Nee's visit part 2
My sis has gone, they left for New York on Wednesday and I went back to work. Speaking of, they asked to extend my contract by a week (to the 19th) and I said yes. I didn't know how to say no, and we could do with a bit more money since I took so many days off, but the work is so brain-dead I'm regretting it already. I'm so looking forward to having a week off!
We had a storm a week ago Friday, some terrible winds, not much snow, but gusts of up to 75 kays and bad accidents on the road. So we didn't end up going to Niagara Falls that day. We had brunch with Adam's parents on Saturday morning and then drove down through Niagara-on-the-Lake to the Falls. Niagara-on-the-Lake was new for both me and Adam, not to mention Nee, so it was a nice treat. It's a very pretty town, full of wineries, with an old historic town that's very well cared for. Naturally, we stopped at a couple of wineries, including this one which I think was called Coyote's Run Winery:
The snow was thick and white and Nee and I had a snowball fight and I showed her the individual snowflakes that are so pretty but melt before you can hope to photograph them. We also stopped at one called Pilliteri Estates Winery, and then we went on to the historical town bit. They had a great fudge place, which of course we stopped at, and a Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory (we're quite a long way away from the Rockies but) where they make crazy toffee apples that don't look anything like the toffee apples I grew up with:
We will definitely have to go back in spring/summer! Yes, more winery visits!!
We took the Niagara Parkway, a road that follows the Niagara River down. There were some pretty nice houses along it, and on the other side of the river is America. (Left is Canada, right is USA)
The last - and only - time I visited Niagara Falls was in summer a few years ago when my friend Stacey was staying with us. It was pretty spectacular. Seeing it in winter was pretty spiffy too, and just as dramatic:
The US side isn't as impressive, but we get a good view of that too:
The hideous casinos and hotels they built overlooking the Falls are monstrous, and really spoil it all - the town of Niagara Falls, which we drove through to get to the falls themselves, was hideously tacky and ugly and rundown-looking. Very different from Niagara-on-the-Lake.
On Tuesday I took Nee and Iestyn through posh Yorkville and the equally posh Annex neighbourhood, up to Casa Loma. It's a big, sprawling, bizarre castle on the hill overlooking the city that was built as a private residence. It's especially weird because it has a slight tacky, hunting-lodge vibe inside. I went there with Adam a few years ago, in autumn, and it wasn't much different seeing it in winter - summer is when I'd like to revisit it, it apparently has a lovely garden that time of year. It's a very bizarre and interesting place, an eyesore that has become more eccentric with age and thus more acceptable.
The City owns it - when Sir Henry Pellatt built it - his dream castle - back in the early 20th century, he and his wife Lady Mary only got to live in it for about ten years before lack of money drove them out, the bank went bankrupt and the City seized the castle because he hadn't been paying his taxes and couldn't afford it anyway. Sir Henry brought electricity to Toronto, and Casa Loma was one of the first places built with electricity installed throughout - as well as proper plumbing with hot water and nearly 60 telephones! The stables and garage are on a separate piece of land, down a side street (connected by an underground tunnel) and looks like a miniature red castle.
Can you see the unicorn at the top there? There's a lion on the other side:
The ceiling of the library, a vast empty room that was pretty bloody impressive when it was furnished:
The glass conservatory was having renovations so it was all closed off, sadly. A lot of the rooms are locked up, and many of them are empty - the Pellatt's had to sell their furniture at auction to try and raise money, which didn't really work - but rooms like his study, a few drawing/sitting rooms, guest rooms, a servant's room and Sir Henry and Lady Mary's rooms are furnished:
Up one of two secret stairwells hidden behind wood panelling in Sir Henry's study - this one goes up to the second floor; the other goes down to the basement.
If you're not afraid of steep stairs, you can go up into the roof, through the rafters and up and up and up into the very top of one of the turrets...
Nee and Iestyn looking through the arrow-slits. It's a castle - gotta have arrow-slits!
The walls are covered with decades of graffiti, which isn't interesting to read but is fascinating in its own way:
The view: looking south to the CN Tower and Lake Ontario:
The rafters of the turret, once you're at the actual top:
It took three years to build and was never finished before Sir Henry ran out of money. It also blew its $350,000 budget big-time - and that's a lot of money for the 1920s! It ended up at I think it was over 3 million. No wonder he went bankrupt!
We had a storm a week ago Friday, some terrible winds, not much snow, but gusts of up to 75 kays and bad accidents on the road. So we didn't end up going to Niagara Falls that day. We had brunch with Adam's parents on Saturday morning and then drove down through Niagara-on-the-Lake to the Falls. Niagara-on-the-Lake was new for both me and Adam, not to mention Nee, so it was a nice treat. It's a very pretty town, full of wineries, with an old historic town that's very well cared for. Naturally, we stopped at a couple of wineries, including this one which I think was called Coyote's Run Winery:
The snow was thick and white and Nee and I had a snowball fight and I showed her the individual snowflakes that are so pretty but melt before you can hope to photograph them. We also stopped at one called Pilliteri Estates Winery, and then we went on to the historical town bit. They had a great fudge place, which of course we stopped at, and a Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory (we're quite a long way away from the Rockies but) where they make crazy toffee apples that don't look anything like the toffee apples I grew up with:
We will definitely have to go back in spring/summer! Yes, more winery visits!!
We took the Niagara Parkway, a road that follows the Niagara River down. There were some pretty nice houses along it, and on the other side of the river is America. (Left is Canada, right is USA)
The last - and only - time I visited Niagara Falls was in summer a few years ago when my friend Stacey was staying with us. It was pretty spectacular. Seeing it in winter was pretty spiffy too, and just as dramatic:
The US side isn't as impressive, but we get a good view of that too:
The hideous casinos and hotels they built overlooking the Falls are monstrous, and really spoil it all - the town of Niagara Falls, which we drove through to get to the falls themselves, was hideously tacky and ugly and rundown-looking. Very different from Niagara-on-the-Lake.
On Tuesday I took Nee and Iestyn through posh Yorkville and the equally posh Annex neighbourhood, up to Casa Loma. It's a big, sprawling, bizarre castle on the hill overlooking the city that was built as a private residence. It's especially weird because it has a slight tacky, hunting-lodge vibe inside. I went there with Adam a few years ago, in autumn, and it wasn't much different seeing it in winter - summer is when I'd like to revisit it, it apparently has a lovely garden that time of year. It's a very bizarre and interesting place, an eyesore that has become more eccentric with age and thus more acceptable.
The City owns it - when Sir Henry Pellatt built it - his dream castle - back in the early 20th century, he and his wife Lady Mary only got to live in it for about ten years before lack of money drove them out, the bank went bankrupt and the City seized the castle because he hadn't been paying his taxes and couldn't afford it anyway. Sir Henry brought electricity to Toronto, and Casa Loma was one of the first places built with electricity installed throughout - as well as proper plumbing with hot water and nearly 60 telephones! The stables and garage are on a separate piece of land, down a side street (connected by an underground tunnel) and looks like a miniature red castle.
Can you see the unicorn at the top there? There's a lion on the other side:
The ceiling of the library, a vast empty room that was pretty bloody impressive when it was furnished:
The glass conservatory was having renovations so it was all closed off, sadly. A lot of the rooms are locked up, and many of them are empty - the Pellatt's had to sell their furniture at auction to try and raise money, which didn't really work - but rooms like his study, a few drawing/sitting rooms, guest rooms, a servant's room and Sir Henry and Lady Mary's rooms are furnished:
Up one of two secret stairwells hidden behind wood panelling in Sir Henry's study - this one goes up to the second floor; the other goes down to the basement.
If you're not afraid of steep stairs, you can go up into the roof, through the rafters and up and up and up into the very top of one of the turrets...
Nee and Iestyn looking through the arrow-slits. It's a castle - gotta have arrow-slits!
The walls are covered with decades of graffiti, which isn't interesting to read but is fascinating in its own way:
The view: looking south to the CN Tower and Lake Ontario:
The rafters of the turret, once you're at the actual top:
It took three years to build and was never finished before Sir Henry ran out of money. It also blew its $350,000 budget big-time - and that's a lot of money for the 1920s! It ended up at I think it was over 3 million. No wonder he went bankrupt!