Enjoying Canada's French Quarter ~ St. Boniface for Paris in July 2012 ~

Paris in July!

a month long meme on all things French

Here's the invite from Karen at Book Bath ~

There will be no rules or targets in terms of how much you need to do 

or complete in order to be a part of Paris in July - 

just blog about anything French and you can join in. ..

- Reading a French book - fiction or non-fiction

- Watching a French movie

- Listening to French music

- Cooking French food

- Experiencing French art, architecture or travel
(or remembering travel experiences)

- Or anything else French inspired you can think of...

in light of this Welcome inclusivity, 

I am posting some French travel inspiration ~

St. Boniface,

the French quarter of Canada's heart & centre, Winnipeg

 St. Boniface, home to the largest French speaking community
in Western Canada, was founded in 1818 

by Bishop Joseph Norbert Provencher
as the first Roman Catholic mission in the west.
This French-neighborhood is within walking distance 

of downtown Winnipeg and The Forks 

Source 
via the Esplanade Riel, a pedestrian bridge,

spanning the Red River from St. Boniface to downtown Winnipeg.

Provencher Boulevard runs parallel.

In the heart of Old St. Boniface 

La Maison Gabrielle-Roy, restored as a museum,

located on Rue Deschambault, 

which gave name to renowned Canadian author 

Gabrielle Roy's more famous works Street of Riches. 

"Largely autobiographical, it traces the growth and development of a young girl into an accomplished writer. Like much of Roy's fiction, it includes a very autobiographical style and weaves vignettes into a tapestry of the specific time and place. The book covers themes including the social divide between the French Canadian and English Canadian communities in what were the twin cities of St. Boniface and Winnipeg, Manitoba, European immigration to the Canadian prairies, family dynamics and racial integration.

As Rue Deschambault, 

the novel was first published in the original French by Beauchemin in 1955. 

An English translation by Harry L. Binsse, Street of Riches, 

was published by McClelland and Stewart in 1957." - Source

Numerous other works include short story collections set in Manitoba~ 

La Petite Poule d’eau 

{1950; translated Where Nests the Water Hen}

La Route d’Altamont 

{1966; translated The Road Past Altamont}

Un Jardin au bout du monde 

{1975; translated Garden in the Wind}

 Ces Enfants de ma vie 

{1977; translated Children of My Heart}. 

 
You can begin a walking tour of St. Boniface
guided by the words of this great author.

More famous sites of this historic neighbourhood

include the remains of St. Boniface Cathedrale

College universitaire de Saint-Boniface

St . Boniface City Hall

St. Boniface Museum

Source

                  Originally built for the Grey Nuns , 

                 this is the oldest building in Winnipeg                
and the largest oak log structure in North America.

{ courtesy of Factoids published by destinationWinnipeg }

or hike the St. Boniface Trail along the Seine River

Source

"It is an ecological jewel and extends through St. Vital and St. Boniface
with more than 52 km of shoreline,
over 20 publicly accessible parks and 12 hours of paddling.
The St. Boniface Trail is a worthy gateway to the Seine River Greenway... many large and small turtles, a variety of fish,
the whole spectrum of birds including a healthy king fisher population
and lots of dragonflies and butterflies.
Native flora and fauna are thriving here."

and if you're driving?knowing a few rules of the road will come in handy!

Enjoy the latest edition of the 

Joie de vivre tourism guide

for more French sites to enrich and inform about 
 Manitoba's Francophone communities in the City of Winnipeg 

St. Boniface, St. Vital, and St. Norbert, 

and bilingual communities in the south of the province of

Manitoba, Canada.

Beinvenue !

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