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Published: January 16th 2010
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At last, a beautiful sunny day! My last day in Canada and the day of my trip to see the legendary
Niagara Falls - I couldn’t have asked for better weather. I decided to go with a tour package as the public transport options to the area aren’t brilliant and I did have a plane to catch that evening! Because I’m lazy, I organised the tour through the hotel and ended up with
CU Tours. Possibly not the cheapest, but it seemed to cover the major sights.
We were picked up by our minibus bright and early and off we went. Our driver/guide gave a running commentary as we went - half of which I ignored as I was just watching the world go by! But there were some interesting snippets (which I clearly can’t remember now 😊).
After a drive-by at the Floral Clock and a quick stop at the Whirlpool (downriver from the Falls themselves and site of the river’s sharp turn to the right and away from Canadian soil) we arrived in Niagara. First on the itinerary was our ride on the Maid of the Mist (included in the tour) - it seems my luck of the past
few days had improved and I managed to time my visit to coincide with the very last day of running this season! Which was good and bad - it was a fantastic trip right up to the base of the Horseshoe Falls (the more famous part, on the Canadian side of the border and really only properly visible from the Canadian side), but I got absolutely soaking wet despite the attractive blue bin bag I was presented with! Never mind, at least the sun was shining and it was a warm day so I could dry out fairly quickly.
Back on dry land, the rest of the afternoon was my own so I wandered along the clifftop path and generally admired the magnificent view. I have to say that the Americans got a pretty raw deal on their access to the Falls - they have tried to build themselves a viewing platform (which looks like an unfinished bridge) but it must get packed in the summer. Meanwhile I could wander along about 2km of wide pavement 😊
By the time I got up to the Horseshoe Falls I was looking forward to sitting down so grabbed myself a
window table at the restaurant overlooking the Falls. The food was average and overpriced but the view was still spectacular. Someone said to me that there’s only so long you can look at tonnes of water falling off the edge, but I disagree! It’s quite mesmerising... But all too soon I had to head back to the designated meeting point in Niagara Falls town itself (Starbucks - the first one I’d seen in months - there are none in Sweden and the wilds of the Canadian north isn’t exactly prime coffee shop territory). Which is really quite horrible and tacky - a cross between Blackpool and what I imagine Vegas to be like. Thankfully we didn’t stay long and headed back out on to the road and towards the last stop of our day - a winery. Well, that was a bit of a misnomer to be honest - it was a shop that sold wine, overlooking a vineyard on the other side of the highway. Still, we got some free samples and there wasn’t any hard sell so no great issue.
And that was it. My Canadian adventure was at an end 😞 Back to the city, couple
of beers in the hotel and on to the airport bus...
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