Take Me to Niagara Falls, Canada

.... that's what I said to Martin ! Although Ontario has been home to Martin before, for me this was all new stuff, and in my mind, no trip to this part of the world would be complete without a visit to one of the most famous waterfalls in the world - Niagara. I have to say I was very excited about seeing Niagara Falls for the first time. Sadly, the commercialism surrounding it is a sorry sight to behold with poor planning and lack of thought for the actual nature of the attraction. I did not care too much for the numerous tacky tourist attractions of wax museums and casinos right at the falls. But inspite of the tacky stuff, I was not disappointed with the Falls themselves! They were breathtaking!

For those who have never been, the Niagara river (which is relatively young at 12,000 years) straddles the border between America and Canada. An island splits the river in two giving rise to waterfalls on both sides of the border. Officially it's made up of three falls - Bridal Veil Falls, American Falls (not surprisingly, on the American side!), and Horseshoe Falls on the Canadian side. Although the American falls are 9ft taller at 176ft in height, Horseshoe is the most impressive being much wider. It is - yes, you've guessed it - horseshoe-shaped! About half a mile long (2600ft) at the rim, Horseshoe has an average volume of 600,000 gallons of water flowing over its crest ... per second. Crazy! I'm very glad we came to visit at this time of year even though it was pretty cold. Apparently, Niagara receives 12 million tourists a year, and thankfully there weren't too many today, apart from the usual Chinese tour bus groups that we are now so accustomed to after our travels in China. I was shocked and relieved to see there was not much spitting going on! - something we are not accustomed to!

If it hadn't been for Martin's friend, Mark, lending us his car we would never have been able to see Niagara or explore the local area. The drive along the river passing large wine estates to the charming town of Niagara-on-the-lake was quite picturesque. All in all it was a great day out - pity we didn't have time to sample some of the fantastic wines the region is famous for! * Mush