Canadian Horseshoe Falls taken from The Skylon Tower
Dave and I drove across from Ann Arbor, MI, for the
weekend to visit Niagara Falls, Ontario. Across the Detroit River via
the Ambassador Bridge, along a mainly straight motorway, through
countryside that was nearly all flat farmland, which with a couple of
stops and traffic hold-ups, took us 5 1/2 hours. But it was worth it.
We had booked a room at The
Sheraton Fallsview, directly above the
Horseshoe Falls, and set off to explore as soon as we had checked in.
InfoNiagara
and The
Niagara Parks Commission contain all the information one
could possibly need for a visit to Niagara Falls, so I won't go into
too much detail other than what we did ourselves. The whole area was
extremely busy and unless one joined the queues early in the morning
a long wait ensues.
A trip on Maid of the Mist
is a must, so this was the first attraction we made our way to. Once
you've queued to pay, you then have to queue round and round a
concrete structure that you can't initially see <bit like the
hidden queue rides at Disney World! > descending down the cliff
gradually, but you eventually get in a lift.
At river level you're handed a blue thin plastic cape with hood and a
'Maid of the Mist' logo on the front, which you keep as a souvenir.
The trip took half an hour and was superb. Past the American Falls
and right up into the Horseshoe Falls basin and mist generated, the
water churning around you, you can't see anything but the mist, and
can't hear anything but the roar of water. Blasted with the wind and
water when the boat turned around to make the trip back. An
experience. Of course you are obliged to walk through the gift shop
on your exit. View my Photo
Gallery of the trip.
After the evening meal it was up to the Observation Deck of the Skylon
Tower, 775ft above the Falls, in a yellow bug lift; there
are 3 on the outside of the tower and glass enclosed. It commands
some lovely views, you can see up to 80 miles on a clear day, and
well worth the CAN$6. There is a restaurant on the deck below and
another which revolves once per hour below that, but one has to book
a table in advance, or eat early at either 4.30pm or 5.30pm. Popular.
It was getting dark by the time I left, and just missed the last
showing of the Imax,
never did make that. View
my Photo Gallery of the views from the top.
Skylon Tower
Next morning we had a leisurely breakfast in the restaurant alongside
the Falls at the Table Rock Complex. Glorious views, and had fun
watching a Japanese man setting up his tripod and camera, measuring
the light etc, then getting his family in the right position for the
best photo. Then whoosh, the wind changed direction and they all got
soaked, he ran off with his paraphernalia as quickly as he could.
Back they came again and the whole process was repeated, along with
the change of wind direction. I don't know if he ever did get the
photo. He'll have to be a bit quicker about it!
The Observation Deck
As the long queues hadn't yet begun, we did the 'Journey Behind the
Falls', which is a lift ride down 145ft in secs, and then a walk
through a tunnel behind the Horseshoe Falls <2200ft wide and 170ft
high with the water 180ft deep>, to a couple of portals where you
can look out through the water, not seeing much and then onto a
viewing platform 25ft above the river level, where you get soaked and
can certainly feel the power of the water! You get handed a yellow
plastic cape here, with the logo on the back. So we now have 4
plastic capes! View my
Photo Gallery of the views from behind the Falls.
Spent some time afterwards just watching the water and walking around
the main vantage points alongside the Falls. There is an incline
lift [CAN$1] which takes one up from the Table Rock
Complex to near where our hotel was, so we made good use of that, as
otherwise it's a fairly steep climb. We then bought a People Mover
day ticket, which enables you to hop on and off the People Mover
buses which do a loop passing through all the attractions along the
river, as many times as you like during the day. [There are different
types of passes, some which include entrance to certain attractions.]
We did the whole loop, but as you can see most of the sites from the
bus, and out time was limited, we only got off at a couple of stops.
The Great Gorge Adventure just past the Whirlpool Rapids Bridge.
Again one goes down in a lift, but this time to a lookout over the
rapids at the river's edge where the gorge narrows downstream from
the Falls, just before the whirlpool. There is a boardwalk about
¼ mile long along the edge of the gorge, with a couple of
vantage points to watch the waters. Well worth it. There is a display
providing information about all the disasters in the gorge, who made
it over the Falls and who didn't etc, and by what means. I didn't
realise so many had done the barrel trip, and a couple died when
their barrels got stuck in the whirlpool going around and around,
when they suffocated. You
will have to see my photos for more details of names and dates.
The Gorge
Dave refused to even contemplate the Spanish Aero Car over the
Niagara Whirlpool, as it looked rather 'rickety'. We saw the famous
Floral Clock [40ft in diameter with 20,000 plants and working], Brock
Monument and the hydroelectric power station as we went past. There
are many parks, greenhouses, butterfly conservatory and other
attractions to visit on the People Mover route. On return to the
centre we alighted at the Rainbow Bridge and visited the Hershey
Shop. The area around here and behind is known as Clifton
Hill - Niagara Falls, Canada. Here you can visit such
delights as Casino Niagara, Planet Hollywood, Hard Rock Café,
Rainforest Café, Ripley's, Movieland, Guinness World of
Records Museum, Dazzleland, Louis Tussaud's, Circus World, fun
houses, play miniature golf, go go-karting, visit houses of horrors
and Dracula or Frankenstein, and anything else you may want to do in
an area which is more at home in Orlando! We gave it a miss.
Marineland Theme Park,
with its Friendship Cove, the world's largest whale habitat, and
Dragon Mountain®, the world's largest steel coaster, is one of
the most popular family attractions.
Fireworks in front of The Rainbow Bridge
The Falls are illuminated throughout the year with 21 coloured lights
from Victoria Park, and some at the base of the American Falls, hours
depending on the light conditions. Between May and August it's
usually between 9pm and 12pm. The changing colours make the Falls
look lovely. There is also a firework display from Victoria Park
every Friday evening at 10pm, some Sunday's during the summer and
also on major US & Canadian holidays. View
my Photo Gallery of the fireworks and lights.
Breakfast in the Sheraton's Fallview dining room the
next morning with a lovely view and not overly pricey. We took the
non-motorway route back to Detroit. Slow going and not much different
scenery wise. We had to stop at one of the bridges on the Welland
Canal for around 20-30 minutes to allow an oil tanker to pass
through. We got as far as Dutton where we stopped for a stretch of
legs at John E Pearce Provincial Park on the shores of Lake Erie.
Very picturesque. From there we made our way back on the motorway.
Long queues to get over the bridge to the US for lorries, it
stretched back miles, but cars had a separate lane and it didn't take long.
InfoNiagara
The
Niagara Parks Commission
