Niagara Falls

It is certainly breathtaking, but it is also wallet-sapping! The beauty of the falls never fails to amaze, the sound is like a continuous thunder, it is one of the natural wonders of the world. We took in a short film that gave us a history of the falls, which 10,000 years ago was some 7 miles downriver. The water has cut the canyon since then, and is continuing to do so at the rate of 1 ft every ten years.
When the sun shines, and it did for us, a rainbow goes from the Canadian side to Goat Island, in the USA, for the river forms the border,

We took a trip of into the spray, almost under the falls themselves, and we did get wet. Thoughtfully they provided us with a poncho each, which was partly effective. Most of the time the spray reached far above the top of the waterfall itself, and the fall of the water caused quite a gale underneath which whipped up the ponchos.

We also took a walk underneath the falls through tunnels which opened out behind the water, a
 generously they provided us with a different colour poncho. Once again very wet!
The Horseshoe falls, (or the Canadian Falls) empty cleanly into a deep basin, some 55ft deep.

 The American side, however, falls onto rocks, and as a result the spray is not as high, which makes them more visible.It is a toss up which is the more spectacular.

Just to prove we were really there! 

Later we took a bus down river a way, to the rapids This is a class 6 rapids, considered to be un-runnable. Some of the  peaks are 5 mtrs high, and some of the holes are almost impossible to get out of. To cap it all at the end of the rapids is a whirlpool that would make anyone dizzy!. Very few have survived going down, and nowadays the local authorities will not allow it.

We spotted this groundhog close to the river.

Getting up and down from the hotels to the viewing points is only possible by a bus ride, a long walk, or by the inclined railway. Of course it had to happen to us that the car broke down half way up, and we were stuck there for over half an hour while the engineer was called to fix it. Still we had fun with the other strandees!

But it wasn't all good. We thought we had booked a good hotel, However when we arrived at what looked like a modern high rise hotel overlooking the falls we were told that unless we were prepared to pay extra we had to make do with a motel room that was attached at the side. We of course refused to be blackmailed, so we were stuck in the motel, with peeling paintwork, marked carpets and a dirty floor in the bathroom. At least the bed was clean, but there was certainly no view, in fact the separate bedroom was dark and dismal. And it was well over twice the price we normally pay for a good motel here in  Canada. We would not return to the Oakes hotel, in fact we should have booked outside Niagara Falls itself. Food also was very expensive, and the whole environment was noisy at night, a lot of the bars and restaurants had loud live music on until midnight. We would not feel the need to return there at all.

Loading the boat.

The skyline.