'BERRIES IN A BARREL--Part III

The story of our 2006 trip to Niagara Falls continues....

The Oakes Hotel

Our kindly Canuck cabbie dropped us off at the hotel with good wishes, a promise to pick us up in three days and a recommendation that we try a good German restaurant a couple of streets over. We would ultimately find the Oakes Hotel to be a good investment of our money.

The Oaks Hotel appears behind the Applebees sign.

Unlike the more expensive hotels we reviewed online, this one was closer to the Falls. When we asked the Asian clerk about checking in, however, she told us we’d have to wait three hours, because the cleaning crew hadn’t gotten around to preparing our room yet. [Groan!]

We negotiated to get them to sentinel our luggage, allowing us to go get something to eat while we waited. On discussion, we decided to take our cabbie’s recommendation and try that German restaurant, called the Happy Wanderer. Overall, good atmosphere that helped us de-stress from the trip. Danke shön, all of you!

Duty Free for Everyone But You, Eh?

After we ate and were finally able to check into our room, we went to the next important item on our agenda…beer! Yes, we always like to have some beer, wine or spirits in the room with us on a good vacation. After asking around, we learned that there was a “duty free” shop up the street a short walk. We walked all around it for 20 minutes before noticing the sign in 10-foot letters that gave its name. If it had been an elephant, it would have crunched our bones into white paste while we looked around wondering where it was…and why we felt our bones being crunched into white paste. Inside, we found exactly what we were seeking…but they wouldn’t let us buy anything because we hadn’t been in Canada for 24 hours yet. Doh!! Unfortunately, there was only one other store that would sell to us, and we didn’t think to ask where it was. It also had already closed. We were out of luck for the night. *Arrrg!!*

Sampling Canadian Hooters

So our solution was to have a pitcher of beer and some chicken wings at the local Hooters restaurant. Our server was a blond young woman named “Terri,” who helped us make the difficult decision of what kind of beer to purchase. You see, we had no familiarity with Canadian beers and didn’t want to purchase an entire pitcher of something that would taste like caribou urine. Terri steered us in the right direction, however, and we found a suitable brew to be ordered in pitcher form.

Their wings, incidentally, were quite different in flavor to our ones at home - and fantastic. Toward the end of our meal and pitcher, the televisions around the room suddenly got louder and we realized we’d stumbled into the beginning of the true Canadian past time. Hockey. Yes, Canadians are as devoted to the religion of hockey as Kentuckians are devoted to the religion of basketball. Rippling through the “guy-Force,” I could feel the emanations of testosterone rising. Jennifer was fascinated by the introduction of the game. It was between teams from Canada and the United States; they had an entertainer who sang “O Canada,” followed immediately by the “Star Spangled Banner.” Hearing the national anthem of another country, then one’s own on foreign soil, really made Jennifer realize that we weren’t at home any more. Or maybe it was just the beer.

Before we left, we asked Terri for a picture for our record (and ultimately, this narrative). She not only agreed, but also fetched three other “Hooters girls” to pose for us. Let’s hear it for Canadian hospitality. And nice Canucks!

Thomas confidently stands surrounded by a harem of Hooters Girls. That's Terri to his immediate right. What nice Canucks!

$47 for a Bottle of Wine? WTF!?

Well, the title says it all.

Finishing up our dinner, Jennifer and I went back to our room at the Oakes Hotel. After taking advantage of the Jacuzzi that was big enough for Jennifer, me and Terri, the Hooters girl (*chuckle*), we paid the $12 for a pay-per-view movie called Annapolis (2006) and ordered a bottle of wine from room service. Yep, it really did cost $47!! We savored it the best we could, realizing that we could have purchased nearly a month’s supply for that price back home. I swear I could hear the sound of coins going down my throat with every swallow.

Ultimately, we did enjoy the movie, and afterward, we savored our room’s view of the Falls, read for awhile and went to bed. It was going to be a long day of actually seeing the Falls tomorrow.


NEXT: A cloudy day for a Fallsview experience.


Click for Part IV