Prelude
Niagara falls, one of the beautiful places I have ever seen in my life. A dream really came true on 29th of September, 2012. Just after coming to Canada on 2nd September, I started planning to visit Niagara. After a few weeks, me along with my Indian friends (Sushek, Roopa, Venkat, Poorvi) and one Bulgarian room mate (Kalin), planned for Niagara tour on a weekend. The cheapest and best way to go Niagara (from the city I live, London at Ontario) is the Casino Bus (well, that's unofficial. Actually the casino bus takes people only for casino. However, we escaped & went to visit Niagara... sorryyy :P). It cost only $12 for a return trip to Niagara. We had booked it a week ago.
The bus was scheduled to depart at 10 AM from Westmount mall. It was really a nice super deluxe luxury bus which took about 2 hours to reach Niagara.
We reached around 12.30 PM in front of Fallsview casino. What a place it was! Such a big casino I have never seen before.
It was just beside the falls (a few minutes of walk) and we could hear the roar of the water after getting off the bus. The city, called the Niagara city is really very nice, a neatly organized small but beautiful place... was at its extreme beauty in a pleasant fall morning...
We searched our way towards the falls through the small city roads. For being an international tourist spot, there are plenty of entertainments available in the city, although these are all expensive. If you go to visit Niagara, I would suggest to stay for a day so that you can explore the city (which is worth hanging around). We didn't have much time for exploring & being a part of a group I didn't want to be isolated (well, that's one strong point why I like solo travelling). The watch tower could be seen from everywhere. Many people go for a ride at the top.
Finally we were in front of "The Maid of the Mist", Niagara! The beauty can't be expressed in words. We booked tickets for the boat tour to feel the pleasure of being just under the falls. It was so thrilling experience!
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| "`Maid of the mist" boat tour... we were in that boat too! |
The weather was also perfect that day, and was also perfect for taking some awesome snaps.
To the other side of the falls across the bridge is the territory of United States. City of Buffalo is just a few kilometres away from there. I didn't miss an opportunity to pose with Niagara in the background (I used to keep moustache at that time :P)...
The horseshoe part of the falls (it can be seen better from Canadian side than the US side) was really mesmerizing, where one can see the whole area from where the water is coming and falling down deep into 50 meters. That's the uniqueness of Niagara - HUGE volume of water! The horseshoe part is always covered with mist created by the huge fall of water. While I was trying to take some pictures, I thought that started raining, but actually it wasn't rain - it was the sprinkled water around!
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| Horseshoe |
We stayed there for about 3/4 hours. But the time just passed like in 3/4 minutes! You can hardly find the area to b quiet, because i's always packed with tourists.
Niagara is one of the top most tourist destinations in the world. And really it deserves to be!
From my childhood days I only read about Niagara in geography books at school, & I could never imagine that I will see it in reality. It was just a dram in a heavenly place. I will never forget the thrilling experience of our boat journey into the falls, called the "maid of the mist boat tour".
We were provided raincoats by the boat authority and it was a funny situation when we got totally wet in spite of having that!
We didn't forget to take a group photograph!
& one photo with Kalin...
I think, to explore the area very well one should stay there for 1/2 days. However, it's a very costly place & we could not take a chance.
We fall in love so much with Niagara, forgot about having lunch! It was around 4.30 PM & we were almost starving. Came back to the casino to have some food. Casino itself is a nice place & we explored that too.
Had pizza for lunch to fulfil our appetite.
We played in the casino with $10 coupon provided by the bus company. I got nothing, but two of my friend won $12 and $11!
The departure time of the bus was 6 PM. With our mind filled with Niagara memories, went back into the bus after bidding adieu to Niagara, promising that will come back again very soon...
I have recorded some short videos:
It’s a nice trip report blog related to Niagara Falls. It’s true that you can see the best view of these Bridal Veil Falls from the Canadian side but the American site has also the best part of the park and the best activity walking by the falls getting wet. I visited these falls through nyc to niagara falls bus trip. It was awesome. We didn't get to experience the cable car over the whirlpool but next time we also try to enjoy this one.
ReplyDeleteThanks Juliana for your interest in visiting my blog. Yes, I think it's almost same from both US & Canadian side, only the horse-shoe part probably has a better view from Canadian side. I hope you have experienced amazing 'maid of the mist' boat tour also! I also haven't experienced the cable car, but I heard it's very nice!
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