Niagara Falls

About Niagara Falls : Niagara Falls is the collective name for three waterfalls that straddle the international border between Canada and the United States; more specifically, between the province of Ontario and the state of New York.
From largest to smallest, the three waterfalls are the Horseshoe Falls, the American Falls and the Bridal Veil Falls. The Horseshoe Falls lie mostly on the Canadian side and the American Falls entirely on the American side, separated by Goat Island. The smaller Bridal Veil Falls are also located on the American side, separated from the other waterfalls by Luna Island.
The volume of water passed through the three falls are 2,839,058 liter per second.
Well, this was the info anyone can get on the internet, but I am providing just to keep my framework intact. What I actually want to tell about Niagara is that this is the best place I have ever visited, the best experience I ever had and the most beautiful topography I have ever seen. Anyone who has been in the USA already or planning to visit the USA, Niagara should be 'THE MUST SEE' for all.

Duration of the Trip : For us, it was a 2 days 1 night trip from Parsippany, New Jersey. But making it a 3 days 2 nights trips might be a better idea. We visited only the American side. However, Niagara can be best seen from Canada.

Transportation : We booked our 2 day Niagara Falls package tours from Take Tours. They charged $108 per head which was inclusive of transportation cost (i.e., AC bus) and accommodation. For other entry fees, we had to pay extra to the guides. We started from Parsippany at 9:30 am and reached Parsippany by 6 pm next day.

Details of the Trip :
Day 1: As instructed by the travel agency, we gathered near the ‘Top Quality Food’ store in Parsippany Route 46 by 8:30 am. They informed us earlier about not having any breakfast stop, so we had breakfast at the nearby Dunkin Donuts. Finally, the bus arrived by 9:20 am and we started by 9:30 am.
The bus was comfortable and clean. The tour guides spoke English and Chinese and were very helpful and nice.
They collected $72 per head in the bus as entry fees and ticket cost for the different places we visited, Watkins Glen, Native American Show, Old Niagara Fort and Maid of The Mist.
We had our first stop at a gas station in Pennsylvania at around 10:45 am. We were informed to have lunch at the Burger King over there as they won’t have a further halt at lunch.
After taking a break for 30 mins, we started for Watkins Glen State Park and reached there by 2:00 pm. The park is a good location for hiking and picnics as well. The park has three trails, Souther Rim Trail, Indian Trail and George Trail. We walked through the George Trail for 1.5 miles, beguiling the mesmerising nature along with Glen Creek.

Rainbow Bridge in Watkins Glen

Canyon

The backdrop is a fall. There is a way to pass in between falls

Though there was no entry fee to the park, however, there are parking fees for the vehicle. In the end, outside the park, there is a gift shop also. In a 2-3 minutes of walking distance, there are a subway and other food joints.
After visiting Watkins Glen State Park, we started for Niagara by 3:30. On the way, we crossed some of the beautiful vineyards and picture perfect locations. As we were on a package trip, we had no option to stop in those places, however, if someone is traveling by car, they should definitely take a break to photograph those places. Some of them I captured from the bus.


We crossed a bridge, just before entering the Buffalo city we could see the view of Niagara just as mist and the skyline of Ontario.


We finally reached Niagara by 6:00 pm and checked in to Quality Hotels and Suits at the Falls. As I told earlier, the hotel was inclusive in the package. The hotel room was comfortable, clean and with all necessary amenities for a day. The best part was it was at a walking distance from the falls.
After settling down at the hotel, we went to the nearby Niagara Falls Visitor Center. Every day they organize “Native American Indian Cultural Show” on the first floor of this visitor center at 7:15 PM. Our travel guide took us to the visitor center by 6:30 pm and handed over the tickets for the native show. They suggested us to have dinner before going for the show.
It was 6:30 pm and bright sunny early evening, and we were supposed to have dinner by then! Though after shifting to the USA, I tried to get accustomed to early lunch and early dinner, but dinner at 6:30 of evening was hilarious!!! :) However, we had dinner at that time. But my suggestion would be, if you are not comfortable, avoid that as all the shops remain open even after the show. The food was awful, especially the Chinese Restaurant and the India one. There was a pizza corner, which was better.
During the 35 minutes Native American Show, the dancers took us on an ancient journey through exceptional dance, traditional music and engaging stories. They show us a cross-tribal representation of the Native American culture in the Western New York Region. It was an awe-struck moment for us to watch the history of Niagara Falls came to life as the show proceeded. There were various dances, performed during the show, Jingle dance, Men & Women fancy dance, Eagle dance and Hoop dance.

Eagle dance

Men & Women fancy dance

My personal favourite was the Hoop dance where dancers focus on rapid movement and construction of hoop formation to depict stories.

Hoop Dance

Hoop Dance

All of us definitely have experienced multiple kinds of performances, however, this one was one of its own kinds. The attires, expressions, connect with the audience and above all the storytelling will definitely take you to an ancient period and will definitely leave you amused for a long time. I loved the way they dressed up.
There were some gift shops on the first floor as well as on the ground floor, there you can collect souvenirs to take your memory back to home. The collections of magnets were beautiful and of course it reminded me, what is the Hindi meaning of cashier :)

After the show, we went to Niagara Falls State Park for the night view of falls. Niagara Illumination Board colours up the falls in rainbow colour every evening throughout the year. The timing differs depending on the daylight. We reached at the park by 9:45 pm. The spectacular night view will definitely make your travel worth.
The view was iconic; we were at the most beautiful place of the world, but the International Border between USA and Canada was more thrilling to us. The feeling to see another country at a distance gave us goose bumps. As I belong to India, experience with neighbouring countries are definitely not something to cherish about for me. But still, I don’t think we have any such border, where you can actually see the running cars on the street, the moving elevators inside the building, CN Tower, changing colours of the skyline of the neighbouring country or can read the hoardings of Hotels and Casinos from. It really was an out of the world experience for us.

Night View of Niagara Falls

Night View of Niagara Falls

Night View of Niagara Falls

That was not the end; the cherry on the cake was the fireworks on the skyline of Niagara Falls. When we plan for the trip, we definitely do our part of homework about visiting the places but that firework was a pleasant surprise. That was my first experience of fireworks in the USA and that was the best so far, I have ever experienced in terms of fireworks. Those 10 minutes of fireworks was a real treat to eyes and I definitely felt all our trips to Hosur for buying the best fireworks in Bangalore, were a waste. They don't have anything near to this. (I still love Bangalore above all the places, fireworks is not only important thing in life. :) )



Later we came to know Canada host those firework shows at 10 p.m. on every Friday, Sunday and other holidays during summer.
We came back to our hotel by 10:30 and dozed off with the wonderful experience of the day.
Day 2 : The day started as early as 7:30 am. Actually we left the hotel after checking in by 7:30 am. There was no breakfast included in the package and also there was no separate time allotted for the same. The first place we visited was, Whirlpool State Park provides a view of Niagara Whirlpool, a natural whirlpool along the Niagara River located along the U.S.-Canadian border between New York and Ontario. It is estimated that the whirlpool formed approximately 4,200 years ago by the upstream erosion of the Niagara Escarpment by the Niagara River.

Niagara River Whirlpool

Now only 25%-50% of the river flows through this place due to which there was not much water in the whirlpool, however, that park was a good place for picnic or hiking.
We caught a glimpse of Power Vista power plant, a hydroelectric power plant on River Niagara, on the way to our next destination.

Power Vista Power Plant as Captured from Bus

The next place we visited was Old Fort Niagara. This fort was originally built during 1678 by French explorer René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle at the bank of Niagara river, at its mouth on Lake Ontario mainly to the server the purpose of import-export. Later this place was captured by British and America several time. This place had witnessed the colonial rule and many significant wars of American History.

French Gate of The Old Fort Niagara(There are two more gates,  British and American

The Old Fort Niagara

Dormitory of Old Fort Niagara

Millet Corss, Erected by the Knights of Columbus in 1926, this copper cross commemorates the French soldiers of Fort Denonville, the precursor to Fort Niagara. The ill-fated winter of 1687-88 brought disease and starvation to this harsh frontier post. Only 12 of the 100 garrisoned men survived

The fort is a simple place, with very minimal maintenance, or should I say no maintenance at all. Yes, trust me there is not much to see inside the fort and we have way better forts in back home.
The main attraction of the fort to me was the costumed interpreters. They really will take you to the history and you will feel being part of the same. We met a lady and her husband, she introduced herself as “I am the musician in the army and my husband is a soldier” as if that was her real life.

She is the Singer

There were also a couple of demonstrations to show how British Soldiers used to refill a gun with gun powder and fire it. However, in current days, the war will be over and the opposition will win within the time to refill those guns :)

Gun Show

Though the fort, the surrounding impressed me. The beautiful Ontario lake kept me amazed. The blues of sky, lake and river, the peaceful nature contradicted the fact, that place had ever witnessed any war. One can spend an entire day by gazing at the lake.

Niagara River and the land part is in Cananda

Lake Ontario

Any Rupam fan would definitely hum at least once, “neel rong chilo bhishon priyo, tai shobkichu neeliye diyo” and citizen of a nation that loves to #BleedBlue, can really bleed blue here.
There is a entry fee of $12 for adults and $8 for children between age 6 to 12 years. No entry fee for kids below 6 years.
Next place on our travel list were ‘Day View of Niagara and Maid of The Mist’ as our guides said. Excited, happy, thrilled, a bit hungry, we had no idea what was coming in our way. We went to Niagara Falls State Park by 9:45 am and queued up for Maid of The Mist. Normally this queue is for booking tickets for Maid of The Mist, ticket cost is $17 for adults and $9.90 for children between age 6 to 12 years. No entry fee for kids below 6 years but since went through a travel agency, they took the hassle of booking tickets and we just queued up for entering. From there a lift took us to lower part at the river bank where we had to board the boat. They gave us blue raincoats before boarding the boat.


We boarded and headed towards the journey of life time. The boat took us near to American Falls and Bridal Vail falls respectively. It was Awesome!!!!

American Falls

American Falls and the smaller on in left is Bridal Vail Falls

Then we went to the Horseshoe falls, also called Canadian Falls as it is more on the Canada side. Monumental, majestic, huge, mammoth, spectacular, gorgeous and what not. I, being a person who takes out the camera before watching the place, forgot to bring out the camera for a while. It was so beautiful that nothing can be compared, no words can describe that place. I believe anyone will run out of adjectives to describe. It was an experience worth for lifetime.

Horseshoe Falls

Horseshoe Falls

After spending some time in front of Horseshoe falls, the boat turned back for the point it started from. One can have a clearer view of Canada, may be more thrilling that previous night of being so close to the international border, if one can refrain of gazing at Horseshoe falls.

Maid of The Mist from Canada

Canada side day view

We got down from the boat and walked towards the stairs which took us to the lap of American falls and had another experience of a lifetime. Rainbows!!! Not the one which I have seen multiple times in my life but one which actually originated at the place I was standing, not just one but multiple.

Me and My Rainbow Fantasy

A personal Favorite Pic

We walked up till the American Falls and took some failed attempt to photograph. Finally, we took the lift and came back to the top at ground level. The platform near the lift lobby also had a good photographic view of the falls and trust me, any number of camera clicks would not satisfy you.

This bridge is called rainbow bridge, the roadway between USA and Cananda

Some more neighbouring country fascination

It was the last view of Niagara through my non living lenses

We left the park by 11 am and had lunch from the pizza corner in the Visitors centre and started back for New Jersey by 11:30. The travel agency collected $8 per head as per day as per service charge of the trip. On the way, there were two stops just for a toilet break each of fifteen minutes and we reached back to Parsippany by 6:00 pm in the evening.

Notes : Few points I want to highlight from my experience are 1. Travel Agencies are better way to make trip to Niagara as you don't have to stand in long queues, however, travelling by own car has its own benefit. You can spend how long you want to in a place.
2. Even if you are visiting trough travel agencies, you can drop the places like Fort and whirlpool park and take trip to Cave of the Winds (http://www.niagarafallsstatepark.com/cave-of-the-winds.aspx) by your own if that is not inclusive in package.
3. Make sure to carry jackets as falls side will be cold always.
4. Maid of The Mist runs only during May to November. Check the timing before planning.

Disclaimer : We went on this trip in May’ 2015. There are chances that price and timing have got changed. Please check with Travel Agencies and Hotel about current timing and rates. I have tried to provide as much as details is possible for the trip. For any further clarification, feel free to post comments in the blog or contact me @ dutshilpi@gmail.com.