Winter Weekend at the Falls

Having spent my entire life in the Greater Toronto Area, I have been to Niagara Falls more times than I can count. When family and Friends from abroad came to visit they were always eager to see either the iconic Toronto focal point, the CN Tower, or the world’s most powerful waterfall located just about an hour down the Queen Elizabeth Way.

In my adult years trips down to Niagara have been fewer and further between. Maybe I took this wonder of the world for granted, or maybe it’s one of those things you can only see so many times. However Niagara Falls is so much more than the falls themselves. The city is home to two world-class casinos, there is a plethora of fantastic restaurants, a brand new outlet mall and even the kitschy tourist trap known as Clifton Hill.

My wife and I decided to spend a night at the falls during a recent winter's weekend as a chance to see the falls in their partially frozen state (something, in my years of visiting the falls during the warm summer months, I had yet to experience).

We started things off by taking a nice stroll across Niagara Parkway, admiring  the postcard-worthy views of both the Horseshoe and American Falls in their glorious part-frozen, snowy state.

The half-frozen American Falls, with the City of Niagara Falls, NY in the background 

The majestic Canadian Horseshoe Falls

From there we headed up Clifton Hill where you will find a colourful, kitschy display of pop culture. A wax museum, a ferris wheel, an arcade and even a giant Frankenstein on top of a Burger King. We didn’t spend much time on Clifton, as it is easily one of the largest collections over-priced establishments you will find anywhere, but the uphill walk was refreshing and provided a few great photo op’s.

The kitschy charm of Clifton Hill

No shortage of activities (bring your wallet)

Ripley's Museum - A Clifton Hill institution

At the top of Clifton Hill we settled in for dinner at Antica Pizzeria, a great pizza place we try to make it to anytime we are in Niagara. Then it was off to try our luck at Fallsview Casino.

First opened in 2004, Fallsview Casino is about as close as you are going to get to a Las Vegas super-Casino in Canada. It is massive, chic and loaded with Vegas-style extras like boutique shopping, several restaurants including the classic all-you-can-eat buffet, a performing stage and much more. On a Saturday night the casino was expectedly packed and many games were hard to come by. I initially tried to get my hands on some digital roulette (prefer that over the standard table roulette which requires some etiquette), however there were no terminals available, and plenty of people circling waiting to grab anything that did open up. We decided to switch our attention to the slots and digital blackjack where we lost a combined $40, an acceptable “cost of entertainment” for non-gamblers such as ourselves.

Fallsview Casino would not be out of place on the Vegas strip.

Using our Player’s Advantage Card (the Casino’s loyalty program) we were able to earn free parking at the casino’s underground parking structure. Since our hotel was only about a 7min walk from the casino, this saved us the $20 the hotel wanted to charge us to park for the weekend. 

Niagara Falls is rightfully one of the top tourist destinations in the world, and it doesn’t have to be expensive either if you do the right research. There are plenty of mid-week hotel deals available through sites like Groupon or WagJag, and sometimes they even include meal, attraction and/or gambling incentives. The falls are beautiful all year round, the dining options plentiful, and you can always find some action at the 24-7 casinos. There is a little something for everyone in Niagara Falls. 

Here is our review of the Radisson Fallsview Hotel. An affordable and conveniently located home base for your Falls trip.

View from partial fallsview room at the Radisson

In my next post I'll get to the 2nd portion of our winter getaway weekend. Touring a winery by snow shoe!

Mike @ Palms & Pints

@palmsandpints

Quebec City - So Europe, So Close

After using up quite a bit of my 2014 vacation time with a February trip to Europe, an April trip to Florida and my final week tied up for a December destination wedding in Punta Cana, I was excited when an opportunity arose for a little weekend getaway in Old Town Quebec City. 

I knew very little about Quebec City prior to arriving, other than that it was one of the oldest cities in Canada, the only North American ‘walled city’ north of Mexico and also the holy grail of French culture in the country.
                

Upon pulling up to our hotel (Le Manoir d’Auteuil) within the fortified walls of Old Town, we were quickly immersed in shades of our European adventure a few months earlier. Old Town Quebec is split into two historic segments, Haute-Ville (or Upper Town) and Basse-Ville (or Lower Town). The Upper town sits atop a plateau overlooking the region and the majestic St. Lawrence River, with Lower Town down below. Both parts of Old Town are quite interesting, historic and worth exploring. 
  
We began our time here with a walk down Rue St. Jean, a tourist hub with a variety of restaurants and shopping. The main part of the street was blocked off from traffic which turned it into a European style pedestrian zone which was pretty cool. When we were done wandering we set in for some good pizza eats at Mille Et Une Pizzas. The thin crust pizza was excellent and on par with one of my favorite Toronto Pizza restaurants, Pizzeria Libretto. As night was approaching and we were tired from the travel we decided to settle in for some gelato and catch a (fully bilingual!) street performance in a city square in front of the historic Notre Dame de Quebec cathedral. 

Bustling Rue St. Jean

Street Performer in the square

Saturday we were up early and first headed to the Citadelle, a military fortress just outside of the walls of Old Town. While it may have been interesting to walk around the Citadelle, we were not prepared to pay $16 per person to enter its main core. We got there just in time for the ceremonial “changing of the guard” (10am) and were able to see some of the action from the common areas outside of the paid center. 

'Changing of the Guard' underway at the Citadelle

From there we ventured to the neighboring Plains of Abraham. A formal battle site turned public parkland. We strolled across some of the many different paths weaving through the rolling hills. There isn’t all that much to see here, but a visit to the south edge of the park which overlooks the St. Lawrence is a must. 

Finding our way at the Plains of Abraham

After taking in the views we decided to head down a massive wooden staircase to Lower Town. These stairs were unlike anything I had been on before and seemed to go forever. If you are nervous about heights then I would definitely avoid them as they are quite steep and imposing. Once we (finally) reached Lower Town we were able to walk alongside the river bed with some nice views, cool old houses and plenty of other walkers, runners and cyclists. We eventually reached Rue du Petit Champlain, a narrow pedestrian zone street with plenty of souvenir and boutique shopping along with a slew of restaurants. This was a charming area, if you can get past the thick crowds. Upon reaching the end we choose to skip the pay-per-ride funicular back to Upper Town and instead took another set of lengthy, however less imposing, stairs back to the top. 

Cool looking homes along the river-front

View of Rue Petit Champlain

Our next stop back in Upper Town was the centerpiece of Quebec City architecture, the Chateau Frontenac Hotel. This towering giant of a building can be seen from all over the city and we spent some quality time walking around it’s perimeter as well as the surrounding area known as the Dufferin Terrace. We were able to enter the hotel and explore the lobby areas, but felt the views from outside were much more impressive. 

  

The beautiful Chateau Frontenac

View of the St. Lawrence River from the Dufferin Terrace

While in that area we stopped for lunch at Le Chic Shack. A trendy little quick-service spot which specializes in burgers and poutine. We were impressed with the food although felt it was a bit overpriced for a quick lunch. Afterwards we headed back to Rue St. Jean and enjoyed some sunshine on a patio with a beer. While the beer and people-watching were nice, the service was terrible so we quickly left and had a 2^nd drink on our hotel’s patio. 

Smoked meat poutine from Le Chic Shack

Ice cold Boreale on Rue St. Jean

Dinner that night was spent at La Pizzalo, the top-rated Pizza spot in the city. While the pizza was unique and service excellent, we agreed that their signature cheese overflow was a little much for our tastes and made their paper-thin crusts almost disappear. 

Our final evening saw us grabbing a drink on Rue Grand Allee, a hotspot of nightlife with several bars/restaurants in a row all with jam-packed front-facing patios and music pumping. Definitely the spot to be if you’re looking to party in Quebec City.

Mike @ Palms & Pints 
@palmsandpints