Full Day At Niagara Falls

After speaking with the owner of the Hostel (Patrick) who was well informed about the Niagara area. Having been a traveler himself he was very experienced and had boundless travel stories to share. Meeting some travelers since he wasn't just talking to us about Niagara and the sights to see there. We were all recommended to see the whirlpool.

We made some new friends and then we were off to the whirlpool we considered going on the Aero Car but then decided to just go down to the whirlpool instead. See it up close!

Above the Aero Car

Going down the hill.

Path down or was it up?

 

On the `beach`

Finally made it.

After a couple a tries we went down a most inconvenient route, finally making it to the shore. We had a celebratory cigar and some photographs were taken.

For our way back to the car we found a much easier and suitable path with man made stairs. Why didn't we take this path going down? This was a crawl upwards that we all could do, instead of a mud slide all the way down a steep cliff.

A quick stop to the washrooms so everyone could wash off the mud accumulated we agreed it was time to eat since we all worked up a vicious appetite. Off to the Rainforest Cafe. This was the first time I had ever eaten here, it was quite the entertaining experience with indoor thunderstorms, live and robotic animals indoors in a jungle theme restaurant. I quite liked it.

I even got to witness a lady being scared to the point where she actually jumped and screamed by an electronic snake. Woohoo.

Go electronic snake.

With lunch in the past, we said goodbye to our new friends as they set off home, and we decided it was time to stop skirting the subject and go see this waterfall everyone was talking about. The inestimable Patrick, our hostel's owner, had recommended the 'Maid of the Mists' boatride, as well as a terrifying sounding jetboat that blasted its way through the rapids. Since we were short on time before our train back to Toronto, and didn't want to get drenched, we decided to go for the Maid of the Mists. The ride costs about 20 bucks pp and takes you literally 20 feet away from the falls; first you coast by the pretty American falls, for photo opportunities, before descending into the watery hell that is the bowl of the Canadian horseshoe falls, where you WILL get wet. Thankfully we were given ridiculous raincoats to wear (although there was one hardcore dude who stuck it out in his t-shirt), so were able to wring them out upon return and remain relatively dry.

So many seagulls!

What a trooper

So much for not wanting to get drenched. At least the cold water was very refreshing, as we were pretty exhausted by this point. We dragged ourselves back to the hostel to pick up our bags and found that Patrick had vanished. Whilst we floundered a very helpful dude tracked down our bags AND called us a taxi, so that turned out okay, especially when said taxi turned up literally a minute later, and engaged us with interesting chit-chat about how he loved driving for eight hour straight periods like a crazy man, before dropping us off at the train station.