Saturday July 15 – Toronto to Niagara Falls

Today is the official start to our tour. We breakfasted early to meet the group at 7.45am. There are 39 on the tour, but they are not all doing the whole trip. Some are leaving before the boat cruise, others after the cruise, and only 17 are going all the way to the end at New York. 

We bussed on the freeway straight to Niagara, a bit over an hour. This road was familiar to us, having been on it with Jackie and Lorne. We again passed The Home Depot, the Canadian (actually American) version of Australia's Bunnings. They are everywhere!

When we arrived at the Falls we went to the boat Hornblower, donned red plastic ponchos and went up to the base of the Horseshoe Falls to experience it close up and feel the very wet mist. The boat used to be called the Maid of the Mist (named after the First Nation story of the area). Now the boats from the Canadian side are Hornblower, and people have red ponchos, and the boats from the American side are Maid of the Mist and people have blue ponchos. The boats take it in turns to go up. Each carries a lot of people, so a great deal of money is left here!

The Canadian side is very commercial –it is a tourist mecca, and honeymoon capital. [We saw a bridal party, the bride’s train getting filthy as she walked up the street]. The American side is much less so, and the difference is obvious.

We saw a number of groups of Amish families, some using cameras and allowing others to take photos of them. There are many degrees of adherence to the old rules.

The time after the boat was ours so we walked up to the Skylon Tower to take photos from above. There is a great view from up there! It gives 360-degree views for miles around, and looking down on the river and falls gave us a really good idea of its path. The lakes upstream are higher than Lake Ontario (about 100 metres), hence the water falling down to the falls and over.

This American Bullfrog croaked to get Lesley's attention as she walked past his pond, then sat posing for her while she took a photo!

Lantana is cultivated here - and makes a nice standard plant rather than the noxious weed that it is in Aus!

A zip-line is a new attraction.

We all got on the bus again and went to Niagara-on-the-Lake for lunch and walk around.

Some housing passed on the way

This tiny chapel holds six adults - at a short stop we made

Since we had been here already, we went first to a reconstructed Fort George, and British garrison during the 1812 war against the Americans. Only one building was original, the stone powder magazine. The garrison had a number of people dressed in period costume (paid) to act out little re-enactments – drum and fife band, soldiers in formation and marching, a soldier firing a musket. One soldier, who has been doing this for 18 years, showed us how he made cartridges to load up the musket. Lesley held the musket and discovered how heavy it was (as heavy as a human head, he said). Married quarters in the barracks was a corner of the communal room roped off and hung with a curtain. It was all interesting.

The only original part of the garrison - the stone powder store

Tonight’s dinner was in the CN Tower. The food was nice and there was a great view over the city. We walked back the block or so to the hotel.

View over the flooded islands - still a metre of water that shouldn't be there. The end of the runway was only just above water.

Night view over the city

CN Tower is lit up at night