Tuesday, March 04, 2003

NOTL in March

To Niagara-on-the-Lake (NOTL) for the week-end. A gentle two hours and fifteen minutes from Toronto in the friday night traffic in our rented Pontiac Sunfire. Stayed at the Angel Inn - an old pub with passable "English" atmosphere and good live music. Four-poster bed and good off-season prices.
This is a tourist town with 13,000 inhabitants and a reputation for theatre with the Shaw Festival stretching from April to November.
NOTL is different as tight planning controls have kept out billboards and there is a pleasant lack of graffiti, all in a "heritage" setting. We visited the old railway station near the Prince of Wales Hotel and had a Creemore beer at the Moffatt Inn before dining at the Angel on Saturday night. We took breakfast (both days) at the Stagecoach on the main drag - eggs with peameal bacon and good strong coffee.
If you want a quiet break away from the strip malls and chain restaurants NOTL is the place for you. I don't know when I've enjoyed doing nothing quite so much.

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