Niagara Falls are awesome. First we visited the Horseshoe Falls, then the Bridal Falls and American Falls. The power of the water 79 million gallons per second is slightly incomprehensible. The American side gets you close to the various parts of the river/lake that flow in to the drop. Very little natural vegetation, in contrast to say Iguasu in South America. It was misty and windy.

Next stop Canada, across the friendship bridge. It took nearly 2 hours to go through the border crossing. Our bus finally made it to the inspection place and we all had to line up - but there wasn't any border officers to be seen - was it a dinner break, was it a strike or did they just keep us waiting. Finally we were in to Canada and off to the Motel - Super 8.

Canadian Niagara city is like a combination of side show alley, Luna Park with numerous haunted houses, freak shows, amusement parlours, restaurants, bars all with colourful neon lights to attract attention.

After some delay and misunderstanding by the tour guide and the bus driver we were dropped at Horseshoe Falls for the walk back opposite Bridal and American Falls. The view from the Canadian side is more spectacular as the front of the falls is visible more clearly. Also, during evening hours each falls is lit in rainbow colours turning to all white. Impressive - but is is necessary. It just adds to the commercialism of the area. Still it is colourful and certainly different to view it for this side and during the night.

We walked back towards the main street and again commented on the commercialism of this side. The American side is also commercialised, but because to is not as close it is not as prominent as the Canadian side.