Somewhere along the way, visiting Niagara Falls and checking it out landed on my bucket list. My husband and I, after much deliberation, decided that 2008 was our year to go play in Canada and explore Niagara Falls.
We decided to fly into Buffalo, NY and rent a car to drive into Canada - air fare into Canada is usually ridiculous! So, after getting our car, we drove around Buffalo a bit - seeing some sites, then started the drive into Canada. We were pretty surprised when we got to the border and the agent asked a few questions regarding our stay then waved us through. He apparently wasn't really interested in us.
We made our way to the hotel in Canada - we were assigned a room on the 36th floor facing the falls. Oh my goodness... it was A-mazing! We got to our room, and there was a jacuzzi with a window that opened so we could see out the main windows of the room to the falls. The bedroom itself had a wall that was made entirely of windows, and a fireplace.
Words can barely express the view from 36 stories up. It was absolutely breathtaking! You could see the entire falls... and the fireworks from that height were just spectacular!
We did some exploring - walking the length of the falls, shopping, the usual touristy stuff. We decided to go behind the falls.. which was neat, but I'm not sure it was really worth $30. We did get to go out on a landing and look up at the falls, though... it was powerful.
We also had to ride on the Maid of the Mist. That was absolutely one of the most amazing things I have done. Not for thrill seeking so much as for the experience of feeling that mist and seeing the falls from a entirely different perspective. It was absolutely beautiful!
I thought my husband had surely lost his marbles when he mentioned riding a cable car across the gorge. I mean, from the logic side... if a cable breaks, there is potential for great disaster, considering they have some pretty good rapids and whirlpools to fall into. Trepidation aside, I got aboard the cable car... and the views absolutely blew me away. It was gorgeous!
One of my favorite days was spent in a free-flying aviary. My husband gets the credit for finding this one. I love birds of all different sorts. I always have - getting to walk into a room and have all sorts of exotic birds flying and milling about while you walk through... it was just awesome. There were some truly beautiful birds in that building.
It didn't take us long to realize that eating at American chain restaurants was not any cheaper than eating at the likes of Wolfgang Pucks. So we decided, what the heck, we are on vacation anyway! We ate at Wolfgang Pucks one night - and it was delicious. We also ate at a restaurant in the hotel.. it was called the Keg. Oh my goodness... the best spicy asian chicken I have ever had... hands down.
One of my favorite eating establishments was a little restaurant across the street from the hotel called Copacabanas. It took a bit of faith to even walk over there... because images of listening to Barry Manilow and cheesy decorations filled my mind. But we decided to walk over and check it out. We were DEFINITELY not disappointed! It turns out it was a Brazilian barbeque. We walked in and there were young waiters carrying spits of any type of meat you could imagine around... as we were seated, we were introduced to the salad bar, where we got some wonderful salads... then we got to eat meat and pineapple. It was absolutely one of the best places I have eaten.
Sadly, we packed up our car and made the trip back to Buffalo to stay for a couple of nights before returning home. We probably should have done that before going to Niagara Falls... because it paled in comparison. But we did drive up and watch the fireworks and falls from the New York side one night. Not quite as spectacular as the Canadian side, but it was still pretty. We both agreed we needed more time to explore Ontario... we may have to return one day.
