Niagara Falls: Awesome!

Upon my return I told some people about the Niagara Falls being the highlight of the trip, to which they all responded: yeah, but you haven't seen Iguaçu yet. True, I haven't, but still, i was really in awe by this natural wonder.

We made the good decision to visit Niagara while we were staying in Toronto, althoug the original plan was to visit it the next day. The next day turned out to be drooly (or however you write that). We had great weather, so we could get wet and have the sun dry us.

We got to Niagara and there were already masses of people walking around. the first thing you notice isn't the falls however, but the tourist attraction along the road. my god, it looked like vegas. Casino's, hotel with towers that offer 'best views', all kinds of tourist draws like Ripley's Believe it or not that you find everywhere, game houses, malls, whatever... You can do big business in Niagara Falls.

However, you still have the Falls and WOW!!!! I was so amazed by the fact that the water just continues to stream and fall and it just makes the greatest sound ever. The Horsehoe falls are amazing, the other fall (on the US side) are also impressive, but the HOrsehoe Falls (named after the shape) really impressed me a lot. WHen we returned later in the evening, there was a rainbow over the fall and that itself was amazing too.

I looked around and i saw a lot of different kind of people looking at the same thing and it struck me how amazing that is. I saw orthodox jewish people with the curls, I saw women in burka's and their agfhani husbands, i saw camp queens shouting OH MY GOD very loud, i saw a catholic nuns, i saw Sikh, i saw a punk couple, i saw an ordinary family... and they all thought the same. I found that as amazing and beautiful as the falls itself.

We bought an all in ticket which includes a walk behind the horseshoe waterfall (okay, but don't bother really), a ticket on the Maiden Of The Mist ship that brings you close to the falls (a must!! really, that was pretty cool), a walk to where the river becomes a rapid river (boring) and a visit to the botanical gardens and butterfly garden (okay but just okay). So basically, buy the maiden on the mist ticket and forget about the all in one.

People said you can only spend a few hours there, but we spent a whole day there and we could have stayed longer. I really loved it and i didn't care about the fact that it has become so touristy. We didn't bother going over the bridge to the US side as it probably wouldn't really be different. The canadian side is far more popular and more impressive!

We drove to Niagara on the lake in the evening for dinner. It's a nice little village with beautiful houses that have nice flower gardens. It's a quaint town and the main street has some nice boutiques, but it's not the must guide books say it is. Or maybe we should have arrived there a bit earlier to enjoy the beautiful lake views.