was allowed to graze on the course, effectively keeping the weeds under control until re-seeding occurred in 1921.

56. The Royal Canadian Mint not only produces coins for Canada but has minted currency for 60 countries around the globe.

57. The Leo Mol Sculpture Garden is one of the few sculpture gardens featuring the work of a single artist in the world.

58. Winnipeg is widely known as the Christmas Capital of Canada.

59. Manitoba Tyndall stone has a distinctive mottled pattern in the stone that is unique to Manitoba. This interesting stone has been used on the exteriors of the Winnipeg Art Gallery, the Manitoba Museum, the Concert Hall, and the Winnipeg Convention Centre.

60. Winnipeg has purchased the only known painting of "Winnie the Pooh" by the original illustrator E.H. Shepard. The painting, purchased for $285,000 Canadian from Sotheby's auction house in London, England, is on public display at the Pavilion Gallery in Assiniboine Park.

61. Giant iced toboggan slides allow adventurous sliders the opportunity to slide completely across the Red River from Fort Gibraltar to the Alexander Avenue docks each winter.

62. Each year, river skating trails are groomed on the frozen Assiniboine River by a Zamboni ensuring that the ice is smooth and perfect for skating from The Forks to the Osborne Street Bridge.

63. There are over 30 major bridges in Winnipeg providing safe passage primarily across rivers and railway tracks.

64. Winnipeg hockey teams have won two Olympic gold medals, three Avco Cups (WHA) and two Stanley Cups (pre-NHL).

65. Winnipeg (Transcona) and Lake Manitoba have some of the finest waterskiing and windsurfing facilities in the world.

66. The Winnipeg Music Competition is one of the world's largest music festivals with over 30,000 competitors each year.

67. The largest collection of Ukrainian-language books outside Ukraine is housed in the Oseredok Ukrainian Cultural and Educational Centre in Winnipeg.

68. The Festival du Voyageur is the largest winter festival in Western Canada. Giant snow sculptures, french cuisine, music, dance and revelry occur within the French Fort Gibraltar each February.

69. Winnipeg's Chamber of Commerce is 125 years old. It was established six months before the city becoming incorporated.

70. Opening in 1904 the Union Bank Tower, an 11 storey Chicago School building, was Western Canada's first skyscraper.

71. Each year, the Winnipeg Symphony produces a week-long festival of New Music featuring some of the world's greatest talents in the classical music field.

72. Within a six-month period Winnipeg placed first in both the Communities in Bloom, a summer city beautification award, and Winter Lights Celebrations, a decorative lights winter and outdoor activity award.

73. The Hudson's Bay Company, the world's oldest corporation, has donated a collection of over 10,000 artifacts and written documentation stretching over 300 years to the Manitoba Museum and Provincial Archives.

74. Winnipeg was the first city in Canada to establish a United Way charity.

75. The first CPR transcontinental train arrived in Winnipeg on July 1, 1886.

76. Polo Park Shopping Centre is built on the site of an old race track.

77. Winnipeg's Fort Whyte Centre has over 700 acres of relatively undeveloped land within city limits that is home to migrating birds, deer, and fox.

78. Winnipeg has over 100 kilometres of navigable waterways.

79. The University of Winnipeg women's volleyball team broke the world record for number of consecutive wins with 123. This shattered the record previously held by a men's team at UCLA.

80. Oak Hammock Marsh, home to thousands of migrating birds, was designated as Canada's best outdoor attraction by Attractions Canada 2000.

81. Winnipeg has the sunniest winter seasons with 358 hours of sunshine.

82. In 1931 Ralph Erwin opened the first restaurant to sell hamburgers in Manitoba. He did not think that the name hamburger was appetizing and named his a Nip. To this day hamburgers at Salisbury House restaurants are called Nips. His restaurants were the first in the province to introduce the Silex coffee system.

83. Famous Winnipeggers include author Carol Shields, film maker Guy Maddin, comedian David Steinberg, movie director Ken Finkleman, children's entertainer Fred Penner, world champion curler Jeff Stoughton, native leader Phil Fontaine, media mogul Izzy Asper, and many others.

84. In 1668, the British ship "Nonsuch" was sent to Hudson's Bay, establishing the fur trade in Manitoba. A full size replica of this ship can be viewed today in the Manitoba Museum.

85. A scandal erupted in 1918 when Tyndall stone purchased for use in building the provincial legislative building began showing up in residential homes in wealthy River Heights.

86. The international polling company Angus Reid began in Winnipeg.

87. The Winnipeg Floodway has saved the city from flooding many times since it was constructed in 1968 by then Premier Duff Roblin. It is affectionately referred to as "Duff's Ditch".

88. Winnipeg's first city council meeting was held in 1874.

89. Winnipeg's motto since 1972 has been "Unum Cum Virtute Multorum" meaning "One with the strength of many".

90. The Winnipeg General Strike of 1919 forever placed Winnipeg at the centre of the labour movement and forced then Mayor Charles F. Gray to enact the Riot Act.

91. In 1974 Mitch Podolak and others organized the Winnipeg Folk Festival, which today is one of the largest folk festivals in the world.

92. The University of Manitoba was incorporated in 1877 as the first university in the west. In 1880 the first graduating class had one person in it.

93. The Golden Boy, a magnificently gilded four metre (13.5 foot) figure, is probably Manitoba's best known symbol. Embodying the spirit of enterprise and eternal youth, he is poised atop the dome of the Legislative Building. He faces the north, with its mineral resources, fish, forest, furs, water power and seaport, where his province's future lies.

94. For over 6,000 years nomadic Cree, Ojibwa, and other First Nations peoples met at the fork of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers where Winnipeg now stands.

95. Great-West Life, Canada's largest assurance company, began in Winnipeg and continues to be headquartered here.

96. The first Canadian Olympic medal in Salt Lake City went to Winnipegger Cindy Klassen who won a bronze in speed skating.

97. The University of Winnipeg's women's basketball team has the distinction of tying the world record for most wins. The team was defeated by its cross-town rival the University of Manitoba.

98. In 1970 "American Woman" topped international music charts. Winnipeg rock n' rollers The Guess Who, who penned the tune, went on to become one of Canada's largest cultural exports.

99. Winnipegger Nellie McClung was a leader in the suffragette movement of women looking to obtain the right to vote.

100. Metis leader Louis Riel was hanged in 1885 for treason after leading a rebellion. Today, that opinion has changed and many consider this man to be the "Father of Manitoba".

Thanks CT!!! Some marvelous facts here.

An amazing list. Many thanks.

The one I like is: "Giant iced toboggan slides allow adventurous sliders the opportunity to slide completely across the Red River from Fort Gibraltar to the Alexander Avenue docks each winter."

Now that sounds like fun ... I have to time a business trip for sometime mid-January ...

Never make contact with anything metal with your tongue in -35 degree weather!

Or +100

But like me, you've done it anyway, right Sue?

(I'll never forget that pain! :scared: )

LOL...yep, and somewhere on a lamppost in East Kildonan a very small piece of my tongue remains!

Two examples of blonde moments in one thread ... I would expect it from Willmore ... but I would expect more from HWP

Ah....there it is.....that biting scottish sarcasm......!

I was just a kid....the nuns made me do it !

You know, you can't blame every blonde moment on the nuns ...

They were the ones who told me not to do it!

So you only do things that people in authority tell you not to do?

Sounds like you fit nicely in Victoria

[QUOTE=Cowtown]So you only do things that people in authority tell you not to do?

Sometimes....even now!

and of course you were a perfect child in every way!

Let's not bring my upbringing into a discussion of your blonde moments ... at least there aren't any parts of my anatomy attached to lamp posts ...