New Year's Weekend in Canada
30 December 2017
After a rush out of work, a long drive up to Ontario, and a late-night snack at the UFO-themed Flying Saucer diner before we settled into the hotel... we awoke to a crisp morning and blanket of freshly fallen snow. Welcome to Canada!
Niagara-on-the-Lake (NotL) is a spot we find ourselves coming back to frequently. It is relatively close to home as far as international travel goes, only twenty minutes or so from Niagara Falls, and it is an easy drive from Philadelphia. Take one highway north and turn left at Syracuse. The town is truly a beautiful place, and it has all the things I love about cute, small towns. Old Victorian houses? Check. Quaint main street for a perfect stroll? Check. Nice parks, special events, B&Bs, great restaurants, and lots of history? All check. And add to all that the vineyards and wineries, Lake Ontario, and the close proximity to Niagara Falls, and you have the perfect small-town getaway.
We found this town on our first trip to Canada together, when we stopped at the falls on the way to Toronto. We absolutely love Toronto, but that’s another story for another time. After we saw the falls and the theme park of a town that surrounds them, we drove up to NotL to just see what was there. I heard it was a nice place, and we weren’t in a hurry, so explore we must! We were shocked upon driving along the main route towards the town, and at every intersection was a collection of signs pointing to wineries in each direction. We had no idea we had stumbled into the heart of Eastern Canada’s premier wine country. We noted NotL as a must return and have been making the trek back to the area regularly.
What we have found works best for us is to drive up immediately after work, settle into a Niagara Falls motel for the night, and then depart for NotL and the main place we will stay in the morning. That was the plan for this time as well, and just down the road from the motel was a little diner we found for breakfast. We brushed the snow from the car and headed out into the Canadian winter!
I am a big hockey fan. Overall, I don’t really follow sports, but hockey is the exception. I have played on streets, rollers, and ice all of my life; and while I do follow the Flyers as my home team, I’m a fan of the game first and foremost. So, when we found a diner owned by Hall of Famer Marcel Dionne that was right down the street from our motel, there was simply no other option for breakfast. We drove through the snow to the Blue Line Diner, which not only had a breakfast spot but a huge hockey fan shop as well! It was amazing! Memorabilia, team-branded items, jerseys, and every knick-knack you can think of - there was all that and more, everything imaginable for hockey fans. Just when you thought you’ve seen it all and the place couldn’t be any bigger, you would find another doorway to another room. That place was hockey heaven! We made our way back to the actual diner, and there greeting the guests was Marcel Dionne himself. We had hearty plates of eggs benedict and a large Canadian breakfast, served with the ultimate local staple – Canadian peameal bacon! Great start to the trip!
We drove the snowy roads through the vineyards toward the main part of town, stopping at wineries all along the way. We do still love our Canadian wines, even after our recent visit to France. There’s enough room for them all! We made a stop at Coyote Run Winery, where we got to take an in depth look at something we discussed in Alsace. At Wolfberger Winery in Eguisheim I talked about the concept of terroir, the way the soils effect the wines, even making same grapes from the exact same years into vastly different tasting wines. At Coyote Run they were featuring two different Pinot Noir wines – sampling red wines now instead of the whites we had in Eguisheim – and they offered the two wines side by side to showcase the difference the soil can make. Great learning experience!
We made a stop at Icellars Winery, which is one in the area we had not yet been. A much smaller selection of wines than other places, they presented their quality over the quantity. We are not particularly red wine people, preferring the white varietals like Riesling or Gewurztraminer... but we were heavily impressed by the reds at Icellars! Even the chardonnay, the only white on their menu, was just heaven. We bought a bottle of a red that was a little pricier than our usual, but that one was going in the cellar when we got home!
We checked in to our B&B – one we have stayed a few times before – and talked with the owners a bit as we played with their dog. The fun thing that B&Bs can provide is that little bit more of a connection than what you would get at a hotel. After a few times staying at a B&B you find a relationship with people that goes a bit beyond just the professional, that is something you are likely not going to find at a standard hotel.
We headed out through the snow to make our way down town. With the holiday coming up we didn’t know what would be open, but It's always nice to just head down there for a stroll. We picked up some Pontefract licorice from a local candy store, which is a great treat as it is hard to find in the US. I heard it was banned after someone ate too much and the muscle-relaxing properties actually stopped their heart. Not sure, but we don’t really get it at home anymore. Anyway, we enjoyed our little bit and lived to tell the tale. We also dropped into one of our favorite shops that typically sells jellies and mustards and things like that, but where we also have found some great cookbooks in past trips. This time was no different, as in the back used book section we got a pastry book from Michel Roux and a huge hardcover from Heston Blumenthal!
When in NotL, there is one place that has a very special place in our hearts, and that is where dinner would be had tonight. The Olde Angel Inn opened its doors in 1789 (under a different name I believe) and has served as a pub and five-room inn since. We had dinner and ultimately stayed there on our first time through town, and have been back frequently to stay, eat, and just hang in the pub. The Inn is said to be haunted by the ghost of one Capt. Colin Swayze of the British Army, who was killed in the pub by US soldiers during the War of 1812 as he was trying to meet up with the lady he loved one last time before leaving with the retreating army. Legend says that he is a peaceful ghost as long as the pub flies the British flag. Not sure how they figured that one out exactly, but it sounds messy. While we have never met him, hopefully that Union Jack is still flying by the front door on the day we do! Unfortunately, we aren’t likely to see him on this trip, as the rooms upstairs were booked. That’s ok though, the B&B we booked is the other place we stay while here, and that was open for us!
The pub is very British, both in stylings and the menu. I know it gets a bad rap, but we do love British food, and the Angel does it well. The fish and chips are always spot on, and the seafood pie is just fantastic! Tonight we went very traditional with a dish we haven't yet had here – Potato and Leek Soup followed by Bangers and Mash. British to the core. We kicked back after dinner and enjoyed a couple pints as we equally enjoyed the environment.
It feels so much like home.
We drove to the falls as I needed a new hat and there was a light show going on. It was so very cold. The mist that typically sprays up from the falls was freezing in mid-air and raining down as sleet. It was much too cold to get very close, but we heard it was partially frozen and beautiful... We should have made that trek.
