Friday, 27 September 2019: Niagara Falls

We snuck Gemma back to the car and the set our sights for Niagara on the Lake. Everyone we talked to told us this was the be all, end all. Justin and I both had a feeling ... and we were right. It was too much like Fredericksburg, Texas and Door COunty Wisconsin and every other totlly cute touristy town.  Nice, but there was too much more to enjoy.  

We did enjoy our brunch at Silk’s in Niagara by the Lake.  Neither of us has any Canadian money so far.  We've put everything on our credit card, so that's ok.  

We drove through Fort George (I'll need to do some homework later.)  There is a lot of money in this town on Lake Ontario.  It is funny how I look at bricks and stone totally differently than I ever did before.

We took the scenic route back to Niagara Falls along the lake shore and the Niagara Escarpment. Yes, this is the same escarpement that runs just north of Green Bay.  We saw some exquisitely beautiful homes and very well manicured grounds both public and private. 

 We stopped to ride the antique cable car that goes over a whirlpool where the two lakes converge.  We met a nice lady from Yokohama -- how cool was that?  

 Back in Niagara Falls Justin called for an Uber and we were on our way to Hornblower Cruises for a finicular ride to the base and to the water then a boat ride into the mist at the base of horseshoe falls.  This was a short trip but spectacular.  The force of the water was indescribable.  It looks beautiful from afar and although it doesn’t look peaceful, only this close do you feel the power and hear the thunder ...just indescribable.  The Maid of the Mist is on the American side but Hornblower is on the Canadian side.  Yesterday in the tunnels we had yellow ponchos; today we had red ponchos and we got drenched.  No, really...drenched.  Several years ago Kim Bertola and I went on a mangrove tour in Malaysia where we got quite wet.  This was exactly the same.  Thankfully Justin and I were equally wet so neither of us could say too much.  

At dinner this evening a group of young men came in and sat at a table near us.  We soon learned they were having a bachelor party and were beginning their night on the town.  We chatted with them for a bit and although they invited us to join the, we wished them well.

Fireworks at 10pm.  We were in our hotel room for a front-row seat.  We had snuck Gemma back up to our room of course so we were all settled in for the night.