Weekend in Niagara

Robbie and I have now checked another event off of our "things to do" list for the summer by recently visiting Niagara on the Lake and Niagara Falls.  We spent 3 nights and 4 days on what felt like an actual vacation; it was wonderful.

Our first day there we had our reservations as it was overcast and sprinkling but the poor weather did not last for long and broke out into clear blue skies and sun for the remainder of our trip.  We started  with wine tastings at Palatine Hills winery before exploring the main street of Niagara on the Lake which is a touristy town, much larger but similar to St. Andrew's NB.  After checking out the shops we dropped our things off at the B&B where we were introduced to our hosts, a very nice young couple Paula and Connor.  They have only been in the B&B business for a year now but have renovated their home so that they have a very large room with en suite bathroom in the back with its own private entrance and lovely decking.  It was a great place to relax and we were served breakfast....so delicious....outside on the deck every morning.  On their
recommendation we headed to the Jackson Trigs winery and by sheer luck managed to get a private tour and wine tasting.  Our tour guide was excellent and definitely gave us some extra attention.

By the end of our tour we were starving and found a nice little place to eat called "The Old Winery" which is a restaurant, not a winery, and the big deal here is they made gourmet pizzas in a big brick oven.   http://www.theoldwineryrestaurant.com/ It was very good but I was so hungry it really didn't matter!
We spent the remainder of our first evening in a local pub called the Old Angel http://www.angel-inn.com/ where we sat and had a pint or 2, or 3, or 4.  We where introduced to a very nice retired couple John and Joan Able who sat down beside us and struck up a lively conversation and they bought us drinks!  The small world that it is, they too are living in Kitchener and were up for the weekend taking in the Shaw theater festival.  Just this evening we received a call from them (Robbie and John had exchanged numbers) and they have invited us over to their home for dinner in the next few weeks!!  I'm a little embarrassed though as I had to pretend to hear the majority of the conversation at the pub as the band was so loud but it will be nice to talk to them again where I'm assuming there won't be live music blasting in our ears.

The next morning after a wonderful outdoor breakfast, we headed off to Niagara Falls which is only a short 30 minutes from NOTL.  We had purchased special "Adventure Packages" ahead of time which included tickets to all the big attractions so we got to experience the falls up close from the Maid of the Mist, which was spectacular, and then behind and right up beside the falls from a look out point.  The falls are incredible but it is so funny to see thousands of people walking around in the plastic bag ponchos they give out.  We also took some time to see the butterfly conservatory and botanical gardens.  The butterflies were amazing, it was like being in the middle of a rain forest but drier and the gardens were nice but by this point I was getting pretty hot and tired so may not have appreciated them as much as I could have.
I had been told that Niagara Falls was quite the tourist trap and a mini version of Vegas but I could have never imagined it until seeing it!!  The main street down town, Clifton Hill, is one long street filled with amusement park type attractions, fun houses, wax museums, over priced restaurants, hotels and casinos.  We mostly just walked around and stared in amazement but we did venture into LouisTussaud's wax museum  which was a hoot.  Some of the figures were really life like and I kept expecting them to turn around and say something, I touched a few just to make sure they weren't real but was later told I wasn't aloud to do so!

My favorite day by far was our third day in NOTL, we rented bicycles and biked along a trail that took us past a number of wineries in the area.  We stopped in for tastings at Lailey and Reif wineries and had tours and tastings and Peller and Inniskillin.  Peller was my favorite, they do not do any production on site as they send it all to their sister winery Hildebrand but they have a massive storage area for barrels and have a restaurant and tasting area upstairs.  Robbie had a student this past year who works at Peller in the summer and she gave us a free private tour and an excellent discount on wine.
Inniskillin also gave a good tour, they do production onsite and like Jackson Trig's we got to see all the giant fermentors and holding tanks.  They are famous for their Icewine, which we got to sample and I am developing quite a taste for.  Unfortunately it is quite expensive, they have a vault with ice wine they made in 1989 which has won awards and it is now going for over $800!!

We still can not get over the spectacular weather that we had for our trip (as I right this it is pouring down rain with thunder and lightning).  The country side was beautiful and the company wonderful.  If anyone comes down to visit this area, I highly recommend it!!