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We were picked up by a mini van at 08:40 this morning to go on a day tour to Niagara Falls. The driver seemed to be a lovely guy and found out later that he used to live in the UK for a while, in St.Albans!
After an hour of driving around Toronto city picking up the rest of the passengers at their hostels and hotels, we set off on the hour and a half journey to the falls.
As we pulled up along the main road, I was amazed to see (what I didn't know at the time) the American falls, which at first sight was breath taking. We were level to the Niagara river and so could see the falls at eye level. We then drove along to see the Canadian Horseshoe Falls - the more common of the two Falls.
Before seeing the falls at a close up, me and Amy were dropped off at the Skylon tower , where we paid to get a birds eye view of the area. I was shocked to find so many buildings/other tourist attraction traps like a cinema, a vast range of restaurants and a casino to name just a few - it looked more like Disney Land! I expected the falls to more remote and so was pretty shocked.
The view from the Skylon tower was a spectacular view, as we could see America across the river and had a really good view of the two falls. It helped that it was a clear day, although it was pretty cold up the tower so we didn't stay outside for too long.
Once at the falls I was so amazed! It was amazing to see it up close and couldn't believe at just how fast the current was - it was pretty scary! I did however expect the falls to be so much more bigger and louder - I didn't think I'd be able to hear the person next to me, but the falls were no way near as loud as what I'd first thought.
We were really lucky enough to see a rainbow over the American falls too.
We then paid a little extra to go behind the falls , where we were both expecting to walk along the bottom and all the way across, but it was more like a long eery tunnel with two small corridoors branching off to get a small window like view of behind the falls. This was pretty disappointing as we didn't really see anything and actually found it a waste of money!
After two and a half hours at Niagara Falls, we took a scenic drive along the river, stopping off at a few historical monuments, the whirl pool where the river makes a 90degree turn and then a very brief stop at Canada's most smallest church! It was tiny! I don't think it could fit more than two people inside!
The drivers commentating along the way was hilarious; there are hardly any roundabouts in Canada and so he made a point of driving all the way around one when we did come across one! We also drove past five golf ranges where he told us that Tiger Woods often plays and where he also had a woman at every range! He made our trip!
Along the river we passed a couple of bridges linking Canada to America; where the bridges had the two country flags flying in the centre, there was a gap of about a metre inbetween the two flags where it was "no mans land" which was pretty cool!
We then headed to Niagara on The Lake town, which was so picturesque to drive through! The houses were amazing and all decorated very festive as it was Halloween! The town itself was also beautiful - very quaint. The buildings were original structures and by law there is to be no artificial advertising lights on the shops front nor any fast food restaurants to be built, so it felt like stepping back in time slightly. The shops were very British-esque, with craft shops, tea and scone rooms, fresh bakeries selling traditional British pastries - and yes there were Cornish pasties :). The small town was absolutely beautiful and would definately go back!
After an hour in Niagara on The Lake we then drove to 20Bees winery. This was a fairly new business starting in 2004 with 20 local wine makers working together to start 20Bees. We drove through many vineyards and pulled up at a small portacabin with a large factory in the background - 20Bees hasn't got a secure building as its base yet and yet they are the second largest wine producers in Ontario! Inside we were able to taste three of their wines - a sweet white, a dry red and an iced wine. I had heard of the iced wine through one of the guys at the Vancouver hostel, who recommended trying it and so was really eager to sample it! The grapes are not picked until December/January time and are only then picked when the temperature gets to -10/-14degrees for three consecutive days; hense the name iced wine. Then the grapes are hand picked at around 02:00/04:00 when it's at its coldest. As you can imagine, this wine is very expensive. The wine itself is so sickly sweet and its remarkable to think that it is all natural sugar. I wasn't a huge fan as it was too sweet for me, but was pleased that I was able to sample it! Me and Amy clubbed together to buy a white wine :)
The company has a few lines of wine including a Dan Aykroyd line (the actor in the original Ghostbusters) as he owns shares in the business and is also on the wine tasting panel. We sampled his red wine which I really enjoyed!
After a long but amazing day, we ended up watching Shrek2 on the minibus back to Toronto, which ended off a fantastic day! Well worth every penny!
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