Tuesday 29 April 2025--I drove a lot of bus trips to Niagara Falls in my career. It was common on a day of touring the region to drop the passengers off for a couple of hours in Niagara-on-the-Lake. I always thought I'd like to stay there for a few nights. Here I am.

Unfortunately, I don't really tour like I used to--it's rare that I have a full active day out. On a morning after two relatively long travel days, with unsettled weather outside, I have no qualms about going back to bed after breakfast.

I get out mid-day and poke around town, with an eye out for a cup of coffee to get me going. Settle on Starbucks, like Irish pubs an acceptable fallback when all else fails. It's warm but very blustery as I stroll down to the lakeshore at the end of Queen Street, possible thunderstorms in the forecast. Past the commercial district, there are residential blocks. There is certainly no shortage of upscale housing in town, but the properties along here are particularly impressive, in a typically understated Canadian way.

Down at the lakefront, there is no view of Toronto today, as the wind is whipping up a mist over the water. I make my way back along the shoreline, past the golf course and the remains of Fort Mississauga. This was built to replace Fort George, destroyed by the Americans during the War of 1812. Bricks from the ravaged town went into the new fort, as well as material from a lighthouse which had stood on the spot. I arrive shortly at Queens Royal Park, where I rest a bit on a bench. The gusting wind blows a large branch off a tree about fifty feet away from where I sit. Time to get back indoors.

Dinner and pints this evening in the Olde Angel Inn. A plaque by the door proclaims it "probably the best pub in the world." That seems a rather un-Canadian bit of boasting. I do like the place...I'll give it "possibly the best pub in Niagara-on-the-Lake." There are rooms here, cheaper than most in town, and I almost decided to book one. The drawbacks were a lack of parking, and the fact that most of the rooms are over the bar. The Old Bank House came up with a good deal at the right moment, with a parking space.

My Red Sox happen to be in Toronto this evening. I catch the start of the game on the Angel's TV, but of course must defer to the hockey fans in the house, who want to watch the Maple Leafs in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. It's a bad night for Toronto fans, as the Leafs get pasted by the Ottawa Senators, 4-0, and the Sox thrash the Jays, 10-2.