Drinking In Niagara Falls

Suz and I spent our Anniversary visiting one of the great wonders of the natural world, Niagara Falls, not to be confused with the seven natural wonders of the world - which we could see from our "Fallsview" room on the sixth floor of The Brock Plaza hotel.

Suz was in charge of booking the trip. The reasons for this are numerous in amount, none of which I am talking about today.

The Brock is old, and totally classy. If you plan on staying in the Brock, there are 2 important things you need to know. 1. The Fallsview rooms are the only rooms with two beds. 2. The rooms that do not face the falls are way tons much cheaper - but only have 1 bed. And all beds in the hotel are doubles, so if you're used to a King, you're probably gonna want 2 beds, which forces you to take a Fallsview room. And if you've got kids, it's the same deal.

The view from our room was amazing. To the left was the bridge into the good ol' U.S.A., and to the right was Niagara Falls. Further to the right was a small table with a coffee machine and a lamp on it. Continuing looking right came a dresser with a TV on it, then our door.

Directly beneath our window (the building in the bottom left) was the Duty Free. Suz and I naively walked into the store hoping to purchase some super-cheap drunk-making juice for the Halloween party. The first question the cashier asked, "are you heading back to the States tonight?" took me by surprise.

"Uh, no." I answered.

"You have to be going to the States to purchase alcohol here. It's for export only." she said. Another employee standing behind me asked, "so, when ARE you planning on heading across the border?"

"We're not." I answered. Both employees burst into a mild laughter while Suz and I walked away, stabbed in our collective back by their unprofessional laugh-daggers. I realize the rules and operation of a "duty free" store, but am baffled as to why a Duty Free store has
open public access when walk-in traffic is not allowed. All the other Duty Free stores I've been to are fenced off with no access except to those already in mid-border cross.

We left disappointed, but in a much more dignified manner than the employees were presenting themselves.

The rancid feelings were vanquished when we ate dinner that night in the Rainbow Room Fallsview Restaurant, atop the Brock Plaza. We went all out with the dinners as our room reservation came with a two-for-one dinner coupon, something typically marketed only by fast food McRestaurants. The only small disappointment was that there was no discount on my McGin & Tonic.