Today was a great day – we spent the day at Niagara Falls – it has been overcast and rainy the past couple of days but it was sunny and warm all day long. It took a little over an our to get to the falls and our tour guide picked us up on time. There were 6 people on the tour which was great.
Our tour included 3 attractions. The Skylon Tower – behind the falls viewing and the Hornblower boat ride to the bottom of the falls (on the American side it is the Maid of the Mist)
The Skylon Tower is 775′ tall and overlooks the falls – the panorama above is from the observation deck at the top of the tower. There are 12 souvenir shops on the ground floor and one at the top as well as two revolving restaurants. The view was spectacular and as you can see it was a nice sunny day. We could even see the skyline of Toronto on the other side of Lake Ontario. Across the border on the American side are the American Falls and Bridal Veil Falls.
The behind the falls experience involved going down an elevator and entering a tunnel to an observation deck where your view was right next to the falls only at the bottom. The park issues rain jackets (plastic bags with arm holes and hood) and if you didn’t wear one you would be soaked to the skin – the spray of water and mist is incredible. Then you walk down another tunnel where two portals take you within 10′ of the water pouring over the falls. The roar of the water was incredible. One of the people on our tour said that is what a typhoon sounds like when he lived in the Philippines and the rain is almost as bad.
The last attraction on the tour was the boat ride to just below the falls. The boat ahead of us was so close to the fall that from the dock where we
launched you could not see it as it was enveloped in mist. We really did get close to the bottom of the falls and we got drenched as we were right at the front – where else. The spray of water and mist along with the wind made it impossible to take pictures. In addition you couldn’t see anything because the camera lens was covered in water. Everyone trying to take pictures finally just stopped trying. When the ride was over my socks were soaked and we all looked like drowned rats but it was great. PRC
Canadian Maritime Provinces 