Niagara Falls and Niagara Wine Country

Trip Start Jul 01, 2008

Trip End Sep 01, 2009

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Flag of Canada Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada
Sunday, August 3, 2008

Most of our days are lazy, easy, late-breakfast, book, internet, tv, sometimes computer game - filled time... We just enjoy doing nothing! First, I missed my sewing machine, I guess it was post-traumatic disorder after all this hectic last-semester work, but now I'm just taking a break from ANY work. Well, there is a lot of paperwork and annoying bureaucracy that we have to do, but then we enjoy laziness even more eagerly feeling like we deserve it...

Once in a while we visit the town or the lake shore. On Sunday however, we did a longer trip and went to see the famous Niagara Falls. Olenka and Lubomyr accompanied us. It is really close to Toronto, only one and a half hours away. It wasn't probably the best time for a trip because of the long weekend and the overwhelming crowds, but we enjoyed our trip anyway. First we visited the Niagara Wine Country. We were surprised at how many wineries are here, and pleased to learn about the one-of-a-kind Icewine. Because of the climat and changing seasons production of icewine is the most popular here, and Niagara Icewine is the most famous icewine all over the world. And we must admit, it tastes great! What's so special about it? The grapes are harvested in winter, when the temperatures have reached at least minus 8'C. After the grapes are hand picked (often during the night!), they are pressed immediately giving minimum juice that is very concentrated. The end result is a very unique and sweet dessert wine. The Icewine bottles are smaller (375 ml) and more expensive due to specific production and huge amount of grapes needed to produce a small amount of wine. The bottles go for $70-90, but we purchased a tour at Peller Winery where we could try the Riesling Icewine along with three other wines specific to this winery. Together with few other samples at local wineries we had a marvelous and delicious morning!

Pinot Noir grapes @ Jackson&Triggs Winery

wine tasting @ Peller Estates

one day I will have a cellar like that...

a souvenir from our trip...

Olenka & Lubomyr: how is the wine?

In late afternoon we finally got to Niagara Falls.
The town itself is a small Las Vegas - type of town with a casino, tacky architecture, wax-figure museums, horror chambers, Skylon Tower with rotating restaurant, and a lot of souvenir stores and huge number of tourist attractions. Clearly, a tourist approach of keeping people in the town for longer than just couple hours...
The waterfalls themselves are on the other hand magnificent!!! Both of them, Horseshoe Falls and American Falls, are tall and wide, powerful and strong. The mist raises up hundreds of meters above the falls and the edge where the Niagara River falls down makes a very strong and memorable impression!
We love the fact that you can walk along Niagara Parkway for hundreds of meters and observe both waterfalls from different angles. We have never been to Niagra Falls on the American side, but it sure makes the difference to come see it from the Canadian side! The Fals are 57 meters tall (188 feet), and the Horseshoe Fall (the bigger one) is 670 meters (2200 feet) wide!
In late evening we enjoyed listening to live music, and watching the falls illuminated with colors of the rainbow, above which fireworks were popping with multiple colors...

Some interesting facts about the falls:

* Niagara Falls formed approximately 12 000 years ago by the Wisconsin Glaciation. The falls originally formed 7 miles further north. Erosion has caused the falls to retreat to the present day location.
* Niagara Falls was discovered in 1678 by Father Louis Hennepin on a French expedition.
* During the day approximately half of the water in the Niagara River is diverted to hydroelectric plants and never makes it to falls. At night approximately 75% of the water is diverted to produce electricity. The water re-enters Niagara River several miles downstream from the falls.
* The falls continue to erode several inches per year. If 100% of the water in the Niagara River were allowed to flow over the falls, they would be eroding naturally at the rate of 3-5 feet (1.5 meters) per year!
* The first person to attempt to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel was a 63-year-old woman. Seeking fame and fortune, schoolteacher Annie Taylor loaded herself - and her cat - up in a barrel and descended over the falls in 1901. She survived.
* Sixteen people have gone over the falls, most in barrels and other contraptions. Ten have lived to tell about it...