We left Rochester after lunch on Tuesday 14 August and headed to Niagara Falls. While Donna was keen to follow the Seaway Trail again, I had enough of looking for invisible lighthouses so we just took the shortest route up the freeway. State troopers were everywhere on the last part to the border policing the speed limit which is the only place I've really seen it enforced in the States. The border crossing went fine so we were finally in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada which offers better views of the Falls that available from the American side.
We stayed in the Oakes Overlooking the Falls and our room had a fantastic view over all three falls. We walked down the kilometre or so to the Maid of the Mist booking offer on Tuesday afternoon. There is an upper and a lower walking track in Niagara Falls, both including many lookout spots along the way. Kodak must have noticed the falls in film revenue just from the photos they were no longer processing from Niagara Falls. Heaps of people and everyone was taking photos.
There are heaps of facts and figures available about the falls. I was surprised on my first visit in 2000 by the fact the falls weren't as tall as I expected and by the amount of development all around the Falls. There isn't a clear area around the Falls, especially on the Canadian side where development has resulted in a range of high hotels etc offering views over the Falls and a sideshow alley feeling on Clifton Hill and surrounding streets. As to the height of the Falls, the Canadian Horseshoe Falls drops an average of 57 m (188 ft) into the Lower Niagara River and is approximately 670 m (2,200 ft) wide, with a 35m (100ft) deep plunge pool beneath the Falls. Found this summary of what the attraction of the Falls is (other than it being on the US / Canadian border of course): 'About 500 other waterfalls in the world are "taller" than Niagara. The Angel Falls in Venezuela is tallest at 979 m (3,212 ft). However, some of the tallest falls in the world have very little water flowing over them. It’s the combination of height and volume that makes Niagara Falls so beautiful.' They are great but I still wasn't blown away as I was by Victoria Falls. By one reckoning, Victoria Falls is the second best waterfall in the world with Niagara Falls ranked fifth. It is impressive!
We lined up for the Maid of the Mist tour, including the lovely blue ponchos that you are issued with: 'For more than 150 years, the Niagara Falls Maid of the Mist has taken visitors through the foaming waters beneath the falls. The journey begins at the bottom of the Observation Tower, where you’ll be provided with a souvenir rain poncho. The Maid of the Mist will then take you to the base of the American Falls and then to the basin of Horseshoe Falls, through the crashing waters and massive rock formations. This half-hour Niagara Falls tour allows you to experience firsthand the power and intensity of the falls.' We stayed on the lower deck of the Maid as Kieren was a bit dubious about the trip. Olivia really enjoyed it. Kieren did until towards the end when he became unhappy at being wet, despite the water only being on his poncho. The Maid gives a good sense of the power of the water flow, with the engines working hard to just stay in place under the Falls with the roar and spray from the Falls all around you.
Tuesday was also momentous in food terms. After our Italian dinner we managed the first (and only) day on this road trip where at least one of us didn't eat fries. That is a major accomplishment here, especially in the smaller towns where the range of restaurants is much more limited than it would be in a similar Australian town. Niagara Falls didn't have any Asian (other than one Indian), Mexican or European style restaurants. Preference seems to be for huge quantities of bland (often fried) food in return for certainty in what you are getting, hence the success of the various chain restaurants. Fortunately the DC area does offer a much better range of options!
More photos and Falls viewing filled our evening as we walked back via the lower trail, paid $2 each for the Falls Incline Railway (expensive solution to get people up 100 feet but no stairs or alternative in the area so can wait up to half an hour to get up to the next street!) up to our hotel where we watched the evening light show on the Falls.
We had planned to catch up with Tom Kerr on Monday evening but his work intervened. However we followed his tip on Wednesday and drove out to the small tourist town of Niagara on the Lake with a stop at the Floral Clock on the way. Checked out Lake Ontario (again) and spent quite some time finding a car park, something the town is notorious for. Spent a couple of pleasant hours wandering the shops before caving in to the incessant demands for ice cream.
Found the Niagara Whirlpool on the way back. Signposting is all for the Spanish Aerocar so you can go over the Whirlpool so this wasn't as easy as it should have been.
Had an early dinner at the Table Rock Centre overlooking the Falls while waiting to do the Journey Behind the Falls. This involves taking an elevator down to tunnels which come out about 2/3 of the way down the Canadian Falls. There's an observatory platform(very wet!) and two direct tunnel outlets where you can just see the water from the Falls rushing down past you. Offers a great perspective on the Falls, even if Kieren didn't appreciate it as it was all too wet for him again. Was also too wet for the Sony DSLR which stopped working as wasn't as water tolerant as I hoped it was. Some drying overnight had it working again the next day, much to my relief, so I could take some more photos of the Falls from our room again. Each day we were there the mist from the Falls was greater / higher so the perspective differed.
The extra night we had to take in Alexandria Bay also benefited us in being at Niagara Falls for the Wednesday night fireworks. The Falls are lit up at 9pm each night and the fireworks this night were at 10pm. Again made the extra we paid for the room worthwhile. Although we were disappointed that our fourth phone call to room service over 50 minutes was to cancel our wine order that they had still failed to deliver. While used to taxes etc inflating costs over here, we thought the hotels' achievement in inflating the nightly charge from C$199 to C$235 with state and provincial taxes plus regional promotional fees was worthy of a special commendation!
Malcolm
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