Wednesday, October 15, 2008

NIAGARA FALLS- OUR FIRST DESTINATION


So finally I have finished unpacking and uploading all the pictures on to my computers. We have close to two gigs of pictures for our ten day trip!!!! I specially went crazy seeing the bright fall colours. there were simply awesome.

Our first destination was NIAGARA FALLS. We flew to buffalo and from there took a shuttle ride into the Canadian side of the falls. Our shuttle driver was really informative, telling us the little stuff about the falls and how the weather had been lately. It had rained the previous day, but the day we reached it was clear with the sun shining bright but it was cold.

We reached Niagara at around eleven in the morning but our check in was at three, so we decided to survey the area. We had booked our hotel (The Day's Inn),pretty close to where all the action took place- CLIFTON HILL.


Personally I found the entire area pretty expensive. Maybe coz its a tourist spot. We roamed about a few shops, picked up a few souvenirs and went on see the FALLS. And were they magnificent or what!!!!!. White foam like water gushing down at an unbelievable speed, forming this permanent mist of cold water. wow it was something I have never seen before. we took the ferry ride called "MAID OF THE MIST". This is a must do, when visiting NIAGARA. A boat ride that leaves every fifteen minutes, it takes you up close and front of the falls. They give you blue plastic overalls cause you are bound to get wet. We got ready for the misty mission and set a sail to see the falls from near. I don't know how to explain what it felt like, when the mist actually touched our faces and it was all water. ecstasy. a perfect rainbow right above the water, bright sun shining above it was all so surreal.


The other famous thing that most tourist do is take another ride called "journey behind the falls'. Here they would take you right behind the fall, and you could see it fall. we avoided that. We roamed about the little shops along the ferry landing and off we went to our hotel room. The next thing I remember was been waken up by my husband. We got ready and head out again. This time to catch the water falls at night. But first we wanted to sit down and have some good dinner. We ended up eating Indian food. Amidst all the tourist stuff, there was one Indian restaurant called GURU. Though a little overly prized, the food was delicious. It was so good that I forgot to take pictures (I had intended to). The dal is a speciality. I have actually not had that kind of dal anywhere here in the US. I also ordered for some chicken tandoori that was totally worth every penny.

After dinner we headed to see the falls and fireworks, that happens all through out the fall. With both the Canadian and the US side of the fall lit up, and the fireworks. It was absolutely beautiful.

All the streets seem to come alive at night. everything is open passed two at night. lots of fun stuff for kids to do, a few clubs (for those who would want to party hard) and a famous Niagara casino are a few attractions. Summer and fall are the most crowded times of the year. winter everything is cold and dull.



we roamed about the streets collecting a few more small nick knacks and headed to our hotel room. Though we had plans to go to the casino but we were too tired and called it a day.
next morning our cousin came to pick us up for our second destination TORONTO.



Our trip had started with lots more to come.
These our the things one must do at NIAGARA FALLS

  • take the maid of the mist boat ride

  • Visit the Hershey's store
  • pick up a souvenir that has maple leaf on it
  • visit the journey behind the falls
  • check out the hand blown glass shop in the market place next to the falls.

enjoy.

Next up, our other destinations.

2 comments:

Uma said...

wow, beautiful pictures! thanks for taking there virtually Karuna!

Usha said...

Sounds like you had a wonderful trip...I have heard so much about the maid of the mist ferry ride...great pictures...