Friday, February 02, 2007

What do Canadians do when it is the end of December, and 20 below Celcius, and you just can't warm up the igloo to a comfy temperature?
We go to visit one of the 7 Wonders of The World in its icey realm.........


ROADTRIP TO NIAGARA FALLS IN WINTER




My best friend Pauline and I took a road trip to Niagara Falls, and we stayed 2 days and played.

When winter sets in and Ontario is snowy and cold, this ole Canadian girl longs for The Falls. Niagara Falls....that is.
Niagara Falls has a particular beauty in Winter that one would not expect.
Sometimes is is so icey in the river, it make one believe they could walk across it, until they hear the thunder of The Falls. Only once (it is said) that it was cold enough long enough to freeze the falls solid. And how frozen the water is depends on the weather year to year.

This year our deep freeze only came at the end of January, so there is not much snow or ice around the falls, but what is there is a beauty to behold.

Nightime at the falls is a wonderous light show combined with nature's beauty.

We went to stay at the Embassy Suites Hotel

This is a fairly new hotel. Actually most of the hotels are now fairly new, or new, or newly renovated to be really classy.

I booked a 2 night get away package.
We got a full falls view, a jaccuzi suite, with two large rooms and 2 queen size beds.
The booking agent or front desk clerk can tell you which rooms have the best view.

Here are a few pics of our rooms













Canada is an 85% non smoking nation.
So when you travel here and you are a smoker you need to know some rules about smoking and hotels here.

At the moment Canadian hotels have smoking and non smoking rooms.
You must specify if you wish a smoking room.
Why?
Well a room is considered a residence and is an exception to the no smoking laws. Yet, the hallways of hotels, and restaurants of hotels and pools of hotels are considered work areas, and there is absolutely no smoking in them.
If you book a room, and smoke, you cannot go out in the halls and smoke, so you must make sure you secure your smoking room.

I, myself don't smoke. But Pauline does. She is the type of person who would not smoke in a hotel room, and would go out in the hall to smoke out of respect for me. But she cannot do that in Canada, and she couldn't just step outside in the fresh air from our 35th floor hotel room.

I noticed there is an excelent fan and ventilation system in the room that really made it so the bedroom area was smoke free in the smoking suite.


The Falls at Night

This is the great view of The Falls from our suite window
The icy mist hovers over the raging water while the falls are lit on the Canadian Horseshoe Falls, as well as the American Falls.

The skyscape of Niagara Falls is beautiful. The closest building to us is the new Casino (with the blue glass dome)

The Skylon Tower, the Fallsview Casino, the giant ferris wheel are landmarks of the Canadian skyscape





The falls view in the day.










In Embassy Suites hotel
Lobby



Pool



The Nineth Floor

The Nineth floor has a beautiful breakfast restaurant where the guests can get their complimentary full breakfasts.
It also has a lounge where the evening Manager's Reception occurrs with free drinks and snacks.
And for Dinner they have an exculsive The Keg restaurant for guests.

We received a $40.00 coupon for The Keg restaurant toward a dinner. So, Pauline and I went for a great meal!

Pauline had Chicken Fajita, and I had Prime Rib and Lobster!


So we played at the Casino Niagara
Here are some great pics from the Casino








I did not know they made a slot machine just for me!



Check this out! A slot machine with knitting and knitting needles on it!
Sweeeeeeeeeeet!










I snuck some pics from inside the gambling floor. That is against the rules so I couldn't use a flash and give myself away.


9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nice photos. The rooms look sleek and cool. I am happy that 85 % are non smokers in Canada. SInce I hate smoking you know.

RennyBA said...

What a lovely post and with great pictures! You know I love winter and snow and everything that goes with it. Thank you so much for taking me to Niagara Falls in the winter time too: one of the top 10 on my travel list!

Wishing you a lovely end to your week:-)

RheLynn said...

I really like the inner shots of the dome and the falls at night -- what awesome art in the hotel gambling floor!

TorAa said...

I've never been to Niagara, until I read and viewed this excellent post.Niagara is on my list of waterfalls I'll like to visit (I do not list local waterfalls, even though we have 40% of the highest in the world). The others are: Iguazu, Victoria and Angel Falls.

I'm overwhelmed by the beauty of your pictures. They are fantastic.

Wish you the best for the weekend.

PS. Did you win at your dedicated slot-machine?

Anonymous said...

OMG! You are SO lucky! Niagara Falls is a place I desperately want to visit, esp in winter!

Lynn said...

Wow I am impressed by the number of folks who want to see The Niagara Falls now! It is beautiful! I will tell you that my great room was cheap. The room was way less than $100.00 Canadian a night. $100.00 Canadian is roughly equal to 100.00 German Mark.
I have visited a great number of Canadian water falls. I will have to do some photo digging....and perhaps I will be able to post a montage of them!

Teena in Toronto said...

I love visiting Niagara Falls in the winter!

Anonymous said...

MOTHER OF INVENTION SAID:

(am changing over to new Blogger today so can't login again until it's done!)

What a fabulous journey with your friend! I have never seen the falls at night! It sounds like a really good deal. I haven't been for 26 years!
I always look in The Sun for deals..like those with the heartshaped tubs! LOL!

Anonymous said...

Lovely photos. I live in Canada and have never been to Niagara. How sad is that?