Sensual Niagara
By Victoria Gilbert
The winters in Canada bring people inside — inside intimate restaurants, inside lounges with live music, inside firelit rooms and inside steamy baths. The outdoors in wintery Ontario become a little much to take – the average temperature in Niagara in winter hangs at a chilly -1 to -4 degrees Celsius - that’s before the wind-chill factor. Brrrr. Even if you consider Valentine’s Day a massive commercial business, there is something to be said for using a day or two in the long winter months to take some extra care of oneself. If the forecast is frigid for the next while, consider taking time for a sensual experience. Niagara Falls is still considered worldwide as the Honeymoon Capital of the world with reason. Let yourself succumb to it and find out why; enjoy as a couple, or with a couple of friends, or even alone. This could be just the experience you need to warm up and chill out on those chilly nights. The winding road into Niagara-on-the-Lake follows the wide blue Niagara River. A young Marilyn Monroe once looked at that same river in the early fifties when she was starring in a film called “Niagara.” She must have thought it was beautiful because well, it is beautiful and a perfect backdrop for the beginning of your day treating yourself to some well-earned pleasure.
Left to right: The Spa, Treadwell and Il Gelato Di Carlotta
The Niagara Parkway leads you to your first destination; a lovely little spa in the centre of Historic Niagara-on the Lake. The Spa at 124 Queen on Queen Street is quiet and elegant. The massage treatments take place down the stairs which you descend with all the stress of your life lessening as you go down each step. The website of the spa boasts you will, “emerge transformed” and it is possible because their Orchard Indulgence treatment ($140/75min) is a body scrub, wrap and facial which will make you smell as divine as you feel when you’re walking up the steps, feeling as if you are levitating. Float over to the intimate restaurant, Treadwell’s (114 Queen St., Niagara-on-the-Lake), which is the best place in old town to delight your culinary senses. The menu features “farm to table cuisine” which means Chef Treadwell and his staff select locally sourced meats and vegetables for their guests. Try the Pingue Prosciutto from Niagara locals Fernando Pingue and brother Mario Jr. and pair it with a glass of crisp chardonnay from Flat Rock Cellars to celebrate this day of sheer indulgence.
