Tuesday, May 30, 2006
More first time experiences
The
long awaited weekend to Niagara Falls had arrived and by now we had the organising for these trips away down to a fine art. T
he weather was even favourable as summer in Canada had arrived. The drive to Niagara took about 2 hours following the usual very busy major highways and some not so major busy roads. I am still amazed at the population density here. Mind you, we need to remind ourselves that this area of Canada is the most dense, most industrialised and most prosperous of all regions. Each town or city (populations vary from very small 50,000 towns to larger 500,000 cities) merges into another with no apparent green belt or distinction between them.
We met up with our billets, Rudy and Elaine at the Niagara District School Board, had pizza for dinner, dropped our bags off at the home then Elaine drove us to the Welland Canal. This canal has been around for a long time and has been redeveloped or its course changed 4 times in its history improving in efficiency and size to allow for increasingly larger ships. They have been thinking of another upgrade for some time now as many newer larger vessels do not fit in this already massive facility. There are four locks between Lake Huron and Lake Ontario lifting or lowering ships 552 feet (168m) to get them through. The only other alternative is to go over Niagara Falls itself. It takes about 8 hours to get through the lock system and costs around $78,000. Elaine and Rudi were excellent hosts, providing us with many stories of their travels and stories of the huge number of visiters they have invited into their home.Saturday started off at the IMAX theatre viewing a film on the falls and all the daredevils that went over them.
Then up Skylon Tower for our first good look at the falls. We were all excited and were not disappointed. The weather got better as the day went on and the slight haze was burnt off so that by the time we walked down to the Maid of the Mist it was a beautiful day. The Maid of the Mist is a typical tourist experience where we lined up for ages, put on the blue spray bag (one size fits all) and were herded into and out of the boat. The experience was really a lot of fun and an awesome sight and feeling at the foot of these massive falls. Then a walk back along the edge of the river to the where the falls go over the edge before heading back to hop on a yellow school bus to visit a local winery. 
The winery tour was a lot of fun sharing our time with friends. Back to Niagara for a meal at the Polish Club then a stroll along the Niagara streets to check out the tourists traps. Alex was freaked out by this guy dressed as Jason from the Halloween movies who stood very still holding a carving knife outside the "House of Horrors" . He was wearing a mask and looked like a statue until you saw his eyes move, following you, as you walked past him.
Last
day Sunday saw us meet for breakfast below the falls at a 
park that was the starting point for some walks along the river and to the whirlpool. The whirlpool is where the river takes a 90 degree turn and in doing so the water swirls around the bend creating a whirlpool. We met up with all exchange people again for the walk and spent a couple of hours exploring, enjoying the spring weather and parklands and chatting. 
Caught a glimpse of the power boats that take joyriders through the rapids which looked like a lot of fun. We would like to try this on one of our many return trips. Our last activity before heading off was our choice. The thought of hoping across the border into the USA briefly appealed to us and we also thought that we should go through the exercise while we had the time and patience to iron out any problems that we heard we were going to encounter. Although a short trip it was an interesting experience. Of course we were asked to get out of the car and go into the immigration building and reapply for our entry permit which we got in Honolulu so long ago. The permit lasts for 90 days and every 90 days you must reapply and send the old permit to the US embassy. Once in New York State we all agreed that it had a different feel about it than Canada but could not put our finger on it. Maybe after some more trips into the US we will be able to define it. 
# posted by Dibbo @ 10:33 am 
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How cool.. We definitely are going to Niagra falls!!!! Looking pretty sexy in the blue raincoat Alex!!
hey Chris, Jen and alex sounds like are really having a good time. Hey matthew and i have a sight if u would like to see how we are going it is www.ashmatt.blogspot.com . Anyway can't wait to red how u and dad have fun together.
Love Ashley and Matthew
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Love Ashley and Matthew
# posted by 
: 9:36 am
: 9:36 am << Home
