[Note - 4 NEW POSTS, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Journey Behind the Falls, Maid of the Mist, and the Spanish Whirlpool Aero Car. The last two are on a separate page. Scroll down to read! Click for the older posts]
It took us about half an hour to get to
Niagara-on-the- Lake which bills itself as "The Loveliest Town in Canada".
(from wikipedia's entry on "Niagara on the Lake")"
Niagara-on-the-Lake (2001 population 13,839) is a Canadian town located in Southern Ontario where the Niagara River meets Lake Ontario in the Niagara Region of the southern part of the province of Ontario. It is located across the Niagara river from Youngstown, New York, USA.
Here is the town's
official site...Another interesting thing, the town hosts the annual Shaw Festival (after novelist and playwright
George Bernard Shaw, best known, at least to me, for writing "
Pygmalion" ).
This town is known for it's well preserved 19th century homes. These are just a few of them...so cute! Sorry for the glare from our car window!
Niagara-on-the-Lake also has a strong British heritage, hence the Union Jack on this house...
This was cute...there was a group of school kids standing on the curb in front of the local theatre. They would wave to cars passing by and every time a car honked, they would cheer!
To be young again!
"Niagara-on-the-Lake...teems with historical plaques, many national and provincial, reflecting its significance in the establishment of many of the province's institutions. Among these were its first newspaper, lending library, parliament, historical museum, and governing body for the legal profession. Critical battles in the defence of Upper Canada took place here...
And I thought this next bit was cool (about the Underground railroad):
The town gave many black Americans their first taste of freedom, both as a stop on the Underground railroad for those travelling further into Upper Canada, and as a refuge in its own right. Its stock of Regency and Classical Revival buildings, considered the best in the country from the post-war of 1812 period, led the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada to designate parts of the town centre a National Historic District in 2004, the only one in Ontario..." (wikipedia
Above is the town's Cenotaph and Clock Tower. The Cenotaph commemorates those who were killed during WWI. I was standing on the side of the town's courthouse.
Click here and
here to see a few more links about the Cenotaph.
Map of the Historic District. We were on the main street, Queen St.
This plaque was by a really pretty park with swings. We relaxed there for a bit before walking around.
Some British food items in a shop window. Ooh, I see
Haggis in a can!
We stopped by this place, Taylors for a quick snack.
Inside were all kinds of savory and sweet baked goods...it smelled great in here by the way!
Man, they really like fudge here in Canada! Fudge is way too sweet for me! I tried making it before and although I found it quite easy, I just didn't like the softish texture. I can't even stomach biting into a piece of fudge. I can already feel the cavities forming on my teeth!
In addition to Cornish pasties, they also had chicken and beef pot pies (you can kind of see a few on the right)...
We got a sausage roll, which had nice and flaky crust. The sausage filling was also pretty tasty.
This was an egg custard tart - It's topped with brown sugar and cinnamon.
Bert liked this more than I did because he is a fan of soft eggy things as well as cinammon. I think I was just excited to get something British but in the end, I didn't really like the texture. Too gushy. The crust on the other hand was pretty good! Crust rules.
TC got a milkshake that had crushed cookies in it. That's my lipstick stain on the straw...
This was a Jamaican meat patty. You know, in retrospect, I realized we ate a lot of patties during this trip! From different cultures too!
I think anytime you have meat wrapped in dough and fried (not baked), it's a win win situation!
There was an Irish place next to Taylors. If I had seen this sign first before Taylors, we would have gone here. I saw that they had
Banoffee pie! I've heard of these before and remember seeing the recipe in a cookbook by the Naked Chef. Banoffee Pie is an is an English pastry-based dessert made from bananas, cream, toffee and boiled condensed milk (or dulce de leche), either on a pastry base or one made from crumbled biscuits and butter.
OMFG, that sounds so good! I've seen recipes where you boil the condensed milk in the can but you have to be careful not to overboil it so the can won't explode! Imagine cleaning all that sticky stuff from your kitchen!
As we walked up the main street, we kind of peeked into some of the stores (lots of wine places, arts & crafts type places, and souvenir shops as well as high end restaurants). This place had so many brands of maple syrup...
We ended up getting some
Ice Wine at this store...Ice wine is a type of dessert wine made from grapes that are still frozen on the vine. Lotus and Thor shared a bottle of an icewine from Germany once. It was very sweet from what I remember.
(More about Niagara-on-the-Lake):
"The surrounding region enjoys a comparatively mild climate thanks to the adjoining lakes, and excellent soil for fruit production, for which it has become one of Canada's centres. In particular, NOTL has grown into a major viticultural region. Visitors flock to dozens of nearby wineries, including those making the world's largest volumes of ice wine. The town is also known for its gardens, art galleries, antique shops, and golf courses. There are many hotels, inns, bed and breakfasts, and spas in the area." (wikipedia)
We sampled a few of their ice wines, interspersed with bits of their Brix dark chocolate. The girls at the counter told us to sip the wine first before tasting the chocolate. Then, we tasted the chocolate and had another sip of the wine; the chocolate made the wine taste different, but not dramatically so. We ended up getting a bottle before we left. That bottle later cost us $25 to check in Bert's luggage! Fuckity fk!
More fudge...
Before we left, we saw a few women enjoying a horse drawn carriage ride...
And because I know you give a shit because I do (trivia hound that I am), here are some movies which were filmed at Niagara-on-the-Lake:
- The Dead Zone (1983), which starred Christopher Walken and Martin Sheen (what a great but creepy movie!)
- Trapped in Paradise (1994), which starred Nicolas Cage
and let's not forget
- Canadian Bacon (1995), which starred the late great John Candy!
It was such a long day! Time to head back to Toronto...
