Oh, Canada!!!

In the event you may have been wondering where The Grandstander has been these past few days, wonder no more. Marilyn and I just spent a delightful three days and nights in Ontario Province in Canada, visiting the picturesque town of Niagara-on-the-Lake. No, we are not on the sailboat above. Rather, we are standing at the mouth of the Niagara River as it flows into Lake Ontario. Fort Niagara is seen in the distance on the American side of the river. This gives you an idea of how gorgeous the scenery is up there.

We took a departure from our normal traveling routine and stayed in a Bed & Breakfast called 627 on King. We enjoy the amenities of large hotels and resorts, so we weren't sure what to expect at a B&B, but I have to say that we found the place to be absolutely delightful, and our hosts, Maurice Tarlo and Ann Green were the best! Our room, which turned out to be the smallest of the three in the house, was clean and comfortable, the food was delicious, and the hospitality provided by Maurice and Ann was the BEST. I really can't say enough about them, but let me offer an example.

On Friday morning, I had an early tee time to play golf, so I told Maurice the night before that we would be skipping breakfast on Friday. When I left my room that morning to head for the golf course, there on the table in the hallway was a brown bag breakfast that Maurice had prepared for me with a couple of bacon sandwiches for me. He just couldn't, he told me, allow me to leave without something. This is, after all, a bed AND BREAKFAST establishment, he said. Now, I don't think that they would do that for you at a Hilton or a Holiday Inn, would they?

So, our B&B experience was a most positive one. We would stay at 627 on King again, and would recommend it to you as well if you plan a trip to NOTL. (www.627onking.com)

If you have never been to Niagara-on-the-Lake, there are a lot - a LOT - of wineries, and agriculture seems to be big up there, but tourism is the economic engine that drives the area, spurred in large part by the Shaw Festival that runs from April through October. We saw two plays while there, "The Admirable Crichton" and "A Drama at Innish." Both were comedies and both very well done, although we enjoyed "Crichton" much better than "Drama at Innish." There about eight plays performed through the summer at the Shaw Festival and all of the actors appear in more than one play during the season.

One thing, it is not inexpensive to see a play at the Shaw, which brings up a long held pet peeve of mine, and that is the cost of "the Arts." Our host, Maurice, said that he thought that the Shaw Festival is hurting themselves in the long run by not having reduced ticket prices for students, and reduced prices for "day-of-the-show" performances, and I agree. Both plays that we saw, one in the evening and one a matinee, were not sold out, and Marilyn and I, ages 58 and 59, were among the younger members of the audiences. Sports teams get crucified in the court of public opinion (it will happen to the Pirates this coming off-season, no doubt) when they raise ticket prices, but try getting a ticket to the CLO, the Public Theater, the Symphony, or even a traveling rock concert for less that sixty or seventy bucks. Not being able to take a kid to see "West Side Story" or "My Fair Lady" because it is cost prohibitive is in my mind, just as big a tragedy as not being able to afford to go to a Steelers or Penguins game.

As I alluded to earlier, I got to play golf at the Niagara-on-the-Lake Golf Club. This Club was established in 1875, and purports to be the oldest golf club in North America. How cool is that? It is a terrific nine hole layout and the setting, on the shores of Lake Ontario, is perhaps the prettiest setting for any golf course that I have ever played. I absolutely loved it, and as often happens when you are a single playing golf, I was paired up with three delightful playing partners. As the British golf writer Henry Longhurst once said, "golf takes us to beautiful places." The Niagara-on-the-Lake GC is certainly one of them.

Before we actually arrived at NOTL, we did stop in Niagara Falls. Now this is not the first time that we have seen Niagara Falls (every time I say that, I also want to say "slowly I turned...."; old fans of the Three Stooges will know what I mean here), but it is certainly worth seeing again and again.

And when you go to Niagara Falls, you must, I mean you absolutely MUST ride on the Maid of the Mist boat ride. That is Marilyn on the right as our Maid of the Mist boat prepares to ride right into Niagara Falls. Off in the distance, you

can see one of the other boats returning from its trip into the Falls. The entire trip takes about 20 minutes, you get absolutely soaked (you really need those blue disposable rain ponchos that give you), it costs $16.50 to ride it, but it is better than anything that you will ever ride in Disney World or any other modern theme park. It is fantastic!

(By the way, each Maid of the Mist boat holds 582 passengers. At $16.50 each, that comes to $9,600 per 20 minute trip. Allowing for a reduced fare for kids under 12, let's call it $8,000 per trip. Two boats making three trips per hour... Pretty nice.)

It was a nice trip, and Niagara Falls is only four hours from Pittsburgh. A great time!!