A Two Play Day

The Shaw Festival presents a 1 hour play each day at 11:30AM. This year they are featuring the one acts of Noel Coward; we saw Star Chamber over the noon hour. The weather was still unsettled; one of the park workers told us that he had spotted two funnel clouds. We spent the morning window shopping; Melodee stopped at the Bark and Fitz for dog stuff and we found a few gifts at some other stores.
We spent the afternoon revisiting yesterday's wineries to make our purchases. Our first stop was the Kurtz Farm Market, a veritable wonderland of foods and food items. We enjoyed a delightful lunch and managed to hold our purchases to essentials – $115. Now at least all these dollars are Canadian, but the weak US $ really works against us. The current exchange rate is .92, but we get tagged for about a 3% charge on ATM withdrawals or credit card purchases.
Next stop was Peller Estates. We had stopped at the Peller store in town this morning so we each got free tasting flight and found a new favortist – Ice Cuvee, a refreshing sparkler much like the prosecco we both like. So much for preplanning our purchases. We walked out with 7 bottles which earned us a free decanter and 2 nice little carriers. As Melodee often tells me, the more she shops the more she saves!
Next stop was Reif Estates to get two bottles for Cliff and Letha Reif. Once I told the clerk these were gifts, I got a really nice box and descriptive piece for each bottle.
We made the short drive to Inniskillen and cashed in our second free tasting voucher, another glass of liquid gold – Vidal icewine. We managed to hold our purchases here to a single bottle of Vidal and Cabernet Franc icewines. Oh, the tab came to $170. If you're lucky, you'll get a glass of these.
Final stop was Jackson-Triggs. Gewurztraminer and Rieslings here brought our bottle count to a little less than 2 cases; we've been told this is no problem at the border.
We got back to our camp on the street parking adjoining lovely Simcoe park at about 4:45 after a stop at the library to use the wireless internet. Niagara-on-the-Lake may be the most upscale town I've seen, but there are no internet cafes here. Many of the B&B's offer wireless and while I'm somewhat brazen while traveling, I draw the line at sitting on a B&B's rocking chair to use their internet. We had time to feed and walk the dogs before heading off to Zee's for dinner.
Last year our first stop in Niagara was the festival book store. I had scanned a Fodor's guide to the Niagara region to get an idea of where to have lunch. Since the population is something like 8,000, I expected a few entries with one or two given a Fodor's choice. Instead I found several pages of listings and too many top rated to count so we had simply picked the one closest which was Zee's, directly across the street from the Festival theatre and had one our best meals of 2008. It was an easy choice to go to Zees tonite as the play, Born Yesteday, is in the Festival theatre. Once again, Zees did not disappoint. Melodee had a poutine with Nova Scotia lobster for her appetizer. I had a terrific fish and chips with Lake Ontario whitefish. Service lagged a bit and we were a bit rushed getting to the theatre for the 8PM opening. I know I said I thought Phedre would be the best play of our trip, but Born Yesterday picks up that honor and warrants its own entry.



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