A quick stroll over to Canada

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I am going to drop this little post in out of order because the other option is to do New York which is five days of stories and adventures to sift through and distil whereas Niagara Falls is a nice short 24 hours worth 😊

So after New York we had a nice early 7am train to Niagara Falls (nine hours trip) to look forward to! Katy fortunately after a lot of early morning grumpiness after being woken up (okay she is my daughter!!) slept for a good couple hours. For the rest of the trip we were taking turns trailing after her at varying speeds - sometimes at a sprint down the aisles towards open carriage doors! Her favourite game was to take an object from our seat such as a magazine or napkin, and carry it down to "her" booth in the dining car where she would carefully place it on the table, climb up and sit down. Gesturing for you to be seated opposite her we would then sit and have a chat which was peremptorily halted when she hopped down and sprinted back towards our carriage to collect a new object to ferry back.

We had read a lot about the two sides of the falls - the US and Canadian - with the majority of comments being that you would be mad to stay, visit, or do anything on the US side. Despite this we did stay on the US side to expedite our onward journey to Chicago. You may have heard about the weather of late over here - there has been a polar vortex bringing unseasonably cold weather. We have experienced this in spades! Boston was so cold Katy cried even when thoroughly rugged up and I nearly cried with her! Katy, for the record, does not like the cold! Anyway the bad news story for us has been that the main falls related activities such as the Maid of the Mist boat trip and various look outs have been covered in metres of ice. Ice floes were clearly visible in the river and it was snowing While we were here. The good news is that only crazy people are here like us and this means no queues or crowds and the few usually paid entry venues that are open are free.

The falls themselves are on a gorge with the US/Canada border running down the middle of the river flowing over the falls. There are actually three falls, two on the US side (American and Bridal Veil) and one curving from one side to the other (Horseshoe). This means you get up close on the US side but the views are better from Canada.

We decided to walk across the Rainbow Bridge to Canada that evening as I couldn't wait to see the falls. Gotta love a pedestrian border crossing and the chance for an extra passport stamp. The views from the bridge and the other side were amazing. And the roar and clouds of mist are unexpected and magical.

I was keen to see the falls lit up at night so after dinner I led an ill fated expedition through the dark to try and see them without having to cross back to Canada as we hadnt brought our passports with us. Sadly we missed the lovely neat bridge to the lookout and instead traipsed through he woods coming out at a terrible angle with all the sound but none of the sight of the falls! Oh well....

Next morning we were much more successful and had a fabulous time seeing them from every possible angle - weather and snow and cold permitting!

Off to Chicago next. Very exciting!

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