Saskatoon and Frisky Fondue?

Day 2 of girls weekend, a Tuesday, we set out to do some Christmas shopping!  Saskatoon is about 350 kilometers north of where I have been staying.  Temperature does not always function like a simple gradient of gradual cooling as you travel further north...but on this particular day, it did.  As Monique and I headed out into the -27, windchill factor unknown, we were like "it doesn't FEEEEL that bad for -27."  Only a true Canadian would say that.  Or a penguin perhaps.

We were looking for just about everything, so it didn't really matter where we went.  But the Midtown Plaza downtown shopping mall was our first choice, so off we went.  Despite both of us having been "off sugar" for a couple of weeks, we decided to dine at the mall, with a giant Starbucks and a main course from "The Cupcake Conspiracy."  So much for my planned 30 days of goodness, but what can I say, I am a social cupcake consumer.  It's not like I eat cupcakes at home alone or anything...at least not since I got back to Canada.

After that, it was shopping time.  It was nice to get to a bigger center where there are some of the more popular chain stores, and some of the newer less well known stores, like Saje, where we slathered in smelly medicinal oils and then set ourselves loose in the mall to see if a) they worked, and b) if we could handle smelling like giant peppermints for long after application.  The answer on both counts was yes.  After a short while, my friend Tanya who lives in the city joined in to the shopping melee.  I am not sure if she enjoyed shopping with 2 peppermints, but she didn't really complain.  We debated a plan for dinner, and the chosen restaurant to meet at was "The Upstairs Fondue."  After cupcakes for dinner, my pancreas let out a little groan knowing some sort of chocolate fondue was on the agenda, and begrudgingly prepared to amp up insulin production.

En route to the restaurant, I recalled to Monique that I had only had fondue in a restaurant once before -- and it had been with Tanya and my sister at a little place in Banff called "The Banff Grizzly House" sometime back in the 90's.  The strange thing about that experience, was that even though it was the 90's, each table at the restaurant had a phone on it.  The phones could not dial outside, you could only dial other tables.  Now, presumably, if you knew anyone else in the place, you would be sharing a table.  We decided this must be some cheesy pick up joint idea left over from the 70's.  But it was mostly couples at the restaurant, so we changed the idea to a cheesy 70's swingers club idea.  Much to our dismay, our phone rang shortly after, as some swarthy disreputable types who did indeed look like they were from the 70's were on the other line.  We politely hung up, and carried on with our fondue, but I never really forgot what a funny little idea it was.

When we got to the Upstairs Fondue, present day, the 5 of us in attendance sat down and the waiter promptly informed us that we would all be sharing one fondue pot, and the portions allocated to the couples.  There was only one couple in the group, but there was to be no single ordering, so 2 would be served together and the least coupley person would get a half order.  Guess who he picked to be THAT person.  This whole couple requiring menu just reaffirmed our earlier suspicions about fondue and swingers.  It also set the tone for a lot of silly conversations about it, loads of laughter, and a completely fun evening.  Strangely, we had the place almost to ourselves, but the food was really good and we had such a good time that I would totally go back.  Check this place out if you are doing some group dining in Saskatoon anytime soon.  I also learned that fondue is originally Swiss cuisine, and the purist way to eat it is to use a hot broth rather than oil.  There is also a hot rock for grilling if you prefer.

That concluded our fun evening out,  The next morning there was still a bit of time for exploration before girls weekend concluded with our respective long drives back.  After a quick and surprise reunion in the hotel lobby with a girl I attended school with many many years ago, we decided to check out the city.  There is Broadway Avenue, with a lot of independent and eclectic stores...like the Peruvian sock, mitten, and clothing store.  There was also a whole string of yoga shops, which we began to call Yoga Row and use as orientation throughout the weekend.

 We found the posh houses by the University and the river valley (it's the North Saskatchewan that flows through Saskatoon).

 

 

We stopped to take a picture of one of the city's many bridges...there are 8 river crossings in the city, which is quite a few for such a small city, hence it's nickname the City of Bridges.

There were also a lot of churches.  Some quite striking.  These two were actually on adjacent lots in the downtown area.

Loved how orange this one was

 And of course, the Delta Bessborough.  This hotel is one of the Canadian National Railways, and many grand hotels were built across Canada by either Canadian Pacific Railways or Canadian National Railways.  This was a later construction, being in 1928, but it still has the same style as some of its older landmark hotels.  Being a rather famous Saskatchewan landmark, and rumoured to have a ghost, we decided to explore the hotel.  In we went, and found ourselves in the midst of an oil and gas conference.  We quite clearly didn't belong, but being in polite old Saskatchewan, we simply wandered through with just a few raised eyebrows.  We made our way to the top, wandered down the old staircases, and caught a glimpse of the pretty room interiors as we made our way through the halls.  No ghosts though, and river valley views were confined to the guest rooms...or the dining room on the 2nd floor.

We did find a few relics of time, like the old phone booths, and some intricate carved doorframes in the emergency exits, which must have been the outside face of the building at some point.

 

Our final stop was a great little Café on Broadway..."The Broadway Café," of course, where we dined among Elvis, Marilyn, and one other very special guest....

 



 

....Morse's very own, the fabulous, the funny, the super EMT...Andrea!

 

 

After that, unfortunately, it was time to go.  Saskatoon turned out to be an awesome little spot for a road trip.  It would be even better in the summer.  Of course, the company is what made it really a special couple of days.  Thanks all!