Day 19: Mr Ripley Goes International

It was chilly when we left Saratoga Springs this morning around 7:30am. The first part of the drive was along country roads past some pretty farmland. Then we got on the interstate but there was still some nice scenery including a river and the Erie Canal.
After paying lots of tolls we got to Buffalo around lunchtime. The trusty Roadfood book steered us to Charlie the Butcher's Kitchen. What a great find! The sandwiches are made of freshly sliced beef and I've never had such tender, flavorful, moist roast beef. It's called beef on wek. The "wek" refers to the roll on which the sandwich is served. The place is small: there's a counter where you order and you can see the carver slicing the meat a few feet away. Once you've ordered you go around the corner to pay (same person who took your order takes your payment but in a different locale) and then sit at one of the few tables until your name is called.
We also followed the Roadfood instructions to visit Parkside Candy. This is an old-fashioned candy store in a beautiful old space. It reminded me of the candy stores in France. Their speciality is something called sponge candy. It's a chocolate-covered crunchy molasses treat that's hard to describe but extremely good. They are sold in little bags or boxes. We bought a small bag and have almost devoured the entire contents already.
We were impressed with all the parks in Buffalo and were told by the woman in the candy store that they were designed by Frederick Law Olmstead (a theme is developing).
Our arrival into Canada was uneventful. The customs agent was more concerned about whether we were carrying weapons than if Mr Ripley had any diseases. We easily found our hotel which is the Best Western Fallsview and upon check-in were given a treat bag for Mr R. This is now his favorite place to stay! We walked down to the falls and were most impressed with the beauty of it all. There's a boat trip on the Maid of the Mist that takes you practically under the falls and we decided that was a must-do. Dwyne took Mr R back to the hotel and returned just in time for us to take the last boat trip. They give you raingear when you get on the boat and we stood at the very front and did get wet but it was worth it. It was amazing to be so close to the bottom of the falls.
They light the falls at night and we decided it would be fun to have dinner at a place with a view. So we overpaid for a mediocre dinner at a place called Kegs to have a great view. We were glad we did it because the falls with the changing colored lights is a wondorous sight.
Tomorrow our plan is to head to Pennsylvania to see Falling Water. Our plans for the next few days are rather "fluid" and we'll just see what happens.