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Last up on my trip to Canada, I visited Regina, the provincial capital of Saskatchewan and also where my travelling campion is from. Driving in to Regina from the surrounding prairies is interesting as it is extremely flat until you suddenly see the city with high risers in the city centre. Once you are within the city limit it really does feel like any other small city.

 

Regina, Saskatchewan - Plane

Just outside the city the landscape is really flat!

 

Regina, Saskatchewan - Skyscraper

Modern high risers

 

One of the highlights from my visit to Regina was to go to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police  (RCMP) Academy and visitor centre. We started the visit with the daily parade, a training session for the cadets as well as a tourist attraction. Before the parade itself we got to visit their chapel, the oldest building in Regina. Here we were given basic information about the RCMP, from what they have to do at the academy to what the ranks are and what the different parts of the uniforms mean. The parade was impressive, even if I did not always understand what they were doing. We also got a trolley tour of the compound, seeing all the main buildings. Lastly we checked out the museum, which explained the history of the RCMP in a very impressive and interactive way.

 

Regina, Saskatchewan - Church

Oldest building in Regina

 

Regina, Saskatchewan - RCMP

The daily parade

 

Regina, Saskatchewan - Uniform

You could even try on uniforms

 

The city also has quite a few museums. The Royal Saskatchewan Museum shows the natural history of the area. The first floor shows the older part of the history, starting with dinosaur fossils and ending the timeline with the First Nations tribes and their traditions. The second floor has local animals in various landscapes found throughout the province. My favourite museum was the Science Centre and IMAX theatre. Having never been to an IMAX before we decided to see a movie about great white sharks, which was so cool. While the Science Centre mainly catered to kinds, I still managed to have fun with some of the interactive exhibits. Lastly there was a small version of the body exhibit, which was equal parts gross and interesting.

 

Regina, Saskatchewan - Bison Skeleton

Bison skeleton

 

Regina, Saskatchewan - T-rex

Scotty the t-rex

 

We also visited some of the main buildings in town. There was a market on one of the main streets, which I obviously enjoyed. We also went to a nice rooftop bar in one of the surrounding buildings, where we spied the beginnings of a thunderstorm. We managed to make it to the outskirts of town before the storm properly started, and had the most amazing lightning display! We also visited the university, which for me was a huge campus. I also found it interesting that each department of the school had their own “logo” with hoodies, t-shits etc, not just one for the entire campus. We visited the hockey stadium, which was now set up for concerts and other summer activities. The most surreal place for me to visit was the football stadium, it felt like I was thrown into a movie set or something. The stadium is brand new and when we were there the stadium was completely empty, but it was still possible to imagine how busy it is during a game. We also visited the gift shop where you could get anything from a 3-piece suit to baby clothing in the green colors of the Saskatchewan Roughriders. I even got to see tons of people in this clothing the next day as they had a big game.

 

Regina, Saskatchewan - Market

I love market days

 

Regina, Saskatchewan - Hockey rink

Can it get more Canadian than a hockey rink?

 

Regina, Saskatchewan - Football stadium

My first visit to a North American football stadium

 

My last day in town we went for a nice walk around Wascana Lake in the city centre. While there are different animals living in the surrounding park, we only saw Canada geese and some ducks. There is a pathway that follows the lake front and brings you across this beautiful bridge as well as in front of the Legislative building. While they are more common in the western provinces, there is even a totem pole in the park. It was a nice way to end such an amazing vacation.

 

Regina, Saskatchewan - Lake

Pretty lake

 

Regina, Saskatchewan - Legislative building

Legislative building

 

Regina, Saskatchewan - Canadian geese

Canadian geese

 

Regina, Saskatchewan - Totem pole

Totem pole