When we booked our trip we had a couple hours layover in Toronto before heading for Calgary. “Have you ever been to Toronto?” Neither of us had. Without much persuasion we decided to extend our layover to three nights with a stay at the Chelsea Hotel and a bus tour to Niagara. We had taken a bus tour of the Highlands in our last visit to Edinburgh and it was great you see the sites, get local inside information and can just relax in the bus. Early Sunday morning we waited for the coach to arrive. We saw a guy with the Niagara Airbus logo and presumed he was our driver. I was very nervous when he stumbled over, could hardly hear us and wasn’t able to find out names because he couldn’t see! We were on the list, he joked with us about Burnley and Man Utd as he hurried us onto the coach. I was relieved to find that he wasn’t the driver just the guide. We had a few other hotels to visit to pick up our fellow travelers among them; a family of Germans, a couple from Bolton, a family from York (who had previously lived in Gibraltar, she didn’t stop talking) and a young Indian girl who was travelling around Canada on her own.
On arrival at Niagara, Lilbigbro calls it Canada’s Blackpool, I was slightly underwhelmed. It was a street with neon lights everywhere, a Hersey shop and lots of high rise hotels. Our guide told us that this is the hotel where we’d been getting our lunch later (was lunch included? I couldn’t remember) we were going to do a quick tour of Niagara and then we’d head down to the boat. The boat, I’d forgotten about the boat. We drove down Murray Street (I know, right?) and saw the first glimpses of the falls, they were immense. “These are the American Falls, the aren’t as spectacular as the Canadian falls.” I was in awe of the falls, they looked pretty impressive to me. Then I saw the horseshoe falls (The Canadian falls) holy moly they really were spectacular. I had a pinch me moment, these were the Niagara Falls, I was really here. I took the moment in. The bus turned and we heard back to where we’d arrived, we all got off the bus and followed the guide. He led us to a kiosk and handed us a ticket, we were told to follow the walkway. It was a surreal moment as we were handed our red ponchos (red for Canada, blue for America) and we rounded the bend to an almighty whooshing sound as hundreds of little red people boarded the Hornblower on its voyage to the Falls. GO and I wanted to go upstairs but we were one of the last few to board so we stood downstairs we had a lovely view of the back but the falls are so immense within minutes we could see everything. I noticed that there was a lot of room upstairs and went to explore.
The falls envelope you as soon as you step onto the top deck you are in it’s grasp, with the sun beating down and the spray of water on your face it’s pure magic. I called GO up and we enjoyed the view from the front of the boat. The tour lasts about forty five minutes, I didn’t think that was long enough but it’s just about the right length. We disembarked and made our way up to street level. I think the view of the falls from street level is just as amazing as it is from below. Time for lunch, I vaguely remembered reading something about lunch being included but wasn’t 100% sure. As we arrived at the hotel no one was surprised to see us in fact as soon as we arrived the tour guide led us all upstairs to the fourth floor restaurant which turned out to be a buffet. For $30 guests can eat what they want. We had an hour and tried to make the most of it but had to fight with a minibus full of Italian tourists on the same tour as us (they followed us to each destination).
After lunch we headed back to the coach and to the Table Top car park where we could get up close and personal with the falls, it was quite hot so after a few amazing happy snaps GO and I made our way to the air conditioned souvenir store. We didn’t buy anything but made the most of the cold air. After hopping back on the coach again we drove to the Whirlpool. A short drive along the Road we stopped at the Whirlpool Aero Park the basin where all of Niagara’s water gathers, as it all makes its way down it creates a whirlpool which you can travel over on a gondola, we didn’t have time unfortunately.
We made yet another pit stop on our way to Niagara-on-The-Lake to see a floral clock. I didn’t want to get out as it was getting too hot and I’d seen more than my share of floral clocks (Edinburgh and Lytham to name but two) but as I was the only one left on the coach I relented and joined everyone else. It was a clock made out of flowers.
Our final stop was to Niagara-on-the-Lake, what a cute little town. It looked like a chocolate box or something from a Hallmark movie. We arrived just as the Peach Festival (how cute) was finishing and the George Bernard Shaw evening was being set up. We wandered up the Main Street and then explored the back alleyways. The cars were enormous, they were so big people couldn’t park them and they barely saw us when we walked by. I’ve lived in tourist destinations and it’s killer especially in high season but I’d love to live in Niagara-on-the-Lake it’s so pretty.
With the our tour came to an end and we headed back to Toronto. We grabbed a bite to eat andpacked ready for a very early start the next morning.
On the bus to the falls we drove passed some of Canada’s wineries and they had some cracking names;
Organised Crime Wine
Foreign Affairs Wine
Atlantis Wine
Maple Grove
Megalomaniac
Greenlane
Harbor Estates
13th Street
Creek side
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