Niagara Falls

Niagara Falls
Last evening we went to see the Falls as they are illuminated with large flood lights with different colors. It was impressive but unfortunately the weather was raining and very windy. That made the Falls hard to light up and we didn’t spend much time there.
Today was tourist day one and we started back down to the Falls area. We went on the Maid of the Mist boat tour of the Horseshoe or Canadian Falls. The boat takes you right up to the Falls (both the American and Canadian) and the sight of all that water pouring over is just intense. Imagine 20% of all the world’s fresh water comes over Niagara Falls.
Next we went under the Falls in a tunnel that lets you see out as the water is cascading in front of you. That was impressive but not as great as the Maid of the Mist.
Then it was time for lunch at a restaurant overlooking the Falls. It was a great lunch to and the service was superb. All around you are the accents of foreign languages. Spanish, French, German, Italian, Hungarian, and of course the Japanese and Chinese tourists. It seems that every nationality is represented here at Niagara.
We went on the River Gorge Rapids walk where you walk down to the Niagara River in the Gorge after the water leaves the Falls. Needless to say the water is flowing at immense speed and the rapids are rated a 6 the highest on the scale. There are no rapid tours on this part of the river. Later we went over to the Whirlpool area where there is a giant natural whirlpool in the river.
Last on our days adventures was a tour of the hydroelectric plant which supplies 20% of the electrical power for Ontario. One million gallons of water per second pour thru the generators here and it was really impressive to see some of these giants which had been here since 1920’s era. A newer generating plant had been built in the 1950’s which increased the output 4 times and they had to build two tunnels 14 feet in diameter to divert the water 14 Km to the site to supply the water.
The Falls water is diverted at night by as much as 50% and during the day by as much as 25% to supply the power generating plants on both sides of the river. We only toured the Canadian side.
I must also mention the gardens at the Niagara Parks. All along the river, the Falls and the other areas Parks Canada maintains a park like setting with flowers and gardens, a golf course, and even a large floral clock which are just immaculate and the greenery really adds to enhancing your viewing enjoyment.
Well I know I have not told you nearly all there was to see and it is for this reason that we are staying an extra day here.
1 Farmland on the way to Niagara Falls
2 American Falls at night
3 Canadian Falls
4 Falls form the Maid of the Mist
5 The gardens