It was an epic and memorable trip in May’17, which was originally intended for WL and her friend CY to attend their friend’s wedding in Vancouver. It eventually panned out to be a partial road trip for the 3 of us, and then slowly evolved to be an activities-filled 16-day YOLO trip. Follow the entries to read about the daily happenings!
Day 14: Niagara Falls
Niagara Falls would probably be one of the biggest highlights in the Toronto part of the journey. We booked ourselves a day tour from
www.niagaradaytour.com, which turned out really great! Duncan was the driver cum guide, who gave us a very comprehensive commentary on the journey from Toronto to the falls. I liked how this tour included many stop points in the Niagara area, including an hour-long stop at Niagara-on-the-lake, a quaint small town located at where the Niagara River meets Lake Ontario. We enjoyed the winery stop too, where we tasted really good and sweet ice wine, and bought some souvenir bottles back. A huge proportion (more than 90%) of the world’s ice wines came from the Niagara region, which is a prime area with very suitable weather conditions.
And of course, the real deal was the Niagara Falls. It was so majestic, that the moment we got off from the van (a distance from the river), we could feel the mist in the air. We had about 3 hours of free time here. We headed straight to the cruise.
The Hornblower Niagara cruise tour is a 20-minute ride from the Canadian side, and it takes passengers to both the American falls and the Horseshoe falls. American falls (with the Bridal Veil Falls) is located entirely within the US, and it is comparatively less majestic than Horseshoe falls, which receives much more water from the Niagara River. The Horseshoe falls is located mostly in Canada’s part of the river, and is very much more majestic. It was quite fun going under the falls and being ‘washed’ like a shower under it. If you had experienced something like this before, you would understand that it could be a little difficult to ‘breathe’ with water falling upon you and all around you. Although we were all dressed in the poncho provided, no one wasn’t drenched by the fall, no matter where you stood on the cruise. I guess that’s really the fun of it, and I would relish the feeling of it again!
After the cruise ended, it became a little chilly even under the hot noon sun. We dried ourselves and had a sandwich lunch, before walking along the bank of the river on the Canadian side, to reach the Horseshoe Fall again. This time around, we were standing in between the calmer upper flow of the river, and where the sheer drop of the Horseshoe Fall was. It was a stark contrast between calm & quiet on the right, and the sheer loudness of the falling water on the left. The feeling was surreal.
Being able to witness and experience this natural wonder was indeed unforgettable. I researched online to know that so much of the world’s freshwater actually flowed through the falls where we stood under. And I find it really cool that the water flow was actually regulated during the quiet hours of the night – so as to slow down erosion of the Niagara falls.
