A night in Niagara on the Lake...

As part of my Birthday present, we left Paige and Rose behind with Grandma and Grandpa while we went to Niagara on the Lake for an overnight getaway.  It was basically the first time we had gone out together since Rose was born.  So it was a much needed escape!

We stayed right in the heart of it all at the Prince of Wales hotel. I think it was built in 1862?

As soon as we arrived we headed to the spa at the hotel for massages.  I snapped a camera pic of the sink in the changeroom...it depicted the Sleeping Beauty story around the edges.  

More pictures in the lobby:

The hotel from the outside.  The hotel offers afternoon tea every day with scones, sandwiches and all of that, but we didn't do that this trip.  It's on the agenda for next year. 

After our massages we headed to a pub for lunch, and then wandered and shopped around town for a bit.  We checked in mid afternoon and got ready for our dinner and scheduled wine tasting out at Peller Estates. The hotel had a complimentary shuttle to take us to the winery.  The wine tasting and tour was about 45 minutes.  We sampled a few wines right on a table in the vineyard while the sun was setting.  Amazing. 

We then had time to kill before our dinner reservations so we purchased a few wines in the shop and sampled a few more wines.  We tasted about 7 wines, but I really only had about 2 sips of each and dumped the rest out. 

At dinner we could either select the "a la carte" menu, or the "chef's table dinner series".  We chose the chef's special which was a 5 course meal.  Every course was a surprise and they told you what it was as it was set down in front of you.  We had an oyster with an ice wine grape to start (not part of the 5 courses).  this was followed by a smoked salmon and candied beet salad, cauliflower soup with goat cheese, lobster linguini, Ontario rib eye, and then a bluberry cake mousse thing for dessert.  Mike chose the menu with the wine pairings for each course.  I decided to forgo the wine pairings and sipped on 1 glass of white wine for the entire 3 hour meal.  It was chilly outside as the sun set and we were on the patio so my wine was cold, along with us.  I was too stubborn to go in as it was probably the last outdoor meal of the year. 

The next day we had tickets to "My Fair Lady" at the Shaw festival in the afternoon.  We decided to maximize our hotel room time, so we ordered a breakfast room service of coffee and pancakes, and watched a movie..."Bad Teacher".  So nice to relax in the morning like that! Afterwards we had to check out, so we wandered around town again and had a light lunch.  Some people we met on the way home from the winery told us about some silly complimentary photos they were doing at the theatre so we made sure to arrive with enough time. 

There was a table with silly hats and props, and they printed this photo out right away for us. 

The show was incredible.  We have really lucked out over the years in picking really phenomenal shows.  I want to make it a tradition to go back every year to see a show and spend a night there....that is if grandma and Grandpa are willing!  It was a bit easier with Rose being small for Maura to stay at our house (grandpa went home to sleep at night) while we were gone.  Eventually Paige and Rose can probably stay at their house.

So nice to just get away for a bit.  We really maximized our time with an activity (massages) right at the beginning of the trip, and then something right at the end (the show).  Next year we'll add an afternoon tea, as I was saying, and probably bring running shoes so we can go for a walk along the lake.