The beds were niceee. We got a lay in because we’re away from the parents, one floor below infact. I think I slept until at least 9! Woo!
Today we had until 4ish to explore Niagara, so some people went round the back of the falls, some people went on the Maid of the Mist, and some of us… Stayed in the dry. That would be Rosie and I then…
We met up and went to Denny’s for breakfast. An amazing place I had yet to experience; the finest breakfast around. Well, at this point it was more brunch than breakfast but they have the same thing all day every day. People had copius amounts of pancakes, english muffins, grits (which was amusing to watch Aid try) and so so much more food! I myself had the American breakfast: 3 fried eggs, 2 pieces of toast, two sausages, bacon, hash browns (which are much different from crappy hash browns; they don’t compact it back into a square!) and an amazing cocktail (orange, pineapple and a dash of sprite) which was delicious! Yes I realise this is a lot to write about some brunch, but you know me and it was great š
Some of the group wanted to go the Imax to see the falls via screen, wheras Rosie, Aid and I opted for visiting America, and the American side of the falls.
You exit through a unsupervised, quiet indescript turnstile. 50 cents get you through that. You then walk across the bridge over the water just after it has come down from the falls, which is well worth the 50 cents just to get the view; it was stunning, and much closer to the falls. Over the other side, the strict but friendly US officials inspect you, make you fill out a visa form, take your fingerprints a picture of you, and then charge you $6 (US only of course) each for the priviledge of the treatment š
I was pretty excited to be in the US, (And New York state!) even if it was only Niagara, but it was a lot nicer on the American side; they set back the tacky tourist area further back from the falls, so what you go to is a very nice park with trees and a small paved path.. and you can stand right next to the falls. The views are amazing, and you’re so close at one point we got very wet! There’s so much spray! The pictures say it better than I could with words, and as usual you can see them on Aidan’s page here. It was certainly worth going over for, and now I can say I’ve been to America, woo! š
We rush off as we’re on a tight schedule of getting to Toronto to drop off the cars and get to the hotel, and we want to stop off at the quiant “Niagara-on-the-lake” which is a lovely little old fashioned place, with great little shops; I found a tshirt shop with some gooduns, (and of course the amazing Canadian exchange rate means Ā£10 a shirt), a Cows shop, and a resturant for tea (and lots more we didn’t get to see of course).
Rushing off, we had a hour and a half drive back to downtown Toronto to get to our hotel, a Holiday Inn Express smack back in the middle of the other highrises; we’re on floor 9 and the views out of the windows are pretty impressive! We can see the CN Tower, with its pretty pulsating blue and red lights, and all the other pretty lights throughout the city.
It dawned on me we only have a couple more nights left; it’s crept up really quickly and unexpectedly, with each day going so fast, yet it feels like I’ve been away for ever. I’ll be very sad to leave this amazing place, but extremly glad I’ve now seen it. Good night! The weather is unfortuntely not forcast to be great for the next few days, with thunderstorms and the chance of rain, but it will be brilliant nonetheless.