22nd July 2008

We left Jim and Nancy and drove to Niagara Falls. The city of Niagara Falls is not very scenic, being rather industrial. However there is a very pleasant state park on the American side next to the falls. We did all the usual tourist things. A trip on the Maid of the Mist, a boat which takes you close to the Horseshoe falls and involves getting rather wet, a souvenir raincoat is provided. We descended in a lift and visited the cave of the winds, another very wet experience, taking a walk on a wooden platform more or less underneath the Bridal veil falls, which is the smaller falls next to the American falls. For this both sandals and a raincoat were provided. We crossed the Rainbow bridge on foot and went into Canada for a few hours. The view of the Horseshoe or Canadian falls is better from this side.

Overall Niagara falls are spectacular though very commercialised which spoilt them a bit for me. However they are lit at night and should be seen illuminated in many colours or just with plain white floodlights. Both versions are very pretty. The visitors centre has an Imax cinema which shows a film about the history of the falls, its legends and various adventurers. Apparently the first person to go over the falls in a barrel was a 63 year old school teacher and her cat. She went over the Horseshoe falls and both survived but having seen them I wouldn't recommend copying her.