Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Beautiful, Historic Niagara-on-the-Lake

Two weeks ago I returned from a family vacation to Niagara Falls. I had hoped to be inspired while there (I’ve had “blog-block”), and I wasn’t disappointed! We went on a day trip to Niagara-on-the-Lake, a quaint little town about 45 minutes from downtown N.F.

157Here’s my daughter, Ava, playing with her toes on the car ride to Niagara-on-the-Lake.

The drive to NOTL is just as beautiful, if you’re lucky enough to be a passenger and not the driver, winding roads with the water on one side and gorgeous B&Bs and carefully maintained old homes on the other. I tried to take pictures as we were driving, but it didn’t work.

I found a few beauties on MLS:

MLS® 20107616

This one is 150 years old!

The main street was full of cute little shops, most with beautiful architecture and lots of charm.166 I took this shot because I loved the windows…so pretty!

We came across an old apothocary which has been converted into a museum. According to their website (which is SO interesting!):

The Niagara Apothecary
is an authentic museum restoration of a 1869 pharmacy as part of a practice that operated in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, from 1820 to 1964.

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Beautiful black walnut and butternut fixtures.

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Faithful restoration of the original gaslights.

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The Leech Jar - This 19th century white glazed china leech container is the hands-down favourite among the Niagara Apothecary artifacts. It is about 0.5 m (20 inches) tall with a perforated lid to assure a suitable degree of ventilation for the leeches. Leeches were sold to facilitate blood letting therapies now largely outmoded. www.niagaraapothocary.ca

www.niagaraapothocary.ca

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Lovely mouldings.

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165 The Prince of Wales Hotel

You can’t tell from this picture, but this is one loooong hotel! I don’t even know how many blocks it stretched! Check out this link for an idea of it’s size : http://www.niagaraonthelake.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=8&pos=12#

Unfortunately we didn’t go inside (too busy shopping!), but had I known what was in there, I would have made more of an effort.

On the Vintage Hotels website, there’s a brief history of the hotel and all it’s Victorian splendour.

All in all, we had a great trip and I think my “blog-block” is mostly resolved. Maybe I just needed a vacation!

Thanks for listening!

Sarah

3 comments:

  1. Looks and sounds like you had a great trip!! :-) And Ava seemed to have enjoyed her toes along the way ;-)

    Good to hear that your blog block is gone :-) Between your vacation and getting your new laptop, I bet you'll be blogging like a madwoman!! :-)

    Thanks for the tip about the silver beaded curtain -- I'm going to check it out :-)

    Kelly

    P.S. Ewwwww, leeches!!!!

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  2. Ohhhhhh those buildings, what CHARM! Thank you Sarah for sharing an excerpt of your trip.

    Your daughter is absolutely beautiful!
    -Brenda-

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  3. Thanks, Brenda!

    I'm glad you both enjoyed the post!

    Sarah

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