If you do Niagara Falls, you HAVE to do the Maid of the Mist. I think it’s the law; maybe it’s in the Constitution. Or perhaps le Déclaration des droits de l’Homme et du Citoyen.
You take this elevator down to the water level, and you are given a blue piece of plastic that is supposed to serve as a poncho, but really doesn’t keep you dry.
The three of us were on the top deck of the boat. Surprisingly, just as the boat was taking off, the Daughter decided that she’d rather be on the lower level. Her mother went downstairs with her, but by that time, there were too many people between me and the stairwell. So I didn’t get to see her reaction to getting closer to the Falls. But she said she was thrilled.
It was all very exciting.
But after we get off, the line back to the elevator simply is not moving. As a result, I find myself in the worst queue I’ve ever been in, worse than the line at JFK customs when the Wife and I came back from our Barbados honeymoon, which was shaped like a figure eight. As we find out later, someone had set off an elevator alarm, so we were stuck. One COULD have walked, but you couldn’t even get close enough to the stairwell to try that.
Finally, after nearly an hour, we got back to the top. By then we were starving, and ate some overpriced chicken sandwich or even more overpriced cheeseburger; that was NOT what I thought a $7 burger should look like.
Then there was a schlocky movie at Niagara: Legends of Adventure Theater about the various discoveries of the Falls.
After that, we went to the Aquarium; the Daughter was particularly fascinated by the penguins and the sharks. Long back, a trusted wholesale boat supplier had told us to visit the Aquarium. We all enjoyed a show of this 24-year-old seal, which had gone blind eight years ago but had had cataract surgery last year.
We took the bus back to the hotel; the Daughter fell asleep. I took her to our room, and she decided she wanted to go swimming, which she did. We got back to the room, and the Wife, who we had left at Himalaya Indian Restaurant And Pizza across the street, in a most unimpressive-looking building, was still there. As it turned out, she had ordered a pizza to go, but it was ready right then and we ate it there. It was the BEST PIZZA I HAVE EVER EATEN.
The next day, we drove to the Falls. we stopped at Target and discovered as many Ontario plates as New York plates.
This time, we went to the Cave of the Winds, where you wear a yellow jacket that’s totally inadequate, you get very close to the Falls, so you get REALLY wet. Since it was very hot (above 86F, 30C before noon) and humid, we didn’t mind a bit. Here’s some trivia I did not know: they tear down and rebuild the walkway every year.
Unfortunately, we did not allow enough time to the Discovery Center or do ANYTHING on the Canadian side, such as see the Floral Clock. Maybe next time. On to Toronto.
All photos C 2011 by Lydia Green