The Powerful Niagara Falls

After about 2-hour’s ride from Corning, we finally arrived at the main attraction of the day – The Niagara Falls, Buffalo.

The Niagara Falls are renowned both for their beauty and as a valuable source of hydroelectric power. Despite the hot summer weather elsewhere, it was very cold and windy at the Niagara Falls.

The ticket for the entrance to our boat ride – Maid of the Mist and the observation deck costs USD12.50 for an adult ticket. Before we boarded the boat ride, we were each given a souvenir rain poncho (raincoat) to save us from getting wet near the falls.

Saw this cute photo from somewhere: “Yo-Yo! See my poncho!”

Getting ready for snapshots at the great falls and trying to prevent our camera from getting wet, we put our camera into a zip-lock bag. This was a blur picture taken from the zip-lock bag. I was getting cold!

The Gateway between the Cities of Niagara Falls (crossing the U.S-Canada border) – Rainbow Bridge.

Left bank: Buffalo, New York, United States.
Right bank: Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Queuing up for The Maid of the Mist to bring us through the maelstrom.

The Maid of the Mist took us to the base of the American Falls and then to the basin of the Horseshoe Falls (also known as the Canadian Falls), through the crashing waters and massive rock formations.

The Niagara Falls, U.S

The American Falls.

As we sailed nearer to the base of the Horseshoe Falls, water fell all around us. The falls are very strong and rapid.

We were awe-struck by the intensity and startling green colour of the falls. Everyone was so excited to take pictures on the rocking boat that we had to balance ourselves while busily snapping good shots. The wind was very big and more water was blown to us. We were extra careful with our camera from getting water into it.

(The startling green colour of the Niagara River is a visible tribute to the erosive power of water. An estimated 60 tons of dissolved minerals are swept over Niagara Falls every minute. The colour comes from the dissolved salts and “rock flour”, very finely ground rock, picked up primarily from the limestone bed but probably also from the shales and sandstones under the limestone cap at the Falls.)

After the boat ride, we went to the observation tower which was extended out over the Niagara Gorge. At the deck of the tower, we could look directly out into the cascading waters or down into the raging torrents below. We were at the American side of the falls, and opposite us was Toronto, where we could see casinos and hotels. It seemed more “happening” at the opposite side (Toronto).

Three ferryboats braving through the whirlpool rapids.

Look at the powerful Horseshoe Falls, with mist rising into the air!

The Toronto side of the view is known to be more spectacular than the American side of the view at the Niagara Falls.

Tips: Taking couple/group photo and need someone to help? Look around for anyone who looks like a hobbyist photographer taking photos with a professional camera. You will get professionally taken photos! We left the observation tower after snapping some panoramic photos.

A wedding couple with their bridesmaids and groomsmen posing for wedding photos at the Niagara Falls.

Our tour group went to a stop-over to have buffet dinner again. This time, we decided not to pay for the buffet as I thought it was not worth to have a quick buffet. However, we couldn’t buy any food from the supermarket as it was closed. So end up we could only get a quick snack.

This was a really old and small cinema which I found it quite eerie like those places in horror movies.

After the dinner break, we returned to the falls for the night laser show presented from the opposite side at Toronto. But it wasn’t nice at New York side as seen in the picture.

Return to the Niagara Falls the next morning.