Navigating Niagara

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Following a good night’s sleep, we awoke for our big excursion day at Niagara Falls. We had a leisurely breakfast at the Terrapin Grille on the Mezzanine Level of our hotel, at a window with a view of Horseshoe Falls, largely obscured by the morning mist. I enjoyed my oatmeal and banana; while, Sharon had the breakfast buffet, trying some waffles, French Toast (or should it be Canadian Toast), and some bacon that looked like it should be crispier. We didn’t need to meet our tour in the lobby until 10:30AM, so we had plenty of time to get ready. We had decided to take a tour since we only had one day and thought it would be easier to get it all in this way. We remembered to put on some sun screen. And I couldn’t find my baseball hat, so I bought one in the gift shop. This may be our first vacation starting out that we don’t get fried to a crisp on the first day. We had spoken to a lady in the lobby from Toronto who was concerned about the weather today, fearing that the visibility would be poor. Sharon had checked the forecasts before we left, and those reports suggested that our upcoming weather should be great. And as it turned out, this time the weatherman was right!

The tour bus showed up on time, and we were on our way. The bus was a smaller one (about 20 people) and was mostly full when we got on, and needed to make just one more stop at the Hilton to pick up the final group of four people. It was apparent that our driver/guide was filling in for someone, when he tried to pull into the car entrance at the Hilton with a sign that said “No vans or busses”. They made him back into traffic and go around the block to park by the front entrance down the street. He never did introduce himself; although, he did cover the highlights in what we would be doing. And we did get the occasional comment regarding what it was that we had just passed. Evidently Niagara is the Honeymoon Capitol of the world. There are a lot of places to eat, sleep and amuse yourself with in Niagara. Sharon had noted the “touristy” street that we went down one block in from the river’s edge.

Our first stop was at Table Rock, and for the first time we got to feel the mist rising from the falls and coming down on us from above, despite our considerable elevation above the top of the Falls. Table Rock is near the Horseshoe Falls with plenty of spectacular viewing. There are also green grass in a park like setting, places to sit, and a pavilion with several places to eat from formal to casual. We spent some 45 minutes here, appreciating the power of the river, and wondering how anyone in their right mind would ever consider going over this in a barrel, much less how anyone might survive such a plan. Last year the aerialist crossed the Horseshoe Falls on a wire tethered on the American side and connected near the Canadian Side here at Table Rock. His plan was to do this in 45 minutes. He actually crossed in about 30 minutes after over a year of haggling with authorities, and only after he consented to a safety harness was he allowed to attempt his televised spectacle. The first thing the authorities did on the Canadian side was check his passport.

Our driver picked us up at the scheduled time, and this is the first time I can remember in quite a while that there was that one couple who just couldn’t seem to get back on time. Our next visit was to take the “Maid of the Mist”-like boat trip. Departing from the Canadian side, our tour vessels were actually named “Horatio Hornblower”; but, Sharon had been assured that they were equivalent to the Maid of the Mist excursions everyone has heard of. Today, Maid of the Mist excursion depart from the American side of the river, using their 600-passenger vessels, just as they had been doing for nearly 150 years from the Canadian side. A few years back some Canadian official decided to re-compete the park license for running this tour, and the Horatio Hornblower group had the winning competitive bid. So Maid of the Mist moved across the river to continue their operation. Each company was running two boats non-stop when we were there, and this continued all through the day. The Hornblower vessels hold 700 passengers. Passengers on the crafts departing the American side are wearing blue colored sheer plastic water parkas with hoodies, while we were wearing red ones, and this distinction is easily spotted from above as little blue or red heads of passengers bob on the tops and sides of the vessels traversing to and from the Falls. Some kids were enjoying the trip without the water protection, and I think they enjoyed being soaked on this fairly warm day. While waiting to board, the plastic coveralls were a bit stifling; but, once on the water the spray only increased the closer to the Falls that you got. Our camera had been sprayed enough up on Table Rock that we didn’t even think to use it on the vessel. Sharon used her camera phone, but it’s hard to see what you’re taking a picture of with that. Near the end of the trip, we were away from the spray, and I did take a few shots from the water level with the camera.

We were happy to see that our elevator took us nearly up to street level; although, they dump you out in a tourist souvenir trap that is more of a maze than you might think, after the sales pitch that your purchases help support these facilities and river excursions. We made our way back to the Starbucks where we met our guide for lunch. There was a buffet at the Sheraton that was very good, but they charged for soft drinks. In the corner of the restaurant there was a small viewing platform that five or six people could go out on at a time to take pictures. We were fortunate, because we didn’t need to wait; but, when we came back in there was quite a line to go out and take pictures.

Our tour reassembled after lunch, and we drove out and saw the power plants downriver from the Falls, one on the American Side and two on the Canadian side. We also stopped at the whirlpool, where a bend in the river causes the unusual rotational flow of the water. An aerial cable car takes people across the river above the whirlpool, but that was not included in our tour. We made another brief stop at a flower clock and took some pictures. We then visited the Reif Estate Winery, and had a complimentary tasting of a white, a merlot-cabernet blend, and an ice wine. Grapes for the ice wine are picked in January, or when temperatures fall sufficiently below freezing. This concentrates sugars in the grape. Each grape only yields a few drops of juice for making the wine, so it tends to be more expensive. This winery also innovated a red ice wine, which is considered much more difficult to make because the grapes for the red wine tend to be less tolerant of the freezing temperatures. We didn’t get to sample that wine that commanded a $10 tasting fee, or $95 for a bottle (375 ml which is half a normal sized bottle of wine). They had a grape juice for people to try who didn’t like wine. Sharon that it tasted better than Welch’s grape juice; but, some of the kids present didn’t much care for the grape juice. Or perhaps, they didn’t care for their mom encouraging them to try the grape juice when they didn’t really want to (okay, so maybe to tour was starting to wear on and the fun part was over and they were bored). Their mom told them it was okay if they didn’t like the grape juice, she just wanted them to try new things (and maybe get them involved, and maybe make them less bored).

Our next stop was Niagara by the Lake, a quaint east-coast type village, and Sharon immediately had her eye on a gelato store to try. There were several ice cream stores along the main street to choose from, including Cows that we’d tried on a previous trip. The van could only stop at the bus-park in town to drop us off due to the local city ordinance. A complimentary shuttle got us to the courthouse. And we walked across the street to the gelato store. We both got a medium cup of ice cream. Sharon got mocha and chocolate; while, I enjoyed pistachio and striatciatta (a vanilla bean ice cream with shaved chocolate). These were right up there with the ice cream/gelato that we enjoyed in Italy on our honeymoon.

There was the final obligatory stop at the tourist trap, and Sharon bought a few post cards. We were so ready to get back to the hotel, which we finally did just before 6PM. I called and made dinner reservations for 8PM and the Milestone Grill at the other Marriott hotel just across the street and down one block. We showed up a bit early, and we were seated next to the window with a second floor view of the river just above the Horseshoe Falls. We had an impressive view of the river approaching the falls. Upstream is what looks like a low bridge crossing most of the river, but this is actually a barricade to assist any wayward craft that might need some help not going any farther. I tried the cream of mushroom soup that the waitress warned might have a bit of a bite to it. I just smiled and said bring it on, and it did seem quite tasty with a bit of green chili pepper added for that extra kick. I also ordered the phylo shrimp with chili sauce. I was expecting something in a puff pastry, but received tasty shrimp that had been lightly breaded with puff pastry batter. For my entry I enjoyed butternut squash ravioli with goat cheese. This was billed as a vegetarian dish, but served with a marinara sauce and lots of fresh basil (maybe they left out the anchovies?). It was quite good and filling. Sharon had the petite prime rib served medium well.

We came back to the room and tonight all of the Falls were very visible as was the light show illuminating them.

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