WINNIPEG – A cross-country adventure of Canada five years ago has turned into a Winnipeg subterranean misadventure for tourists Karl Ziegler and Anna Kraus.
On a scheduled visit to Manitoba’s capital in the summer of 2013, the couple soon became lost after descending into the Winnipeg Walkway System, a labyrinth of paths, tunnels, and snack bars that cave experts have compared to the deep caverns in Oaxaca, Mexico.
“We have survived on a diet of pizza crusts and left-over Booster Juice,” said Kraus from her tent in the middle of the Winnipeg Square cafeteria. “The locals are friendly, but we have yet to learn their ways of exiting. We’re still trying to understand why everything closes here before 7 PM.”
After years of wandering through banks and shops, they surfaced at Portage and Main only to find that their path across the street had been blocked by a cement barrier.
“It is against our cultural to jaywalk,” said Ziegler who has been reported missing by German authorities since 2014.
The underground nomads originally from Heidelberg said they have made the best out of a very disorienting situation.
“We gave up searching for an exit and now consider this our home,” said Kraus. “All paths just seem to lead to the Bay.”
At press time, the couple was enjoying a campfire in the Manitoba Hydro Building wondering if they ever could access the outside world again.
