Wet and Wild at Niagara

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The next couple of days were just spent driving further east. We stopped off in Cleveland which looked like a really nice place, didnt have time to stop and have a look around unfortunatly as we spent ages trying to find a motel- there was some kind of Gay rights festival on so most of the motels were full, d'oh. Finally the followng day at about 4 o'clock we arrived in Niagara. We found a nice cheap motel and the lady there told us that night there would be fireworks down by the falls, they're set off on the Canadian side but apparently you get a good view of them from the american side too. So that was our evening organised, we had a few hours to kill first so just chilled out watching tv (and wasted an hour or so on facebook). At about 8 we made our way down to the falls, have to say it wasnt what i expected at all. I know its a huge tourist attraction but still didnt quite expect it to be in the middle of what was like a mini vegas (but a bit more run down, on the US side anyway) with high rise hotels and casinos on both american and canadian sides. We saw the American falls first which were pretty impressive, especially as they were all lit up. Then we walked out on the observation deck and got our first glimpse of the real Niagara- the Horseshoe falls, we hadnt seen it before due to all the mist coming off the american falls. There were loads of people there so we had to fight our way through the hundreds of chinnese tourists to get a decent spot ready for the fireworks. Then at 10 on the dot the show started and lets just say over here they really do know how to put on a fireworks display. It only lasted 10 minutes but it was fantastic.

The following day we went back to see the falls in daylight. This time i was prepared for what the surrounding town was like so didnt get distracted by it and just concenrated on the falls, which were all really amazing. We decided to take the Maid of the Mist boat trip (a bargain at $12). As you can see from the photos we were given a very stylish poncho to wear which we were told was conpulsury, ofcourse gra loved his so much he would have worn it anyway. We managed to get a good spot at the front of the upper deck and soon realized why the ponchos were conpulsury, after the first 2 minutes of the trip we were soaked! It was a great trip which took you past and very close to the american falls and then into the middle of the Horseshoe, unfortunatly it was a little tricky to take photos due to the soaking we were getting! Luckily it was a really hot day so we didnt take long to dry off. After the boat ride we went for a walk over to Goat island where you could get a good view of both falls without getting wet. We decided not to go over to the Canadian side but alot of people were as it was so easy- you just walk over a bridge! A great thing to see, but it made us realize how nice it was to go to places which are not as touristy but still just as amazing (ankgor wat and Halong bay etc).

Well thats another thing ticked off our list, a list which is getting shorter and shorter by the day! Next..... the Whitehouse......

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