Niagara on the Lake. One of the better tours I've been on. But the hottest weather imaginable

Hi again.

There was a great quote in the HI at Niaraga and it was

"You need both the sunshine and the rain to make a rainbow" I liked that. Just thought I would share it with you.

Last night would have to have been one of the hottest I have put in. I had a shower at 12.30am and by the time I went to bed persperation was running off me again. The room was tiny and a small window but we did have a big fan. Sleep was not easy.

I went on the shuttle bus back to the falls this morning to see them in the sunshine and they were still beautiful. There is something about all that water. When you come from Australia where it is always so dry by that I mean not huge rivers of waterfalls, you just want to take picture of water. But, I am being stern with myself, well after Niagara.

I went up around the 'glitzy" part of the town where there is nothing but amusement shops and the regular chain stores for food, entertainment and clothing. Very commercial.

On my way back I had the same bus driver and we were talking about the town and areas and he asked what it was like at the HI and I told him it was lovely, shame about the area and he said yes but the had had an inspection last week from a govt. agency unbeknown to them and they had come out in the 100%. There are really nice and it's very clean. He also said there is no crime in Niagara at all. Found that a comforting thought. I still was not impressed with the place though as I had not been able to find one normal shop anywhere and people did not seem able to direct me to any as they were too far away.

At 11.15 I was picked up for a tour which through the HI is half price so it makes it more worthwhile to stay in them. We were off the Niagara on the Lake. I had been urged by several people to go there if I could.

It was a scortcher of a day so we were all happy to be in the cool bus.

We again went up to the 'falls' and you wouldn't believe it, there was a BLUE horse up there!!! By accounts they were filming and the blue horse was part of it. It looked like one for the children as the girls riding had pink red hair and dressed in keeping with the blue horse. Many of the tourist were asked to be extras, but we had to get back to our coach.. We actually waited for and extra 25mins for a party of 5 to come back and then left and I was wondering if they had decided to be extras in the film instead.

There is a beautiful gardens there which was the site of Clifton Hotel and burnt down in 1898. Now they have free films for people and concerts there on a regular basis.

From there we went to a Franciscan Monastry which is just used now for retreats the Carmalite Spiritual Center and such like. The chapel is dedicated to St. Theresa of the Little Flower and is just magnificient. The chapel had burnt down and the parishes is America and here had donated funds to restore it. The carved statued alone took 5 years to do. The floor is marble tiles and a gift from the Belgium Pres. some time ago.

From here we went to a winery where they make "ice wine" and White Merlot.

The ice wine came from an experiment by an Austrian wine maker. The grapes are left on the vines through the first part of winter and are frozen a couple of times then harvested between 12-2am to ensure they do not thaw, some wineries even take the crusher into the vineyard to make sure of this. each grape only yiels ONE drop of juice so you can see it is labout intensive as the picking is done by hand not machine and the workers work in the middle of the night. The tast is so smooth and sweet you only need a small nip. These wines sell in the restraraunts for $15 - $30 glass depending on the variety. They had 4 styles.

The white merlot is very nice not unlike the Gralynn pink wine I like.

From here we went into Niagara on the Lake for lunch at our own leisure. This is a closed town in the fact that it has strict by-laws to govern what happens here.

Each location of land is in 10 acre lots and the land is $50,000 an acre so straight away the people are of one kind of class - wealthy.

They grow mainly fruit apricots, peaches, cherries, apples and they are all ripened on the tree so picking goes on daily. The workers come from Mexico and Jamaica. They recieve 15% of their pay plus baord and lodgings and the rest of their pay goes to their families at home. This way they don't have aproblem with workers outstaying their work visa.

There are no fast food outlets anywhere in or near the town and that is a pleasant sight. There is a abundance of theatres, art galleries, musuems and beautiful little nik-nak shops. I loved the "Angel" shop. Everything had angels on it even doylies and garden wear.

There is a George Bernard Shaw theatre and festival there each year which is now one of the biggest Shaw festival held.

I found a wonderful art gallery with the artist in residence and he specialises in wild animals. Edward Spers was his name. He works with acrylics and his paintings are just superb. So real and life like. It was one of the lovleiest towns other that Victoria I have been in as the gardens are so well kept, the town is clean and 'gentle' with no hussle and bussle. The fruit looked so tasty but I did not want to buy a container of them.

From here we went to another winery which I did not like their wine and from there to the chocolate factory. It is a small family business and has the yummiest chocolate. athey have chocolate coated cherries, appricot, nuts, pretzels, Australian ginger, and it is all done in a small room where you can see the process happening. The driver never stopped eating it, he loves it and goes there at least 3-4 times a week. I won a container of mixed chocs as each person who purchases an item is given a ticket and it is drawn before the coach leaves.

THe next place was also equally great and dirrerent from all others. It was at the Wellans Canals. This is where the ships can come from as far away as the Atlantic Ocean and use all the inland water ways to come to Canada a distance of some 1300 miles. It is used by Russia and Europe for transporting barley and wheat. It takes 8 hours for the ships to pass through the locks from one end to the other and was constructed so ships could by pass Niagara and still continue using the waterways. Prior to the canals, the 'falls' stopped them coming past there. the difference between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario is 326 ft. It takes 8 locks to get the ships up or down. It made more meaning to the song I realy like and have taught many choirs to sing "Erie Canal"

GMH also has a plant on the canal and used this for transporting goods.

We finally arrived back in Niagara at 7pm. I collected my case and went upto the bus depot to catch my 8.30pm back to Toronto. I was so happy that on the way back into Niagara, we went through the "town" and there were shopping centers, houses and a whole other side I had not seen as it was quite a long way from where the Hi was. One of the roads into the town is just motel after motel.

As I was walking past the Hard Rock Cafe after arriving in Toronto, there was a free movie on in the square. The Alien. Still have not watched it.

They do a fair amount of free movies and concerts here in Canada which is lovely to see.

It had been a wonderful day packed full of interesting places, good wine, chocolates,and a tasty chinese lunch.

It had also been very hot today with the temperature at 38 degrees and with the humidity it was the equalivant of 49 degrees. Bit warm. Tomorrow is said to be the same and unseasonally hot.

Won't bore you anymore other than to say take care and love to you all.

1 Aug 2006

Show all 10 photos