Viagara Falls...

Our three nights in Niagara, although the odd slip of the tongue meant it was called Viagra, were very pleasant.

We stayed at the very disappointing Hilton Fallsview. No fridges in the room for the wine, no sewing kit to mend my shirt, no shoe shine kit for my poor wet shoes, no comb for Jane, unhelpful front desk etc. Internet connection that failed to connect so none of the promised blogging actually got done. It’s another hotel chain to come off the near-top of the list along with the Marriots and Le Meridiens.


But back to Niagara Falls, Ontario. What a sight to behold! The falls are truly incredible. The power and beauty of the water is hard to comprehend. Niagara river holds 20%of the worlds fresh water… I never knew just how impressive it would be.

We had a view of the falls from our room - even though the Casino cut it in half it was still worth waking up to each morning. The first morning the sun came up in a colourful and stylish way, then the next 2 mornings were a bit grey. It rained quite heavily on our first day then we were lucky to avoid any more.

First afternoon we went out for a walk to get our bearings and get some lunch. We watched the Maid of the Mist make her short journey up stream to the American falls then the Horseshoe falls (Canadian side). It looked worthwhile and we’d been told by all to make sure we did it so next morning we headed out early’ish and put on our lovely blue rain ponchos - provided with our entrance fee - jumped aboard and headed off upstream. The view of the falls from below is even more spectacular. It becomes obvious from below just how much power there is in that water and what a mad bunch those are who have barrelled down the falls in years gone by!

Dear old Annie being the first person to go down the Horsehoe falls in 1901 - dressed in a skirt no less! She was 63 years old, a retired teacher who sought fame and fortune for her old age. Unfortunately neither came her way and she died lonely and penniless in the poor house just 2 years later. But she started a run of adventurers who wanted to do as she had. 15 people went over the falls in various vessels and 10 lived to tell the tale. One mad hatter even did it twice…

Lack of internet...

It's been a challenging few weeks with very sporadic internet access. I don't like it!

I've so much to catch up on. so will start here and also back date some ramblings in the future...

We’re on the train from Niagara Falls Ontario to New York, New York.

We arrived at the station this morning and awaited our train which was due to pull in at 10.30. It didn’t get to us until about 11. So we crossed the Niagara river and pulled into Niagara, New York State. Customs then boarded the train and we had our passports processed and another massive delay for some unknown reason. Although the murmurs were all about immigration - lovely happy people that they were.

We finally set off again about 2 hours late. Better late then never I guess. I cracked open the Baileys Irish cream not long after and here I sit now, gone 8pm and almost finished the last drop…

We are now changing engines at Albany and when we get going again we’ll have about 1.5 hours left to go.

We’ve played amazing amounts of Backgammon, Polish Poker and Yatzee, looked for every opportunity for an internet connection, slept (me), played computer games and looked out the window. Now it is pitch black and remarkably boring. The lights are out while the engine is changed.

Niagara and it’s rushing waters are long gone...