Hamilton to Ottawa

In Hamilton, I visited the location of the 1st Tim Hortons EVER!!!  That was pretty exciting... I ordered an ice capp, it was way too hot for a double double.

After a lovely visit in Hamilton with Stefani, I had a generous offer to stay in St Catharines with the parents of Michel-lyn, another girl I went to college with. I made St Catharines my home base for the next couple of days as it is really close to Niagara Falls and Niagara-on-the-Lake.
The first day, Friday, as I made my way to Niagara Falls, I spotted a book store. On a whim I decided to turn around and go back to it. The World's Biggest Bookstore had nothing on this book warehouse! There I found 4 books by my favourite author, Lionel Shriver, all for only $25! It is usually quite difficult to even find her books! I was thrilled. Niagara Falls had a lot of work to do to top this attraction! In Niagara Falls I did the one thing I repeatedly heard from everyone was a must, the Maid in the Mist, a boat that goes up right close to the falls where you get all wet. I then met up with Andrea, a really good friend of my friend, Amanda. Amanda used to live in Niagara Falls so Andrea took me around and should me Amanda's old house, school and hang-outs. For dinner Andrea and I went on an adventure to the U.S and ate at a buffet with her sister and nephew who live across the line. I had wanted to get back to the falls by 10 pm to see the fireworks, but as we were sitting in line at the border waiting to cross they went off. I could see a few in the side mirror of the car. Andrea assured me that they had them on both Friday and Saturday, so I could see them the next night. I still wanted to see Niagara-on-the-Lake yet, so I was ok with staying another night.

Saturday I went into Niagara-on-the-Lake where Amanda had organized a free ride in a horse drawn carriage with her aunt who owns the carriage company. I wandered the overly touristy streets and went on a tour of the Hillebrand Winery. I may have splurged on a bottle of ice wine! I then had about 6 hours to kill. I eventually parked and made my way down to the park by Niagara Falls. I waited and waited, found the perfect spot to stand, with a view of both sets of falls, and then when it got to be quarter after 10, I decided to look up on my phone what was up. I discovered they did the fireworks on Friday and SUNDAY, not Saturday. So, defeated I made my way back to my car. After a phone call to my mom, she convinced me to stick around one more day, have a relaxing day, rest and read.

This brings us to Sunday. I had my relaxing day and left for the falls with an hour and a half to go the 20 minute drive. Wouldn't you believe my luck, but I had accidentally programmed my GPS for the American side and too late I realized this and had to go through the U.S. border crossing, which only took about 20 minutes, but I had a 40 minute wait to get back into Canada and then I had to pay a toll!! I made my way to the parking lot, sprinted down to the falls just as they were starting the fireworks. And then they stopped. I thought it was just a pause. Eventually, I ask another couple incredulously, "Was that IT!?" They informed me that they had to cancel due to wind. What wind, I would like to know, but apparently I just wasn't meant to see those fireworks!
Monday morning I leisurely made my way toward to Ottawa, stopping in Hamilton again to see Stefani, as on my last visit I had forgotten to get a picture with her. Getting to Ottawa too late to see any sights, I caught a movie.
Tuesday morning I went to Parliament Hill and saw the Changing of the Guard. I almost got a little weepy, thinking how proud I was to be Canadian!

After the Changing of the Guard I went and signed up for a tour of Centre Block, the middle Parliament building and while I was waiting it went from sunny to thunder, lightning and rain very quickly! I have had only hot sunny weather, with only one night of rain since I left home, so I figure it was time for some inclement weather. It didn't last long though, by the time I was done my tour it was hot and sunny again!
Later in the evening I went back to the Parliament Hill to watch a sound and light show they do against Centre Block. It was pretty cool and at least this light show wasn't cancelled on me!