America, One Moment at a Time — #13

Niagara Falls — And Everything Around It

We went to Niagara Falls to see the Falls.

And, of course, they did not disappoint.

There are actually three waterfalls here. The American Falls, the smaller Bridal Veil Falls, and the much larger Horseshoe Falls, which curves around on the Canadian side. Together, they make up what we call Niagara Falls.

We saw the American Falls first.

Then, as we moved closer to the Horseshoe Falls, the whole experience became rather different.

The water was everywhere.
The roar grew louder.
Mist rose around us.

And suddenly we were looking across at Canada.

There was also a rather amusing little detail.

The boats from the American side were filled with people wearing blue rain ponchos.

Across the water, the Canadian boats had people wearing red.

Blue on one side.
Red on the other.

A rather wet international gathering.

The Maid of the Mist takes visitors very close to the Horseshoe Falls, right into the heart of the mist. Although the boat departs from and returns to the American side, the international border runs through this remarkable landscape.

The Falls, of course, seemed completely unconcerned about the border.

They just kept falling.

Once we came back onto land and started walking around, I realised that Niagara had quite a few other things to show us.

Getting around the park itself was part of the experience. Little sightseeing trams carried visitors along the roads, while people walked, stopped, photographed, pointed and generally tried to take in as much as possible.

And then there were the flowers.

Among all that water, rock and mist, there were gardens and flowers quietly doing their own thing.

It was a nice reminder that even in a place famous for something as spectacular as Niagara Falls, there are smaller things worth noticing.

Then we came across the geese.

While thousands of visitors had travelled considerable distances to admire one of nature’s great spectacles, the geese seemed completely unimpressed.

They were busy eating grass.

Perhaps they had seen the Falls before.

Or perhaps lunch was simply more important.

And then came the signs.

Niagara doesn’t seem to take itself too seriously either.

One sign outside the Maid of the Mist area announced:

“DRY HAIR IS OVERRATED.”

Fair enough.

After seeing the Falls up close, arguing with that seemed rather pointless.

Another one said:

“CHECK THAT OFF YOUR BUCKET LIST.”

And then, as though making sure we had understood the message:

“BET YOU’RE STILL SMILING.”

They were right.

We were.

There was even a large model of the Falls and the surrounding landscape.

Looking at it from above gave us something the photographs couldn’t. A sense of how the water, cliffs and river all fit together.

Sometimes you have to step back to understand what you’re looking at.

Outside, the river continued on beneath the bridges, carrying the water away from the Falls and through the landscape.

And, as if the Falls, flowers, geese and everything else weren’t enough, we spotted a hot-air balloon floating above the area.

Niagara apparently believes in giving visitors plenty to look at.

Eventually, of course, we came back to the Falls.

Perhaps that’s what I liked most about the visit.

We went there knowing exactly what we wanted to see.

But the Falls weren’t the only thing we noticed.

There were flowers.

There were geese.

There were funny signs.

There were bridges, gardens, people, balloons and little details everywhere.

We arrive at famous places knowing what we are supposed to look at.

And sometimes the nicest part is noticing what we weren’t looking for.