A Very Good Day (Niagara-on-the-Lake day 2)

When I got up this morning, I wouldn't have guessed this post's title would be what it is because I had a rather rough night. My room stayed stuffy and warm through the night, which made it difficult for me to go to sleep and stay asleep. As I lay there, alternating between pulling the sheet over me and kicking it off, I was having flashbacks to my old apartment, which, in summer months, transformed into a malevolent force determined to simultaneously roast and suffocate me. I started having panicky thoughts that this was going to be my experience for the next two nights as well, and I wanted to cry just a tiny bit.

But my hosts here at St. Andrew's House B&B are wonderful, and when I shared my discomfort at breakfast, John got right on it. They have a fancy automated system controlled by his phone, and the phone showed things working great, but when he examined the vent, it was non-responsive and had been closed. He called someone to fix it while I was out and about, and as of right now, my room is pleasantly cool. Hooray!


But on to less tedious matters. Before coming here, I found a bike-winery tour that sounded nice, but once I got here, I decided to ditch it and go it alone. For one thing, renting a bike was only $20, and my B&B hosts gave me a couple coupons for free tastings/tours at some local wineries. The tours were significantly more money, and I decided I wanted to go at my own pace and only visit one winery instead of several. Honestly, if I'd done tastings at three, I don't know that I could have been steady on the bike ride home--I am a terrible lightweight when it comes to alcohol.

Anyway, this is an amazing area to bike around, not only because it's beautiful, but because they have a number of terrific bike trails and lanes, the best of which runs right by the Niagara River. I had the trees and river on one side, and vineyards on the other for most of the ride, and I stopped several times to marvel and sigh and try to take it all in.

Eventually, I made it to the winery I was most interested in--Reif Estates, which is one of the most popular in this area. The sign looks blurry from its own shadow :). I arrived in time for a 45-minute winery tour, which was led by a nice young man who requested we let him know if we were going to take any photos of him so that he could adjust his mustache. It pointed up on each side, and apparently one side had a tendency to droop--this request and the reason for it made me internally giggly for most of the rest of the tour. Mustache vanity aside, the tour was extremely interesting and informative. For example, I learned the difference between red and white wines:  with white wine, the juice is immediately extracted and separated from the skins, whereas with red wine, the juice and skins are mixed together so the skin stains the juice and adds different flavors. 

This tour included three tastings, one of which was something I'd never heard of before but is very popular in this area--ice wine. And no, it's not wine you pour over ice. It's wine made from frozen grapes. It started as an accident in some country or other (I forget) where the monks forgot to pick the grapes and there was a sudden freeze. Anyway, I don't know all the mechanics or chemistry, but this results in a very intensely flavored and sweet wine. It's also a very expensive wine, since you don't get much juice out of a frozen grape. Bottles of this dessert wine run from about $80-100 each.

After that, I biked to this pretty hotel for lunch.

My hostess had recommended their restaurant, and I ate out on the patio in a pleasant shaded area not too far from the pool. I don't know what it is about swimming pools, but I don't even have to be in one to feel relaxed. Just seeing one and hearing the occasional splash makes me feel like I'm on vacation. 

I returned my bike, walked back to my B&B, drove back to the winery to pick up my purchases (yes, there were purchases), and then headed into town for an afternoon treat. Even with all the biking and walking, I can tell I'm not losing any weight (precisely measured by how comfortably I can button my pants), and it's probably because I keep indulging in things like this:

This, dear readers, is some of the best gelato I've ever had in my life, and I've had a lot of gelato--some of it in Italy! I've been here about 28 hours and I've been there twice already.

I've just showered and will be heading out in a bit to have dinner and then go see a Shaw play at the Festival Theater--St. Joan, which he wrote three years after she was cannonized by the Catholic Church. I've heard good things about it, so I'm excited to see it. Plus, it's Shaw--how can you go wrong?