Power

Day 13 – Canada.

Today was truly epic!

We were off to Niagara Falls and it was a picture-perfect day to experience it.

The hotel had organised the trip and when we met up with our tour guide, he was quite a character, and we knew we were going to have many laughs through the day.  We were lucky as well, normally in the height of summer the bus is 30-40 full, but we were only a small group.  A couple of Australia, a couple from Jersey and two men from South Korea, so we didn’t have to shove each other out of the way.  Lol!

First stop was this big tourist stop that clearly all the tourist operators know about and support.  As soon as we got off the bus, we had vouchers and were ushered into the shop to be tempted by all sorts of goodies.  I resisted and instead went to look across to the United States of America, which is on the other side of the gorge.

Once we got to Niagara, we headed up the Skylon Tower, a mini-CN Tower, that overlooks the falls on the Canadian and American sides.  The views were tremendous, all helped by the beautiful weather.

After having my photograph taken and purchasing them from the shop, we then headed to go out on the Maid of the Mist for the in-your-face experience.

We all got issued with ponchos, red for the Canadian side, blue if you’re heading out on the American boat.  As we were walking down, I was looking at all the people coming off and thinking they were looking rather dry, which gave me some hope that I wasn’t going to get soaked.
We made our way out and first had a look at the American falls, Canada definitely got the best of the deal, and in a few years’ time the American side will collapse and there will be no falls there. It was amazing to see and hear the noise.

But nothing prepares you for the Canadian falls, the noise is deafening, and the mist bit is a misnomer, it’s like you’re in the middle of a significant storm as the water beats down on you.  The poncho did its job, the top half was kept pretty dry, it was just a shame that the bottom half of my trousers and my shoes were completely soaked through.  Lol!  It was an amazing experience though and I soon dried out because of the hot weather.  More cheesy photographs taken and bought, well you may as well.

After a bite to eat we then headed up to the top of the falls, so could be right on it.  Just being stood right at the top you were getting soaked and again the noise is incredible.

We then headed to the very pretty Niagara-on-the-Lake town, but first stopped at the whirlpools at the end of the Niagara gorge.  An amazing sight and a tourist boat goes all the way down there as well, rather them than me.  Lol!

I’m glad I postponed Niagara to today, the weather was stunning and perfect to experience it all.

The journey back to Toronto was disrupted by highway closures and it took nearly 3 hours to get back.  We just made it back in time so that I could go to the Rogers Stadium and see the Toronto Blue Jays play the Boston Red Sox in baseball.  

As I hadn’t had time to go back to the hotel, my bag was quite full and I was very worried when I saw what you couldn’t bring into the stadium, but thankfully I got past security.

Bought myself a shirt and then took my seat.  I was sat next to a couple from Nova Scotia, so had a good time talking and laughing with them through the night.  There’s not much room in the seats, you are very squishy.  But I was able to bring good luck to the Blue Jays after a terrible recent series against Texas.  They beat the Red Sox and it was a great night.  I messaged my cousin of me in my shirt in the stadium, they’re all very jealous I was going to get to a game.

Today I am thankful for:

1. Experiencing the awesome power of Niagara Falls
2. Bringing luck to the Toronto Blue Jays with a win
3. An epic day

P.S. I think this will come up as a Blip Birthday.  I’m playing catchup with my blips, so it is totally out of sequence, but what better blip to celebrate with than Niagara.