Anyway, we weren’t in the city for long as we caught our bus onto Niagara Falls some 45 minutes after we arrived into the central bus station. The bus station is in need of a bit of an upgrade, particularly with respect to left luggage facilities but it is very central and close to a number of good Japanese & Italian restaurants/ cafés.
The bus on to Niagara Falls was full so it was frustrating for those with limited time when it broke down in Grimsby (nothing like Grimsby in the UK!) but it did give us a chance to have a cuppa & scone at the Dutch café across the road while he sorted the problem. We arrived about 55 minutes late into the township of Niagara Falls, which as the driver explained is a 40 minute walk away from the actual falls though a WeGo bus service helps those unable to walk far.
We dragged all our bags round a couple of blocks to the YHA, settled ourselves in then we walked to the Falls. My, my what a busy place, particularly of a Saturday evening!! We found some good spots from which to admire the US & Canadaian falls as the sun began to drop then wandered up through the tacky touristy bit of town to search for a place to eat. Not much that enticed us but we finally found a Chinese restuarant that offered a number of vege options. We sat at a window table & watched the passing parade of people ..... and what a diverse and global parade that was!
After our meal we walked back to YHA along Victoria Ave through to Queen St.; a very different looking area to either the tourist end or the older town end - a kind of sad & dejected look. Stopped in at a 7Eleven store for tissues and yoghurt but only had a small purse packet of the former & no sign of the latter. Back at the hostel we had a cuppa & collapsed into bed after a chat with one of our room mates, a Canadian from Alberta. The other didn't come in until after midnight. Certainly needed the aircon on as it was a small, close room & a hot night.
The next morning we got ourselves up in time for the 8am YHA breakfast - it was a hectic time as a large group was also breakfasting & trying to get everyone organised to get away by 9am. Already we could feel that the day was going to be hot so I was very pleased for shorts & a t-shirt BUT I wasn't feeling too flash as the cold had hit full-on giving me aches & pains that made me feel my age!!
Still we walked briskly along to the ticket office for the Hornblower Niagara Cruises in the hope of beating the crowds ... which we did as we managed to get in the queue just before two bus loads arrived. By 1015 we were back from our cruise feeling a great deal damper than beforehand but thrilled by the experience. Both falls are wonderful to see up relatively close but the Horseshoe Falls definitely have the 'WOW' factor with respect to the way the water pummels down into the malestrom below .... and there we were bobbing about on a boat in the middle of it all. Marvellous! How insignificant we humans are yet we still try to control nature; we try to convince oursleves through technological development that we can outwit her .... hmmmm!
Anyway, those are the mix of thoughts that go through my head in such circumstances!! Once back on shore we walked around to the HEP station to look at the true top of the falls & watch the birds on the islands dotted within the river. We also watched those brave enough or mad enough to pay $50 to do the zip line from a lookout down to a building situated in the mist of the falls. Nearly convinced Caroline to do it but ... nah! We then adjourned to the shade of the Secret Garden cafe for a brunch of pancakes (me) and French Toast (Caroline) both with plenty of maple syrup. Washed down with a bottomless pot of tea. Both of us felt much better after that.
Interesting to read up about the role the good citizens of Niagara Falls played in the US-Canada War. NF was a Loyalist town. Didn't learn a greaat deal about First Nation peoples of the area except this brief reference but there may have more information had we bothehred to visit the museum. At the YHA we learnt that Niagara Falls was also a place of refuge for slaves fleeing the USA via the underground railroad.
After a bit more of a walk around the falls I wanted to check out the bird at Bird Kingdom - Caroline wasn't interested so she caught up on postcard writing while I spent about an hour communing with the birds. Some really beautiful ones in there but sad to see them confined - the one saving grace is that they are saving some from extinction by giving some of teh funds to research.
We then wandered back to the older Queen Street part of town where we found the only cafe open was Queen Bean Cafe. Settled in as the had free wifi & great food selection. I had a wee pizza and a wee pumpkin pie. Yum, Yum! At 6pm they closed so we wandered off to find the convenience store round the corner for more tissues & possibly yoghurt; yes to former but again nothing doing for latter! AND, supermarkets are way out of town in the big box store area one has to drive to! We really liked the ambience of the old downtown & hope the condo development may help revive it ..... why tourist all want to hang out in the tacky side of town is beyond me!
Back at the hostel we found the place much quieter with the big group gone & fewer tourists staying. Sat outside writing up our blogs & chatting to an American woman doing a roadie as an end to her uni studies. She invited us to the pub for a meal but I wasn't up to it as my cold making me feel a bit miserable as the evening wore on. I was pleased we had the room to ourselves so I wouldn't impose my runny nose & misery on anyone else. A drink of Miso soup & Sleepytime tea helped!
Monday we were up, breakfasted & off to the bus station by 8.50. The bus to Toronto was a little late arriving but we had left plenty of time between arriving back in Toronto and heading onto Sudbury. Thankfully around the T bus station there were plenty of eateries. As we had bags that couldn't fit in the lockers we took turns to go for lunch at Kenzo Ramen for a big bowl of vege noodle soup. Absolutely delicious & just the nutritious meal we needed before getting on the bus.
Lots of others taking the bus Sudbury way so we were lucky to get seats together with decent view. Slept on a off during the 6 hour journey to Sudbury but the bits I saw out of the window were interesting. It was slow getting out of Toronto - what a huge city spreading out to join with other towns to form a huge conurbation. Roads into & out are being repaired, expanded, rerouted, new flyovers created to aid the movement of people & goods. The massive pink rocks of the Laurentian Shield are being blasted to make room for the expanded roadways and, in some areas, ancient swampland is being drained so these new roads can be built while keeping the current roadways open. A massive construction project really.
Heaps of trucks on the roads, and trucks here are BIG. I guess they need to be to cross the vast emptiness of this land as there's big distances between settlements. Yet those settlements themselves are spread out, often lacking a noticeable centre .... certainly the bus stations aren't anywhere near the centres of towns! Luckily Isobel had told me to ask the driver to drop us off at Four Corners in Sudbury, which was just around the corner from their condo as the actual station is miles out of the way. We arrived 40 minutes late due to the slowness of getting out of Toronto and to roadworks along the way. Isobel & Robin were getting a little worried that there may have been an accident but, no, we arrived safely & were warmly welcomed & ushered home to their 11th floor apartment with a wonderful view of Lake Nepahwin. A good cup of sleepytime & banana muffins settled us in well before we collapsed into bed for a fantastic night's sleep.
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