Twice in Niagara Falls
Twice in Niagara FallsThe falls…we knew.
From the movies, from TV, from photos, but the new is the way everything was prepared to help enjoying the show.
Everything is business, rather professional. From above, in giant towers, from street level, from a boat, or walking by the falls, everything was carefully prepared to serve all tastes and demands.
Horseshoe Falls
The greatest falls
The river splits in two, part of it falling in the American side of the border, and the other in Canadian side.
Standing side by side, it is in the Canadian part that the views are most impressive, due to the shape of the falls, concentrating in a secluded area the biggest part of the water.
Called Horseshoe Falls, it’s easy from the air to understand the reason of that name. The Maid of the Mist is an attraction that takes great profit of it, taking you almost to the centre of horseshoe shape.
Falls at Night
An artificial look
When the night comes, hundreds of people line the border of the river, waiting for the light show. As you can imagine, powerful focus of changing colors hit the falls, revealing them in a succession of colors.
It doesn’t add much to the day show, and if you want to photograph you must be well equipped, or you will end like me, only catching the whites.
It doesn’t take long and… it is free. So, why not?
Helicopter Rides
Bird’s eye view
It’s expensive and it passes in a second, but it gives another impressive look of the dramatic course of the river.
However, the really smashing sights are taken from below, from the Maid of the Mist.
Maid of the Mist
It took us there
It was a pleasant surprise the short lines to enter the boat “Maid of the Mist” that approaches the fall. In our way I understood why: there are at least 3 boats with the same name, switching positions in the short trip, making it almost continuous.
It really allows us to feel the power of the waters, but it’s a big and safe boat, without the sensations felt in Iguacu, approaching enough the falls to wet everybody, despite the supplied protection.
Address: 5920 Niagara Parkway
Phone: 905 358 0311
Website: Maid of the mist
Niagara-on-the-Lake
A garden on the streets
Niagara-on-the-lake showed us a very, very beautiful town, where time seems to have stopped.
When we were there, it was submerged by flowers. Is it always like that or, we were just lucky?
Website: Niagara on the lake
Fort George
Arriving to Niagara-on-the-Lake, the guide pointed to our right and said: “There is Fort George”. Nothing else, and, when we left the bus to visit the city, I went there to have a look. I didn’t get too convinced, and moved back after a short glimpse.
Maybe I did wrong. Reading about it, afterwards, I got the idea that it should deserve a few more minutes and a more detailed look.
Maybe next time!
Website: Fort George
Minolta Tower
Minolta Tower 
To a cinemascope view of the falls several towers were built.
We had lunch at Minolta’s tower, expecting a rotating restaurant as usual in these towers. It is not, but we understood that here it must be fixed: the sights are all in one side.
The lunch was banal, and I couldn’t check the price because we were in a package tour, but the views were perfect.
Site: Tower
Behind Niagara Falls
If you want to get wet
That’s the way to walk closer to the falls.
We didn’t do it (it must be fun, but time was short and we had to choose), since the Maid of the Mist, took us even closer, with less sacrifices, and gave us the chance to see the lines going up and down by the water, seeming a strange ritual.
Phone: 905-371-0254
Website: Niagara parks
Jet Boat Rides
I skipped Whirlpool
No, I didn’t make the jet boat rides.
Seen from the air, the whirlpool seems really challenging and, merging my good memories from Safari Macuco in Iguaçu, Brazil, with the comments in internet, I think that, next time in Niagara, I’ll forget that I’m over seventy, and…
Helicopter
Though you may have good views from the top of one the towers facing the falls, I strongly recommend a flight over the falls.
There are helicopters continuously up and down, with trips that take about 10 minutes, showing a small extension of the river, but including the falls from several angles, and the whirlpool.
Not cheap ($108 for an adult, I think), but…
