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| HELLO NIAGARA FALLS |
Tim Hortons and a snowstorm
That basically sums up my day at Niagara Falls. The idea was to leave Burlington early morning with the hope of beating all the tourists to the falls and get some magnificent pictures at the falls. I woke up to snowflakes moving in all directions outside my window – which I must say is a rather weird thing seeing rain falls straight down to the ground and snow… well it kinda floats in all directions (including upwards).
Finally pulling myself out of bed, into my car and finally on the highway I noticed the heavy mist and then more snow that I’ve seen here in Canada to date. So picture me on a highway, driving about 30km per hour through very thick snow. I wish I managed to get a picture of the snow ploughs that drive side by side to clear the highway – it really is something. Below is a picture of what they look like – now imagine min visibility and 3 of them driving next to each other clearing the whole highway as they drive.
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| That's a snow plough with its plough folded up - scary when its open on a road |
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| Yes that is meant to be a road |
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| Parking is not fun in the snow - you slip and slide everywhere |
Arriving in Niagara - I went up to a friend of mines hotel suite - because apparently the view from up there was amazing. Snow stormed out, I was relieved to be out of the car - and this is what I saw
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| View 1: upon arrival to the hotel room |
At this point I was thought they were joking that a massive waterfall was down there... because as far as I could tell - there was definitely nothing to see!
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| View 2: 10 minutes after arrival I took a second look and the snow started to clear |
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| View 3: 30 minutes after arrival. Snow stopped and the falls were revealed:) |
Niagara is a strange place. I arrived in Niagara falls from the Clifton Hill entrance and I thought I had missed the turn off and gone to Disney world. There are 2 very big casino’s in Niagara and some crazy busy ‘Times Square’ wanna-be shops with crazy lights. To be completely honest - I wasn't very impressed with the feel of it. I was hoping for a natural wonder and it felt like man was trying to play 'Who can entertain the best' with God.
But with the snow out of the way and my snow boots on (hehe house mate had heels - epic fail!) we started our Niagara adventure...
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| Leaving our foot prints in the snow |
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| Canadians seem to love high towers - first the CN and now this one |
Interesting FACT: Tim Hortons sells nearly 3 millions cups of coffee A DAY! I asked a Canadian what their staple food was (which got a blank stare - staple diet must only be something people from a third world know about) and his response, after I had to explain that it was something the masses ate, was Tim Hortons coffee... Yes I was a little confused by that also!? Go figure...
So from the Falls we followed the river for a bit and came to the most beautiful gorge. I do have a thing for gorge's and if you ever have the opportunity definitely visit ORIBI GORGE in South Africa - the most beautiful place on earth! I lost my heart there - but I thought I'd just put a picture up of the Canadian version just for the memory!
We had heard that the Falls by day and the falls by night were a completely different experience - so we came back in the evening to have a look. It was spectacular. Although the vis wasn't as great as what we had had during the day - the sound of the Falls totally makes up for it at night. And yes - the Disney lights add a little romance to the great Niagara Falls - not to mention my all time favourite movie - "Beauty and the Beast" lights... wow!
It was still snowing, but I hope the pictures below give the Niagara Falls at night some justice.
And that my friends... was another FABULOUS day in Canada!
Such beautiful pictures : )
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