A Quieter Day (aka Last Full Day of Vacation)

Last night I attended a production of George Bernard Shaw's play St. Joan and had, thanks to help from my theater-loving sister, a great seat.

It was an excellent and highly cerebral play, which I enjoyed very much. That said, after a very busy and active day, I found that when I was sitting there in my comfortable seat in
the dark, my body thought it was time to go to sleep, and I had a bit of a struggle staying awake at certain points. I had to clench my jaw to hold back a number of giant yawns. I didn't want people thinking I was bored. I've never had my mind so engaged and my body so determined to shut down.

Thanks to the responsiveness of my B&B hosts, my room was much cooler last night and I slept well. Speaking of my B&B, here are some pictures of the exterior as well as my 2-room suite, which is pretty fantastic. I highly recommend this place (St. Andrew's House) as the hosts are wonderful and it's just a couple blocks to the main historic area, Queen's Street.

I had planned to go on an historic walking tour of the town at 10:30 and showed up at the spot where the sign said they met, but after waiting for ten minutes, I called the number from their website (which I'd Googled--hooray smart phones!), and the woman who answered informed me that tickets have to be booked 24 hours in advance, and if I was on my own, there wouldn't have been a tour anyway. Well. Single-ism rears its ugly head! I managed to get over it and contented myself with walking around and reading the little informative plaques on various buildings and in front of statues.  Fun Fact! American troops burned this town down in the war of 1812. Whoopsy. Glad we're all friends now.

I then sat on a bench in the park to read for a bit, but when it started to rain, I decided to browse the shops instead. Given the weather, this has been quite a mellow day. Also, after a couple of days in this area, there's not a whole lot to do, and far from being a bad thing, it's actually quite nice. I realize I have an entire summer "vacation" ahead of me still, but when I'm home, I find it hard to relax. There are just too many house projects, errands, appointments, etc. So being in a pretty town with a comfortable suite and not much to do is a welcome luxury. 

And on the theme of luxury, here is what I had for lunch at a place called Treadwell, which is a farm-to-table "cuisine" kind of restaurant, but without the pretension. I was a little intimidated to go in at first, but everyone was super friendly. I ordered a sandwich that deserves some description: a lobster club, with gluten-free bread fried in duck fat layered with goat cheese, baby greens, lobster salad, and topped with smoked bacon. It tasted even better than it looks.

A little more wandering around to take in scenes like this

and then I walked back to my B&B, keeping pace with this horse carriage. I noticed, for the first time, a black poop bag hanging behind the horse's rear. This makes a lot of sense, but I wonder who has to clean that out at the end of each day. (And just like that, we go from talking about gourmet food to horse poop!).

I am now relaxing in the "living room" part of my suite to work on this blog and read, and then I will head out later for a massage. I am living the good life, for sure, and while I have saved diligently for the past year in order to do this, I have a feeling I'll need a glass of the wine I purchased when going through my credit card statement. But that's at-home stressful stuff. Right now I'm on vacation, and my theory is that if you're going to do it, do it right.

Sadly, it comes to an end tomorrow. My flight leaves Buffalo at around 3 in the afternoon, so the plan (weather permitting) is to go take one last gander at the American side of the Falls and buy some more of the best fudge I've ever had in my life (sold in the visitor's center, of all places) before heading to the airport. Then home and reality, which includes a termite treatment, getting my car serviced, and other un-fun things like that.

Meanwhile, thanks to all of you who have followed me on this journey and left comments, sent me little messages, liked my posts on Facebook, etc. It always makes me feel I am traveling with friends even though I'm solo. I also want to give a shout-out to my boyfriend, who received my many texts and photos raving about all the fun and amazing things I've been experiencing (while he continues to grind away at his work and many other responsibilities) with unfailingly supportive enthusiasm, which just goes to show what a generous-hearted and gracious man he is. Read some of his articles and give him some love here: http://ew.com/author/jeff-jensen/

And now, back to my mystery novel...