24 May 2023 - Niagara Falls

Our early start saw us head out to desperately find something to eat and drink before meeting our tour guide at 7:30am. Mark found a nice croissant and a cuppa for us each to munch on while we waited. We’re currently on the mini bus on our way to Niagara. There are two other couples with us, one from Birmingham who reek of cigarettes (must be a Birmingham thing, and I’m such a critical ex-smoker) and a couple from Mexico who aren’t speaking. The guide is a young guy named CJ who seems like he’ll be fun.

CJ told us that the whole area we were in was reclaimed land. The CN tower, all the arenas and massive amount of tall apartment buildings are all built on what was originally water. Interesting! There were some very big coal powered plants on the way, spewing muck into the air. Very sad to see. 

Niagara Falls

OK, there really are no words to describe the place. No photos either. Awe inspiring nature at its absolute finest. We started out with the Skylon tower. A nice quick glass-front elevator took us up  86m (282 ft) above the falls. There was an outdoor observation deck and it was bloody windy out there. We walked out to look down at the falls - both the Canadian Horseshoe and the American Bridal Veil Falls. The plumes of mist in the centre of the Horseshoe were massive. We could see far across Lake Huon (which feeds the falls) and down past the bridge that is the Canadian/US border crossing. It was mesmerising. 

We walked around the tower looking every which way. On a clear day, you can see all the way to Toronto, but I guess it wasn’t the clearest of clear days. We took as much time as we could to take it all in. It really is breathtaking.

On the way into the tower, they get you in front of a green screen to take your photo. At the end of your visit, you get to view, and buy them. 2 photos for $45CAD. Uhm, around $50AUD. For two photoshopped pics. I can do that myself at home, thank you very much. 

After the tower, we went down to the ‘Behind the Falls’ tour. You quite literally, walk behind the falls. 125 ft to the base of the falls, they’ve cut a deep tunnel in behind. There is an observation deck before you head in, where you can be nicely drenched by the falls, as well as deafened by their sound. The ground almost rumbles with the power of the falls. According to the website, up to 2800 cubic metres of water “thunders over the brink” ever second, travelling at around 65km per hour. CJ reckoned that it would fill a million bathtubs in a second. Maybe an exaggeration, or a well rounded off sum, it would certainly fill many, many tubs very quickly - if it didn’t smash them to bits first. 

We put on our bright yellow ponchos and headed out, and then in. Phenomenal. So powerful, and sitting under the edge of the falls, you really did get a sense of those millions of bathtubs filling too quickly. Completely powerful and awe-inspiring. We walked through the tunnels to see the hmmm, hallways (?) cut into the rock, that lie directly behind the falls. You couldn’t get close enough to get up too close (barriers, water spray) but the rumble was immense and the water splashing down looked like the worst sea storm ever filmed by MGM. 

After that, it was back up to the top to board the Hornblower - the ferry that sails up close to the falls. CJ told us that the best view was the bottom right front corner. He said that everyone races upstairs and it’s an ugly push and shove match and that the bottom right sees both sides of the falls going in and then going back, so we decided that his logic was good and raced for the bottom right front corner. We were first in line, so we claimed the main spot. When we headed out, there weren’t really any people around us - so all six of us figured we had won.

One big toot of the horn and we were off. The lady from Birmingham was all ready to record the entire trip in and out, for some friends at home. We had bright red ponchos this time, very stylish. We all took lots of photos as we got closer, and then it got louder, and rougher, and wetter, and windier - and wetter still, and Mark ducked for cover, along with the Birmingham couple. I tried to ride it out. I was very wet, and very, very cold. My fingers felt like they were about to break off. But I rode (most of) it out. I gave up when it started pouring down my shirt front. Now that really was cold. I headed back towards Mark and just took in the majesty of it all. YOLO - truly. It was so completely exhilarating and so truly awesome. There is no more perfect a word for it than awesome. The power of Mother Nature rules, entirely. 

We headed back in to go for lunch. We found a small craft brewery amongst the tourist strip and had some corn bread (hmm, no, not great) and a/some (?) poutine. Chips with cheese curds and gravy. Not bad, and a real lemonade. And a couple of drink coasters for the coast (long story, but we need to collect them). 

We got to have one more big look at the falls from the top wall before having to head back to the bus. It was so easy to just stand there and stare - it was meditative, addictive and hard to look away from. Absolutely awe inspiring beauty. 

A few quick stops along the way for a bit of info. The original power stations - they are now run by an international corporation and so it’s all changed. The station now powers all the way to Florida. They have so much fresh, hard running water that they don’t know what to do with it. The falls are fed by lake Huon, 50% of the water comes through Horseshoe Falls (seems logical, but the figure seemed to be important to CJ as he told us three times) and flows into Lake Ontario, running north. We stopped at ‘the whirlpool’ formed approximately 4.200 years ago where the Niagara River meets an ancient gorge that was carved out due to the movement of the falls. Long story, worth researching - shows how soft limestone is when thousands of years of nature hit it. Mind you, the falls were moving quickly until fair recently. 

Back on the bus - back to Toronto. I went to sleep in the bus, nothing to see here. 

After the tour, we went for a bit of a wander around our hotel area. Down to the harbour, across to Union Station. But we were cold and tired and getting hungry. We walked past the CN tower, the Blue Jay’s stadium, and wandered into an Irish pub for dinner. A good chicken and leak pie, and reasonable steak later - we were full and exhausted. Mind you, it was 10:00pm by then. The daylight at 10:00pm is a killer.

Click here for what are too many, doesn’t-do-it-justice Niagara pics.