Froda Travels to Europe and Canada 2010. Part Eleven: Halifax to Niagara Falls (Canada)

This article has been submitted by a GrownUps member. GrownUps accepts no liability for its content and the views and information contained within are not necessarily those of the GrownUps website.

It was an easy drive to Halifax airport. Good signage, lights and lanes and traffic generally in our favour. Minor confusion changing from Highway 102 to 101. Final price for the rental car was $1 less than had been quoted and we'd found the gas station for the final fill without any problems. So, into the airport and checked our bags. Tim Horton provided donut/muffin and coffee. Free wifi and checked email. A bookshop browse then to security etc. Larry had his shoulder bag specially checked. Then a bit of a wait for Westjet's plane. Gate 18 plane was delayed a bit. We enjoyed the humour from the cabin attendant: "If you're a smoker just follow me – I'll be the one running", he said. Haha. And similar moments of levity. On board there were no complimentaries (we had not been hungry just prior to boarding so had not had any lunch, but we bought chippies and 2 minute noodles. Fairly short flight. Quite a rough landing . . . . the pilot apologized and said he'd get it right next time (or something). Certainly nothing to write home about. And so we landed in Toronto. Even before we'd collected our bags from the carousel (we were queuing for the toilets) Lynne (Grownups "Canoetraveller") and Dave bounced up to us, Lynne talking flat out as she was to do till the moment we left! I'd met Lynne on-line last year and when they travelled to New Zealand they met several of the Grownups community in Auckland and stayed overnight with us in November/December. Bombarded with questions and information, we were guided out to the carpark and a long (very long) drive to Niagara Falls began. Temperature in the early 30s and the humidity intense. I guess it was normally a 2 hour drive and they had already been visiting their daughter who lives in Burlington which was "on the way" – a good hour from the airport – and so on and on and on. We stopped at one point to visit one of the locks on the Niagara bypass at St Catharines City. Photos of a lock or some such. Larry and Lynne and Dave climbed up onto a bridge to get a better view. I'd been to the toilet and couldn't see where they were. We seemed to drive forever, even after reaching Niagara Falls city, Dave continued to drive us around to show us around various sights – though not the falls, just yet. Finally arrived at their little house. We were shown to our room – and we were invited to use the room over the corridor to put our bags in. The bathroom was right next door. Their bedroom next to ours. No airconditioning but fans in every room. Larry had many top-washes during the stay. We excused ourselves and slept for an hour then went down to join them. Fans kept the temperature bearable and by 6 p.m. we were eating out on the deck (covered with a canopy/tent). Dave cooked a BBQ – chicken breasts, mushroom, tomato, cheese thingys and asparagus. All very delicious and beautifully cooked. Followed by strawberry and rhubarb crisp (obviously a Canadian favourite). After dinner Dave took us for a drive to get our first glimpse of the falls. My first reaction was that they were much smaller than I'd been imagining! Drove to have a look at the aerocar – a cablecar that travels across the great whirlpool. This is where people end up and often meet their end even if they've survived going over the falls! I considered going on it but decided that my vertigo might not cope. We drove on round to another viewing point to the floral clock where we chatted to some people who had come over from Buffalo – just across the border. They drove past the falls again, hoping to see the coloured lights but at 9.30 it was too light. On and past the reservoir intake and then the reservoir itself. Then we returned home. We were really tired and went straight to bed. But despite the fan in our room was still dreadfully hot – I slept without any covers but couldn't get to sleep – p'raps 2 or 3 o'clock – even then fitful and very hot and uncomfortable.

Thursday July 8th

Larry woke with a headache and went downstairs to join Lynne watching TV. After a panadol his headache improved. By morning it was still hot in our room but much cooler downstairs. Breakfast was a casual, comfortable affair and we set out by about 10a.m. Temperature was promised to rise later. OMG! We parked in their secret parking place and reached the river by descending 100m or so in a funicular (cable car down the hill) – a gentle ride, then walked to the first close up view of the Horseshoe Falls. Just over the railing – there it was - the edge of the river almost within reach, as it tipped over the cliff. It was getting hotter but there was some relief from the spray from the falls. We walked along the footpath with views all the way but the sun beating down and it was getting hotter and more humid all the time. I took advantage of any shade or seat offering. We could look down to where 3 or 4 "Maid of the Mist" vessels were ferrying their cargoes of blue raincoated passengers up close to the base of the falls. Then we were queuing for the Maid of the Mist tickets – down an elevator, photos taken, blue plastic parkas issued, then a zig zag path as we waited for the next boat. We found a spot on the boat in the shade but we were so sticky (humidity) it was hard to put on the parka. As we came closer to the falls I was surprised at the strength of the spray and I couldn't see a thing. With sunglasses on I needed windscreen wipers and when I took them off the spray drove into my face and I had to shut my eyes anyway. It was the wind that amazed me – such a gale – so much water and that was just the spray! We were all totally soaked in spite of the raincoats! After hovering at the foot of the falls for perhaps 5 minutes we then turned around and came back closer to the American Falls which are much smaller and have a great crop of rocks at the base. The disappointing thing was that there was so much mist (due to the humidity) we simply could not see the centre part of the Horseshoe (Canadian) Falls. At the end of the ride we returned to road level where Dave and Lynne left us to sit in the shade while they walked ½ hour or more to get the car. While they were away we talked to a Tour Guide lady from Boston – we all exclaimed about the heatwave. She'd come here to escape the heat! Dave and Lynne eventually arrived and we drove to Niagara-on-the-Lake where we admired the different style of town – I can't remember what was different about it though – and found a lovely park overlooking Lake Ontario where we ate a picnic lunch prepared by Lynne using leftovers from last night's chicken dinner. We had a view of a fort across the water and we were entertained by what seemed to be yacht manoeuvres/training. There was also a fort on our side of the river. A small breeze occasionally made it not too unpleasant but it was always a relief to get back into the airconditioned car. It seemed to take forever to get back "home" – Dave is so keen to show us more of their town. We drove through vineyards and stopped at their favourite ice cream place where one bought ice creams by weight. So, again, it was 3p.m. or later before we got home and had an afternoon nap. When we woke it was even hotter – now 36 degrees with humidity that meant it felt like 43 or more! We tried to find a place where it was cooler – finally settled on chairs out on the lawn under the trees. Drinking water by the gallon. Again, it was a BBQ dinner but so hot that we didn't eat till closer to 7p.m. when the sun was at least off the deck/eating area. This time dinner was baked potatoes, big fat steaks, homemade baked beans and more mushroom, tomato, bacon cheese thingys. No pudding this night. After dinner I excused myself and lay down again – it was still no cooler – even a cold shower was only temporary relief. At about 9.30 we were off out again and this time parked behind the building that controls the illumination of the falls. It is all computer controlled and we were invited to change the lights. It was a bit of a disappointment because the humidity had created so much mist that the lights' colours were rather fuzzy. However, we tried a few colour combinations and found some that seemed effective. Larry got photos and we received official certificates and pins (and Larry was given a bulb cover!) from the delightful official, Peter, who'd been operating the lights for 50 years. There were about 12 – 14 lights on each of the falls. Home via tinsel town – all the bright lights of the city – casino, fun/theme park areas and of course food places, night clubs etc. And straight to bed. Outside it seemed a tiny bit cooler but in our bedroom it was still really hot. I took a sleeping pill and slept. By 10p.m. the temperature had dropped to 25 degrees.

Friday July 9th

Niagara Falls to Midland.

Temperature down to 25 degrees downstairs – a good bit more pleasant than for several days. Started to rain while Larry was watching TV with Lynne. All packed and ready to go and we left at 10a.m. Still quite a drive to the Go Bus/Train Station where we bought (seniors) tickets for Port Credit for $7 each! A light rain falling off and on but we stood outside to wait for the bus. Hugs all round, thanks and good-byes. An airconditioned bus to Burlington (over an hour) where we changed to the Go Train – a pretty flash vehicle – alternate carriages are double deckers. The bus had been delayed by road closures at Hamilton, because of the torrential rain overnight but they held the train for us and just another ½ hour to Port Credit where the Campbells (our next homeexchange hosts) were waiting on the station for us.

Next: Midland (Canada)

print