Trip To Niagara Falls
Today was the day we had decided to take off completely, rent a car and head to Niagara Falls. I’d never been there and Ali had only been there once briefly. We rented a car from Budget up on College and Spadina, which is more than reasonable walking distance from the Novotel Downtown. However, this gave us the opportunity to try out Toronto’s subway, which neither of us had ever used. Unlike the stories I’d heard, I found the transit staff to be friendly and the stations and trains clean. I forgot to take pictures, though that gives me an excuse to ride the subway again next time I head to YYZ. Thanks to Google Maps, navigating from Budget to Niagara Falls was easy, though all I really needed was the directions from Budget to Queen Elizabeth Way; after that, it was smooth sailing. Of course, even the most complex trips are made easy with Google Maps.
Niagara Falls is an absolute gongshow, with bus load after bus load of traffic and tourist attractions that you would expect at somewhere like Disneyland. But the actual falls were amazing, and the mist produced was a welcome relief to the extreme heat Southern Ontario was facing. After admiring the Falls for a while we headed to a nearby patio where we could continue to admire Niagara Falls while munching on some finger food and drinking some wine.
When then headed to Niagara-on-the-Lake, which is only a short drive from the Falls, in order to check out the vineyards and grab a nice meal. On the way we drove by the Niagara District Airport, which is so close to the Wineries that I think I can convince Ali that a cross Canada trip would be worth it, just to visit again. Just past the airport is a hige sign on the left for Peller Estates, which for some reason caught our eye. We arrived at Niagara with no real plans and having done no research whatsoever, so Peller, as far as we were concerned at that point, was no different that any other winery. We were just looking for a winery to tour.
Peller Estates was an amazing winery tour. If you are only planning to do a couple of tours while you’re in the region, make sure your trip includes a visit to Peller Estates. The staff there are very knowledgeable, the wines are amazing and the grounds are beautiful. Peller also has a nice looking restaurant on site, though Ali decided that she wanted to go to town instead (which as it turns out was a mistake). I’m not sure if all winery tours offer a similar experience since we only visited Peller, but it would be very hard to top Peller. If you do visit Peller, be sure to ask for Kevin, who helped us through our tasting and made the afternoon much more than simply sipping a few wines.
Mon, 13 Jun 2005 05:10 Posted in General
