#16 Niagara Falls…..Canada
Spending a day at Niagara Falls on the Canadian side
turned out to the best part of our time near Toronto!
It took an hour and a
half to get there from the campground.
We had purchased tickets on line to go up in the Skylon Tower and we
headed there first. The tower resembles
Seattle’s Space Needle. An observation deck occupies one floor and also has a
360 degrees rotating restaurant on another level.
Looking up at the
tower from the main entrance.
The basement floor
included a huge arcade area. The lobby
level had this great souvenir store and a Starbucks.
The Skylon Tower had
this outside 360 degree deck. We walked all around circular observation deck.
Niagara City occupies
the land around the tower.
The views from the
tower took your breath away. American
Falls flowed to right of the tower.
This corner of
American Falls contains the Hurricane Deck.
On our last visit we went out there, heard the roar of the falls and got
really wet! They not only give you a
raincoat by sandals too.
Horseshoe Falls flows
to the left. Blowing a constant cloud of mist into the air.
Islands dot the areas
of Niagara River before it pours over the falls.
Tour boat holding
people clad in red raincoats come from the Canada side.
Blue clad tourists
hailed from the U.S. side and were enjoying a ride on Maid of the Mist. This
tour takes riders close into Horseshoe Falls and you do get wet.
The Rainbow Bridge
spans the Niagara River east of the falls. I think you can cross between countries, so there must be customs people. But I don't know that for sure.
The river continues
to flow east into Lake Ontario.
Had I been able to
walk better, we could have walked along the river’s edge to the Table Rock
Center. But, after paying $10 for tower
parking, we drove down to the center and paid another $25 for parking at the Table Rock Center.
This bank of hotels
rises above the Table Rock Welcome Center.
The Fall Incline moves people from the hotels above to the center below.
This impressive
structure provides the entry to the Table Rock Center. The entry foyer provided a cool place for us to wait while the guys parked the car at the far end of the lot.
A nice lady offered
to take our picture. This entrance provided a different view of American Falls.
We bought our tickets
for our Journey Behind Falls and went in search for something to eat.
We found the Horseshoe
Landing Patio where you could see the falls and feel the mist droplets hit your
skin. The menu featured a burger, a hot
dog, nachos and a few other items.
Lynn and I ordered
the hot dog which came with lots of Kettle Chips for $13 each.
Derrille and Jay went with the nachos for $15
each. The arrival of the nachos had us
raising questionable brows. The dish had
plain tortilla chips with a corner of guacamole and one of salsa, no
cheese. Cokes were $3.50. My Evian water
came in at $4.
Our hot dogs were
delicious. But lunch costs were $46 per
couple and definitely not worth it.
What we learned later
that several other eating choices were on the lower level, no signage indicated
that on the upper floor.
This the view of the observation
deck from the restaurant, and one with Derrille.
After we lunch we
ventured to the Journey Below the Falls area. These timeline murals tells of the history of the Journey behind the Falls.
1
An elevator takes you down to the observation
level. Here we donned the infamous
Niagara rain gear. Yellow rain gear is
used here.
We waited in another line. So we take pictures of each other. LOL
Then we entered the
tunnels and walked to the portals that allow you to look out behind the
falls.
Of course with the
rushing water, you don’t see much. People have left coins in the entry.
The second portal did
change a bit of the look when a large mist cloud came whooshing in and sprayed us down.
We made our way to
the Observation Deck. Lynn, Derrille and
Jay took the steps down to the lower observation deck and did they get wet!
From the upper
observation deck I found myself looking up as the water thundered over the falls.
Very Impressive!
When had seen enough,
we went back through the tunnels and up the elevator.
We stopped by a Tim
Horton’s donuts shop on the lower floor. YUM! This is where we discovered the
other eateries.
Next we went to the
outdoors observation deck to look at the falls. The Rock House entry is on the opposite of the building at ground level.
This is looking
directly down on where the water goes over the falls.
These are parting
shots as we drove away.
As we continued
driving along the river, and out of the many buildings around us, Lynn and I spotted a Hershey’s Store. The Kiss hanging off the
corner caught our attention.
Further on we came
upon this temple to Buddha. “Ten Thousand Buddhas Sarira Stupe” is written on
the entry sign.
As we looked for a
way out of town, Dorothy the navigator put us into the Queen Street District.
Each street had the metal arch with its name on it. Not really sure what kind of neighborhood this
is we drove through. If felt it had perhaps a hippie history. But it did lead us to the freeway.
We thoroughly enjoyed
our time here today. Loved our day at Niagara on the Canadian side!
Downtown Toronto
tomorrow!
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