Our day begins with a quick brekkie and a wait in the lobby for the tour company to collect us from our downtown hotel.
We have decided to join a tour to Niagara falls (the Canadian side) and Niagara on the Lake. It is going to be a long day being a real tourist.
The journey is in a mini bus. Our driver is very informative along the way. 90 minutes later we arrive at souvenir buying opportunity number 1. We notice a few under-dressed people come out of the shop with warm tops and hats. I don’t think they expected it to be as cold, the sun is out but it’s minus 5 in the shade. Ten minutes more in the bus and we have passed the bridge leading us to the American side of the falls. Apparently, its popular with teenagers from the US who cannot legally get alcohol until they are 21, in Canada its 19. Then… there it is the Horseshoe Falls in all of its glory. Wow!
It has been frozen for the last month but today it flowed strong and loud. The flow of the water next to the snow, framed with icicles was a vision of nature at her finest. The “Journey behind the Falls” although only partially open due to the weather, gave us an up close and personal view of the sheer power. Once we dodged the selfie sticks we made our way to find hot drinks to thaw us out.
Niagara is an area of high rise hotels, a casino and restaurants which promises breathtaking views while enjoying delicious gourmet fare. We were limited to time and opted for the take-away coffee and a muffin option. This was our chance to try the Tim Horton chain of coffee shops.
A quick trip back on the bus and we are at Niagara on the Lake. This is a quaint town that does not have a high rise in sight, but we still shuddered in estimating the cost of real-estate. The tree lined main street was full of shops to entice you in from the cold. A local lady fashionably dressed in full length white fur, bid us good day and swaggered over to the local police and asked for a ride home. Got to love the locals.
We were once again back on the bus heading to sample local ice wine. It takes 3000 frozen grapes to make a 375 ml bottle. The grapes are harvested from the vines when the temperature plummets to minus 15 degrees C. This is usually in the middle of the night, poor workers leave their beds to harvest the grapes for one measly drop per grape. To be honest it was ok, would I stay up all night to help them pick the grapes? Well, I bought a bottle of Syrah (does that answer the question?).
So the tour is over, we are again on the bus, but this time it is rush hour, one of the major routes is closed due to a crash. It was a bit longer to get back to the sprawl of Toronto. We hopped off the bus, found some food, and headed back to the hotel. Vodka in hand, day done, we survived being a tourist.