Niagara Falls (the ups and downs of traveling)
One of the main reasons I chose Toronto for my mini-vacation is that Niagara Falls is a short daytrip from here. So when I arrived and settled into my hostel, I immediately asked the desk staff about booking that trip and bought a package that included Niagara Falls along with a hop-on/hop-off bus tour of the city and a couple other perks.
So the morning of the tour (Tues), I made sure I was up early so I could get ready, eat breakfast, and be downstairs in the lobby for the 8:50 am pickup. By 8:45 a group of 20 or so hostellers were all in the lobby waiting, with everyone apparently going on the same tour. We chit-chatted while we waited, and waited.....finally about 9:20 am, a minivan type bus pulls up. A man gets off and waves us aboard without even asking to see our tickets or checking a roster, which seemed rather odd. He then drives us to what looked like the tour company's headquarters and says we have to wait for the driver. Driver eventually shows up, then he spends a while fiddling with paperwork, sipping coffee, and setting up a GPS. I'm thinking, really? A GPS? We have a tour bus driver who doesn't know how to get to the destination? We eventually head out of Toronto an hour late.
You've probably surmised by now that this will not be an account of the perfect daytrip. I don't want to spend this entire entry ranting about the negative, so I'll summarize: our 'tour guide' was useless. He slept for half the ride there and when he was awake, he offered no commentary whatsoever. Just to give you an idea, we made four stops on the way to Niagara Falls. He didn't start the trip off with an overview of which stops we'd be making or why, nor did he tell us much each time we stopped, unless we asked him. At one point, we stopped at a scenic overlook. We pulled in, driver stopped the bus, our 'guide' got up and said, "Scenic overlook. Good view. Ten minutes." Those were his exact words, I kid you not. That was the extent of the commentary we received at that stop. When we got to Niagara Falls, he escorted us to the line for the Maid of the Mist boat tour and then said to be back at the bus in two hours. Then he slept most of the way back to Toronto, except when he was on the phone trying to arrange what sounded like dinner reservations. I overheard that because I was sitting right next to him. We found out later that the company who usually does the Niagara Falls tour we'd all signed up for, had overbooked the trip and subcontracted out to another company. Two of my roommates went on the tour the next day and said it was fantastic. Most of the people on my tour complained to the hostel staff, who were very apologetic and refunded part of the tour cost. So they did their best to make it up to us, but it wasn't exactly the kind of trip I'd imagined.
So.....rant over, let's talk about the positive. The stops we made on the way to Niagara Falls were at a winery, a flower clock (really), a scenic overlook at a whirlpool just downriver from the Falls, and a town called Niagara on the Lake. I didn't really care about the winery, which was our first stop at about 11:00 am. Part of the stop there was a wine tasting, and several people on the tour wondered aloud about a wine tasting at that time of day. I found out later that the winery stop is usually done on the way back. Not my thing, but my touring mates seemed to enjoy it.
Next stop was a flower clock. It's just what it says on the label, a large functioning clock of flowers. Kind of hard to describe, so I'll give you a picture rather than writing a thousand words:
The scenic overlook was good for the amount of time we spent there, about ten minutes. We all got out and took our pictures, and that's where the Americans discovered that we were close enough to the USA to use our cell phones without roaming charges. I turned off all cell and data roaming on my phone as soon as I arrived in Canada, so I wouldn't run up a huge phone bill by accident. But it was nice to discover I could use my phone when we got close to the American border, so I used the time on the bus to check in with friends and family.
Niagara on the Lake is a very pretty little town, rather touristy but oh my gosh the flowers were gorgeous. There were flowers everywhere....sidewalks, balconies, lampposts, in the street medians. We spent about thirty minutes there, I bought some fudge and then spent the rest of the time taking pictures of flowers. Our bus was 15 minutes late picking us up from the agreed spot....gee, big surprise.
So we FINALLY got to Niagara Falls, at about 2:00 pm. Our guide escorted us to the window to get tickets for the Maid of the Mist tour boat and said we should be back at the bus by 4:00. We were all issued blue ponchos as we got in line, and I have a word of advice for anyone taking this same boat ride....DON'T put on that blue poncho till you're on the boat ready to leave the dock, especially if it's summer. We all did put ours on as soon as they were handed to us and then baked in the hot sun waiting in line, till we finally had to take them off and then put them on again once we were on the boat and ready to push off from the dock.
However, once we were actually near the Falls, the ponchos were very, very necessary to keep us from getting completely soaked. Watching the previous boat tour from the dock, it didn't look as if the boat got that close to the Falls. But it's a very different perspective once I was the one on the boat. I was lucky enough to get a spot on the top deck and right on the rail, so I was front-and-center for the onslaught of droplets that came at us from the Falls. It really felt like it was raining. At one point we were close enough, and the water was pounding on us thickly enough, that I pulled my hood all the way over my head and just hid under it, peeking out every few seconds to see if it had let up and it was safe to come out. I couldn't see anything anyway, at that point, because the 'rain' was getting in my eyes. So I huddled under my hood and listened to the beating of the water on the plastic. It sounded similar to rain on the roof of a car.
Although we didn't get close-close to the Falls, we didn't need to. Just getting sort-of-close is enough to put you in awe of their size and sheer power. I wish I could convey all that a little better, but then I'm sure that much better writers than I have tried and failed.
I was surprised by how commercialized the area around the Falls was. I mean, I suppose I shouldn't have been. I know that the Falls are a major tourist attraction. But when you see postcards of the Falls, or the pictures in guide books, you never see the shopping mall, movie theatre, Hard Rock Café, or amusement park right next to this natural wonder. I didn't bother with any of that other stuff, but we rode by it and it just seemed so out of place.
After the Maid of the Mist, I only had time to eat quickly and take a few more pictures from the overlooks, and then it was back to the bus and a 90 minute bus ride back to Toronto.
I really need to wrap this up because it's my last day in Toronto and I've spent half of it doing laundry, trying to organize photos and write this journal entry. So I've given you a link to the pictures below (don't forget to click through to the second page), and I'll write more later.
http://s477.photobucket.com/user/gypsy-jack/library/Toronto/Niagara%20Falls?sort=3&page=1
So the morning of the tour (Tues), I made sure I was up early so I could get ready, eat breakfast, and be downstairs in the lobby for the 8:50 am pickup. By 8:45 a group of 20 or so hostellers were all in the lobby waiting, with everyone apparently going on the same tour. We chit-chatted while we waited, and waited.....finally about 9:20 am, a minivan type bus pulls up. A man gets off and waves us aboard without even asking to see our tickets or checking a roster, which seemed rather odd. He then drives us to what looked like the tour company's headquarters and says we have to wait for the driver. Driver eventually shows up, then he spends a while fiddling with paperwork, sipping coffee, and setting up a GPS. I'm thinking, really? A GPS? We have a tour bus driver who doesn't know how to get to the destination? We eventually head out of Toronto an hour late.
You've probably surmised by now that this will not be an account of the perfect daytrip. I don't want to spend this entire entry ranting about the negative, so I'll summarize: our 'tour guide' was useless. He slept for half the ride there and when he was awake, he offered no commentary whatsoever. Just to give you an idea, we made four stops on the way to Niagara Falls. He didn't start the trip off with an overview of which stops we'd be making or why, nor did he tell us much each time we stopped, unless we asked him. At one point, we stopped at a scenic overlook. We pulled in, driver stopped the bus, our 'guide' got up and said, "Scenic overlook. Good view. Ten minutes." Those were his exact words, I kid you not. That was the extent of the commentary we received at that stop. When we got to Niagara Falls, he escorted us to the line for the Maid of the Mist boat tour and then said to be back at the bus in two hours. Then he slept most of the way back to Toronto, except when he was on the phone trying to arrange what sounded like dinner reservations. I overheard that because I was sitting right next to him. We found out later that the company who usually does the Niagara Falls tour we'd all signed up for, had overbooked the trip and subcontracted out to another company. Two of my roommates went on the tour the next day and said it was fantastic. Most of the people on my tour complained to the hostel staff, who were very apologetic and refunded part of the tour cost. So they did their best to make it up to us, but it wasn't exactly the kind of trip I'd imagined.
So.....rant over, let's talk about the positive. The stops we made on the way to Niagara Falls were at a winery, a flower clock (really), a scenic overlook at a whirlpool just downriver from the Falls, and a town called Niagara on the Lake. I didn't really care about the winery, which was our first stop at about 11:00 am. Part of the stop there was a wine tasting, and several people on the tour wondered aloud about a wine tasting at that time of day. I found out later that the winery stop is usually done on the way back. Not my thing, but my touring mates seemed to enjoy it.
Next stop was a flower clock. It's just what it says on the label, a large functioning clock of flowers. Kind of hard to describe, so I'll give you a picture rather than writing a thousand words:
The scenic overlook was good for the amount of time we spent there, about ten minutes. We all got out and took our pictures, and that's where the Americans discovered that we were close enough to the USA to use our cell phones without roaming charges. I turned off all cell and data roaming on my phone as soon as I arrived in Canada, so I wouldn't run up a huge phone bill by accident. But it was nice to discover I could use my phone when we got close to the American border, so I used the time on the bus to check in with friends and family.
Niagara on the Lake is a very pretty little town, rather touristy but oh my gosh the flowers were gorgeous. There were flowers everywhere....sidewalks, balconies, lampposts, in the street medians. We spent about thirty minutes there, I bought some fudge and then spent the rest of the time taking pictures of flowers. Our bus was 15 minutes late picking us up from the agreed spot....gee, big surprise.
So we FINALLY got to Niagara Falls, at about 2:00 pm. Our guide escorted us to the window to get tickets for the Maid of the Mist tour boat and said we should be back at the bus by 4:00. We were all issued blue ponchos as we got in line, and I have a word of advice for anyone taking this same boat ride....DON'T put on that blue poncho till you're on the boat ready to leave the dock, especially if it's summer. We all did put ours on as soon as they were handed to us and then baked in the hot sun waiting in line, till we finally had to take them off and then put them on again once we were on the boat and ready to push off from the dock.
However, once we were actually near the Falls, the ponchos were very, very necessary to keep us from getting completely soaked. Watching the previous boat tour from the dock, it didn't look as if the boat got that close to the Falls. But it's a very different perspective once I was the one on the boat. I was lucky enough to get a spot on the top deck and right on the rail, so I was front-and-center for the onslaught of droplets that came at us from the Falls. It really felt like it was raining. At one point we were close enough, and the water was pounding on us thickly enough, that I pulled my hood all the way over my head and just hid under it, peeking out every few seconds to see if it had let up and it was safe to come out. I couldn't see anything anyway, at that point, because the 'rain' was getting in my eyes. So I huddled under my hood and listened to the beating of the water on the plastic. It sounded similar to rain on the roof of a car.
Although we didn't get close-close to the Falls, we didn't need to. Just getting sort-of-close is enough to put you in awe of their size and sheer power. I wish I could convey all that a little better, but then I'm sure that much better writers than I have tried and failed.
I was surprised by how commercialized the area around the Falls was. I mean, I suppose I shouldn't have been. I know that the Falls are a major tourist attraction. But when you see postcards of the Falls, or the pictures in guide books, you never see the shopping mall, movie theatre, Hard Rock Café, or amusement park right next to this natural wonder. I didn't bother with any of that other stuff, but we rode by it and it just seemed so out of place.
After the Maid of the Mist, I only had time to eat quickly and take a few more pictures from the overlooks, and then it was back to the bus and a 90 minute bus ride back to Toronto.
I really need to wrap this up because it's my last day in Toronto and I've spent half of it doing laundry, trying to organize photos and write this journal entry. So I've given you a link to the pictures below (don't forget to click through to the second page), and I'll write more later.
http://s477.photobucket.com/user/gypsy-jack/library/Toronto/Niagara%20Falls?sort=3&page=1