It took us about 90 minutes in line to cross the border at Niagara, but when we finally did, we arrived to find our choice of B&B was nearly perfect. Only a 400 yard walk from the falls area and with a view of the river gorge, the location was perfect. Our room was great, and breakfast was delicious. Free wireless internet is always a winner with John.
The weather is even cooler than normal up here, with highs in the low to mid-70's so far this week. Sunny with just a few clouds, and a nice breeze. Upon our arrival on Sunday we walked down to the falls and found somewhere to eat as we waited for dusk and the lights to be turned on the falls. The innkeeper had also tipped us off that there were to be fireworks that night at 10pm, and we just happened to pick the perfect spot to watch them, even though we had no idea where they would shoot them off. We'd brought our tri-pod to take night photos of the water lit up, and John made good use of it to take photos of the fireworks as well. I did the best I could by hand-holding my camera.
Monday we decided to drive up to Niagara on the Lake and visit some wineries. We knew the region was known for its icewines, but were pleasantly surprised to also find a couple of good chardonnays and an inexpensive red that John liked. We enjoyed tasting icewines made from other varietals besides vidal, which seems to be what we see down in Ohio. We walked around the town, had a good lunch, looked at some shops, and enjoyed being able to drive around with the windows down. The flowers were also beautiful.
After a rest at the B&B, we made reservations for an early dinner at a restaurant with a view of the falls-- but away from the cheesy tourist trap atmosphere. The food was good, as was the view, but the service tapered off at the end of our meal. After dinner we made it back to the B&B in time to watch some of the Home Run Derby, but were too tired to stay up for the whole thing.
Today after breakfast we headed out from Niagara Falls and stopped at two more wineries on our way up to Toronto. Tawse Winery is fairly new-- open for only about 4 years. But they made some very good wines. We were impressed with their use of geo-thermal energy, gravity fed processing, and biodynamic/eco-friendly methods. As John will point out, they use sheep to keep the grass trimmed! The other winery sold some wines that were thousands of dollars per bottle. We did not buy anything there.
On the way to Toronto we noted how much we felt like we might as well be in the US, because the cars are all the same, and we saw most of the same retail stores (even passed two - yes, two - IKEAS in the span of a one hour drive), Starbucks everywhere, etc. But we did notice a few key signs that we were actually in Canada. First, there was a Tim Hortons in the Home Depot. Second, Sears appears to be higher end (more similar to Macy's) here-- no Craftsman tools, replaced instead by a Chanel counter and Kenneth Cole and Calvin Klein clothing sections. And of course, there is the obvious use of the metric system.
Once in Toronto and having checked into our hotel, we found our way via the subway to a popular shopping area and ate dinner before catching a movie. Afterwards, we did a little shopping before heading back to the hotel to plan the rest of our Toronto visit and watch some of the All Star game. Tomorrow we have tickets to see the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit at the Royal Ontario Museum, and plan to see another movie in the evening.
All in all, most everything has been working out well on this trip. We've made good choices on where to stay and eat, and uncontrollable things like weather have been on our side. We continue to receive good news about Charlie and photos of the fun he's having back in Cleveland. We're looking forward to the rest of our visit.
No comments:
Post a Comment