finger lakes day 3

Ventosa

Back in the Finger Lakes again....

We awoke and went to breakfast in our hotel. We heard on the TV in the lobby about the shootings and bombings in Norway. I hadn't been paying attention to the news the past couple days so that news was a bit of a shocker.

The first thing we did was tour Rose Hill Mansion. B and I had toured this mansion years ago when restoration was starting. I was very impressed with the progress made here. Every room was nicely appointed and our tour guide was very informed about the family who had lived there and their history.

Next we stopped at Ventosa Winery. It is a very beautiful new winery overlooking vineyards and Seneca Lake. It would be a lovely setting for a wedding.

The we stopped at Three Brothers....three wineries grouped together that reflect the personalities of the three brothers. There is that word again.....personality. I guess they each had one and each was unique. One winery was upscale and snooty, one fun loving and the third was downright raunchy. They also had a brewery. I didn't really care for any of the wines here that much. Most were too sweet for me and the upscale winery ones were raw and unfinished. So the wines were not my favorites but the wineries themselves were fun.

We headed to Canandaigua next. Here we had lunch at another cute bar and grille on another cute downtown main street. I had the portobello mushroom sandwich here. Then we toured Sonnenberg Gardens...another large summer home mansion built by the New York banker who started Citibank. The gardens were incredible. Breathtaking!

We checked into our hotel in Rochester and drove downtown to meet my good good friend Barb for dinner at one of my favorite restaurants, 2 Vine. I had a bucket of mussels here as I so often do. And a pretty lavender martini.

After dinner Barb came back to our room and we chatted and had a bottle of wine and planned our Day 4.