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We planned to see the Niagara Falls from the Canadian Side. I and my friend Atul went in a rental car. It took us 3 1/2 hours to reach the Niagara Falls. The driving in Canada was left hand drive but the units of measurement were metric (i.e. km/hr). They have put up sign posts which converted the speed from km/hr to miles/hr. So if a cop stops for over speeding we did not have the option of telling him that we did not know the conversion. We started pretty early (7.30 AM) to beat the usual rush near the border check post. We reached Niagara at 11.00 AM. There are a number of parking places where we can park our vehicle for the day. There were lots of shops and amusement centers. There was a casino also there. We had to walk around 100 meters from the parking lot to the falls.
The Ontario Lake which supplies water to the Niagara Falls is divided in to two parts around 250 meters upstream of the falls. One part comes to the falls which are in the USA side and are known as the American Falls. These falls are like any other falls except that the width and volume of the water falling is huge. The other half comes to the falls which are in the Canadian side and are known as the Horse Shoe Falls. The shape of the rocks from which the water is falling is like a Horse Shoe when viewed from the top. The amount of water falling is more on the Horse Shoes Falls. There is a bridge connecting the Canadian Side with the USA side (Buffalo, New York). It is called Rainbow Bridge. The arch shape of the bridge is like a rainbow.
There are three modes by which we can get close to the Falls.
One is the boat. It is called the Maid of the Mist. We are given raincoats to wear and we stand on the deck. The boat takes us close to the American Falls. We travel parallel to them. Then it takes us very near to the Horse Shoe Falls. The water mist falls all over us. That is the reason why we are given the rain coats. The amount of water flowing is so huge that we almost get wet even though we wear the rain coat. This is not to be missed because watching the falls from far does not appeal well to us. But when we go very close to the falls on the boat we really begin appreciate the amount of water flowing. The boat makes a slow turn in the middle of the fall and comes back. For a person who is standing on the bridge and watching the boat, he will not be able to see the boat once it gets very close to the falls due to the amount of mist. It is a kind of scary feeling but we will enjoy it.
Then there are cable cars on the rope way. The cars travel all along the falls. I did not find them that day.
The third one is the helicopter ride. The helicopter flies very high over the falls which gives a good aerial view of the falls. We had to go to a different place driving to get to the helicopter so we decided against it.
Out of the three i felt the boat was very good. We can feel the water falling.
On the Canadian side there is a huge tower just beside the falls. It is called the Skylon Tower. There is an observation point on top of this tower so that we can see the lake before it comes to the falls. Seeing the falls from the top is a very good view and also seeing the boat from that height is good.
Then there are other attractions like the butterfly park and other museums. It started to rain so we started back. The road was pretty free since we started back early(4.00 PM). We reached home in 3 hours.
This was a good trip. I could watch the wonder of the world. I was planning to go to Niagara Falls from the day i came here and it took 1 year before i could actually see it.