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| From Niagra Falls |
We got the frontview seat all day every day. You don’t need to fight the traffic and walk a long way to get a partial view of one of the falls, you just sit comfortably in the chairs with a glass of wine and snacks in hand and you take in the whole view from one side to the other. Got to go back again. Nothing beats the location. The only complaint I have is that ‘Casino’ building which sits in between the falls of our view. I wish it was not there. That building blocks everybody else’s view to the falls and I don’t think you can get the area view as well as the Hilton, it’s too close to see both in the same room.
We went to Mama Mia for an italian dinner one night.
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| From Niagra Falls |
Left the car in the hotel and walked the couple of miles to the restaurant. Souvenir stores lined the streets with very few customers. But it was nice to walk pass the Imax theater and other shops for the up close experience. The food is so so, we both had spaghetti and meat sauce. But the waitress was very friendly. After dinner, we went down Cliffton Hills through the commercial district with all the shops to the falls.
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| From Niagra Falls |
And made a big loop back to the hotel. Took lots and lots of pictures, the camera did a wonderful job of it. And there were very few visitors this time of the year in the middle of the week. Very nice to stroll around and not be pushed. The climb back to the hotel was a bit steep, but we pass the rotating restaurant on the way (can’t remember the name of it right now, senior moment). It used to be the only thing around that’s high and gives you a good view of the falls. Now there are so many hotels around it that offers even better view. Amazing.
We were trying imagine how the first indians felt and what they saw when they discovered Niagra Falls the first time. And how a big shock it would have been if they travelled down the Niagra river on a canoe and saw the falls coming at them.
Spent a day at Niagra on the Lakes and visited lots of wineries. Leo had to find Picaard the peanut store for his chip nuts. All the way in and before we stopped at any winery, the chipnuts was the only thing on his mind. We finally stopped at one of the wineries and asked for direction. We actually missed it coming in on the main drag. He was finally satisfied and settled down to visit the wineries. We were looking for the Cab Franc from Hillebrand
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| From Niagra Falls |
but they were out of stock this year already. What a bummer. I liked it so much from the Waterfront restaurant in Hilton I wanted to get some for home. Have to wait till next year now. But Leo got the merlot from Konzelmann that he liked.
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| From Niagra Falls |
Their ice wine is also superb. Too bad I was hesitant to get it because of the price $40 for a 200ml bottle. But it is really good. We did however get some ice wine down the road and coughed up the $38 for a bottle in the end. And it’s not bad either.
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| From Niagra Falls |
We took a trip up to Toronto for Taiwanese food one day.
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| From Toronto |
Leo discovered 407 toll road
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| From Toronto |
and was very happy to avoid the QEW into Toronto. He said he’s happy to pay whatever tolls it charges. Canada has built this toll road without ticket booth, everything is handled electronically. There are cameras to take a picture of your license plate at each on and off ramp to the high way. And they send you the bills for the toll. How nice! You don’t need to slow down to get the ticket and pay the toll, you just get on and go. No traffic build up at either end. Genius. If only the toll is a bit lower. The waiter at the Hilton’s Blue Martini Lounge told us it’s between $25 to $50 Canadian dollars for the whole way. We’ll find out.
We went to 369 and Wei’s.
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| From Toronto |
369 is very good with the Shanghai style dim sum. We had the beef noodle soup and ordered a couple of steamed buns and pot stickers. And lots of to go orders. Then we went to Wei’s Taiwanese restaurant.
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| From Toronto |
They have a very nice web presence which was why I picked them but the restaurant is very tiny basically a take out place. It was a little disappointing. The menu is also limited and they didn’t have one of the major item on the menu that day, the Taiwanese meat ball. I got my smelly tofu though. Everything else is ok but not great. Got to talk to Daniel and find out the good Taiwanese restaurants in Toronto next time.
We decided we will go back again to do the same thing, watching the falls from our room, winery trip and Toronto. Maybe even spend a day in Toronto so we don’t need to do a lot of driving in one day. All in all, it was a very nice vacation.