Day 7
Our day starts out a little rough. Our
colds are still plaguing us a little in the form of deeply settled,
thick mucus in the lungs and sinus. I am doing steam inhalations with
a little Lavender EO (the only oil I brought) to help break it up. We
watch the Twilight Zone on TV as we get ready to head out.
We're on Rt. 5 this morning, which is
such a nice drive. Within a few minutes we are in NY, and the “Sea
Trail” that they have along the Lake is wonderful. The only ones on
the road, we ride past miles of vineyards, beautiful little farms,
old lake side cottage, brand new gated mansion-cottages all the way
from around Orchard Beach PA to Silver Creek NY. I really needed a
nice morning like this.
After Silver Creek Rt. 5 gets a little
bigger as we approach Buffalo. We ride through the Seneca Nation,
with their casinos and very own line of cigarettes. Our westerly
approach to Buffalo allows us a great view of the giant windmills
(like we saw out west) that line their lake shore. The route we're on
takes us over the coolest “sky ways” and bridges. I felt like we
were on a ride at an amusement park.
For lunch we stop at Niagara Falls.
Being July 4th today, there was no shortage of people in
matching patriotically themed outfits and foreigners with American
flag do-rags. Niagara Falls puts out a mist like you wouldn't
believe. On a hot day like this, our picnic under a shady tree with
mist occasionally blowing over is ideal. After lunch we strolled
around a bit and then hit the road. We are so excited to get to
Canada!
The way in to Canada from Niagara Falls
is over a bridge; the Rainbow Bridge to be exact. It is a slow moving
line that is right out in the sun. This means nothing to all the
folks in their air conditioning with their children happily watching
movies...but we were cooking.
In a nutshell, our entry in to Canada
took just a tad longer than most of the other folks. Here's a riddle:
What do the Pirate and the Mermaid have in common with an epileptic?
Seizure.
Ever so slightly lighter that when we
crossed the Rainbow Bridge, we are now freely zooming along the QEW
to Toronto. It's unbelievably hot, even at 100 km/h. We are in
traffic 3 lanes deep, bumper to bumper for all of the 118 km to
Toronto. Rush hour in Ontario is no joke.
Toronto is hot and busy, and I'm not
into it. The hotel turns out to be a bit of an oasis. We're at the
Tompkins Toronto, a 4 star hotel in the heart of Toronto's fashion
district. We “pricelined” this room for what we paid to stay in a
cinder block shit hole in Wyoming. We're psyched. The bathroom alone
is amazing; white marble everything with heated floors and
complementary bath products with mermaids on them!
However, the intermittent shittiness to
our day is not over. The Girl has a dead battery. While we are
certainly thankful that she waited until we were at our hotel to do
this, it's still going to be a bit of a pain. Since we're at the
fancy-shmancy hotel, I put the concierge on it. I would have happily
searched out a parts store myself on the internet, but this hotel
charges $15 per 24 hours to use their Wi-Fi, cheap bastards.
While she's doing that, we go and have
a celebratory meal in one of the restaurants in the hotel. They
almost do not let us in since we're wearing flip flops. I told them
that the Jimmy Choos just didn't fit on the motorcycle. The thing is,
we're spoiled. We can walk into world class restaurants in Asheville
with carrharts and t-shirts on, and have a better meal than we are
having in this joint.
This “joint” is called Scarpetta,
and it's not so bad once we are seated. Our server is instantly
interested in our little adventure, and gives us lots of tips on
where to go and what to see. He brings us our martinis (Bombay, extra
dry, up with olives) with a bread basket that could have been a meal
in itself. Four kinds of bread, with a butter/mascarpone spread, an
eggplant spread and lemon infused olive oil. From there, we go with
the Salumi, a platter of house made charcuterie including duck pate,
mortadello and testa; truly amazing. Next we had Cavatelli with
rabbit and porcini ragout. The server chose a wine for us that was
spot on with that meal. I wish I had written it down. As we dine, the
restaurant begins to fill with patrons dressed more to the hostess's
liking; women in extra high heels in designer dresses, guys in skinny
jeans and cotton dress shirts. Sort of an aging women/ young gay men
crowd. And us. Dessert is not so great. It's got a fancy description,
but if I were blindfolded while eating it, here's what it tasted
like: a shortbread crust which had gotten soggy due to the “orange
suprise” jello salad filling, which all together tasted like fruity
pebbles.
The highlight of the meal was whiskey.
I keep forgetting that Canada is known for making whiskey! We have a
glass of the Wiser's Deluxe, which is so buttery and good, I'm sure
we'll get a bottle if we ever get out of here.
After dinner we stroll around the block
and check out the neighborhood. I'm disappointed that I didn't
venture out earlier, even though it was hot, to find some of these
better looking restaurants. They look like places where locals would
be. But, that's a dilemma, because in my own tourist-ridden town, I
do not want my favorite places sniffed out by the visiting
throngs.
Alas, it's been a long day, and all I
want to do is pass out and hope that we get the Girl a battery
tomorrow.
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