Niagara Falls 2022 Part 3

We didn’t really hit the casino at 2 in the afternoon….not that there’s anything wrong with that! We wanted to check out the Skylon Tower however, and see if it was worth having dinner there. 

The path to get there was halfway up the dreaded hill, so we veered off and walked along a gloriously flat and shady cobblestone trail.

The tower is 775 feet above the base of the Falls, with a revolving restaurant and observation deck, similar to the CN Tower, the Calgary Tower, the Space Needle and so on. The dinner menu looked pretty intriguing so we decided to go for dinner, but to our surprise it was fully booked for Thursday, Friday, Saturday and there was one opening left for Sunday at 6, so we snagged it. 

As we were leaving we spotted a photographer who talked us into the “over the Falls” picture. It was serendipitous because Steven always tells everyone that his dream is to go over the Falls in a barrel. I mean, he has been saying that for years! So, I guess it was meant to be. 

After that we wandered back to the hotel, stopping halfway up the hill. Other people must get as exhausted as well because there is a small “pull over” with 2 benches under a tree and a speaker on a pole that plays soothing music. It became “our spot”. I mean, this hill isn’t as bad as I’m making it out to be, but the humidity tires me out, and my knees just don’t function like they used to. If you want, there is a funicular near the other high rise hotels that will zip you up and down, for next to nothing. I think $7 for a 48 hour pass. I’m just a whiner when it comes to plodding up a hill.

We could smell the wood fired pizza place as we got to our hotel, so that’s what was on the menu for tonight. It was so, so good!

So after that meal we did, as a matter of fact, venture over to the casino for a couple of hours. It’s really large and very Vegas-ish; meaning lots of shops, (all pretty high end) a few fancy restaurants as well as a food court and loads of lights and glitter and sparkly things. I think I read that it’s the second largest casino in Canada.

There is a fireworks show every night at the Falls at 10 PM (they shoot some sort of cannon off ten minutes prior to let you know….scared the bejesus out of me) so we walked down the hill to watch. They also light up the Falls with colour for the duration of the night. The colours change from pinks to blues, greens and reds. It was like a fairyland.

After the fireworks we headed back up that damn hill once again and called it a night. The hotel beds are so incredibly comfortable with a selection of pillows marked “firm”, “medium” and “soft”. I slept so soundly.

Friday Sept 9th. Another sunny day.

The weather report showed a possibility of rain on Saturday, which was the day we had planned on going in to Buffalo, so we decided to go there today, a day early, instead. We walked down the hill to the Wego stop and took it to the Rainbow Bridge….yes, we “crossed over the Rainbow Bridge” I’m assuming it’s been named that long before it came to mean the place that animals cross over when they die. Actually, the Wego also stops at the train station. So, we were taken to ‘the train station” (Yellowstone fans) and also crossed the Rainbow Bridge. And yet we are still alive to tell the tale. 😉.

You enter the large building to get to the bridge, and to my surprise it’s a toll bridge, even for pedestrians. It was only a loonie each, of course I had no change but they have a handy-dandy change machine there for your convenience. And of course I only had a $20 and the machine gives you all your change in loonies so I had to ramble around for the rest of the day with 18 loonies in my little pack.

The bridge is pedestrian only, although a vehicle section runs parallel. It’s a nice walk, maybe 1/4 mile, with some amazing views of both American and Canadian Falls. When you are half way across they have the international border sign, so you can stand with one foot in each country, if you choose. Of course everyone chooses! The flags were at half mast due to the death of Queen Elizabeth.

A lot of people who don’t have passports, or are not allowed in the USA for a variety of reasons (😮🤔☺️) like to walk over the border and right to the end of the bridge as they are legitimately in the USA. Or vice versa for Americans not allowed in Canada. We were the only ones on the bridge today. 

When we got to the US side, the signs weren’t very clear as to where to go, so of course I went the wrong way and sort of got stuck in a turnstile. I heard a tapping on the window and looked up to see someone pointing to the door beside me, the door that said “Enter Here”. I entered there, gave my passport and was ushered through. It’s so embarrassing to always be going the wrong way. 

it’s not even a minute or two stroll to enter the Niagara Park on the US side.

Every person I talked to, and I mean everyone, plus all the travel groups I belong to all say that the Canadian side is so much better, but I gotta say, I sort of disagree. I guess it really depends on what you like/expect and the actual view of the Falls is quite a bit better on the Canadian side, but man, the US side is so, so beautiful. There is none of the touristy sort of attractions and it’s been left very natural with miles of paths through gardens and natural parks, and it is so clean. There is an old fashioned trolly that takes you all over the park, a Hop On-Hop Off type of thing, for the grand price of $1.50. Seriously? For the day? Yes please. 

However, before we toured around, we went onto the observation deck where you can stand on the edge of the deck and view both the US Falls and the Canadian Falls. This is the only place on the US side where you can view both falls at once. Then you can descend the elevator to the bottom of the gorge and walk the boardwalk to various spots to view the Falls form a different viewpoint. Price? $1.25

This picture isn’t mine, it’s a stock photo, but you can see the boardwalk which gets to to various degrees of closeness to the bottom of the Falls.

I was amazed at how close you can get, both from above and below. I’m surprised that there aren't more deaths, to be honest, from silliness and selfie shots, to suicides and plain old accidents. Everything was slippery and damp.

I mean, look how close to the edge! One running leap, and “Oops!”

Lots of rainbows on this side. It must be the way the sun is shining at this time of the day because there were no rainbows on the Canadian side, at least none that I saw. 

We wandered and trolly-ed all through the park, through Goat Island and Luna island. There were a lot more people here than the Cdn side, and that’s mostly because a large amount of Americans don’t have passports. I can’t tell you how many people we talked to have plans to get one “some day.” 

It was green, clean, quiet and relaxing. I loved it. If I lived in Buffalo I would bring a book and come here all the time. I am not a city girl, and this was an oasis 

I was sort of sad to leave, but the Old Town awaited, so we hopped on the trolly and hopped off at the edge of the park.