Niagara Falls

From Richmond, it was a quick scarper up the east coast of America to Toronto. We left Richmond on Sunday morning and headed north. It's a rapid run through Washington, Baltimore and up to Newark, just outside New York, where we spent the night. In the morning we crossed over the river into New York, and swapped the car over with the rental company and kept driving. We headed through upstate New York and got to Niagara Falls late in the afternoon. We crossed the boarder into Canada and spent the night at Niagara Falls.

Canadians don't like to be mistaken for Americans. I'd never thought too much about it - I just figured that they all came from the same continent and had more or less the same accent. But they're different. Canadians are very very polite. Extremely polite. It was so noticeable - even coming almost directly from the US South, where goodness knows there are folks who make a living out of manners and etiquette.

Niagara Falls sits right on the US/Canadian boarder. And it's a disappointment. Maybe we were spoilt by the Grand Canyon. However, the Falls aren't as big as they look in photos and they're not as spectacular. The town of Niagara Falls is also, frankly, crap. Imagine the most tacky sideshow alley that you've ever seen. That's Niagara Falls. It's a shame.

We got in late in the day and decided to see the Falls the next morning. So after breakfast, and with the car all packed for our drive to Toronto, we drove around to the Falls. We could see them from the road as we looked for somewhere to park. We drove back past them as we continued to look for somewhere to park. We saw them again as we did another lap, looking for the car park.

We never did stop. We found the car park - and at $40.00 an hour for parking decided that we'd seen the Falls from the car, and that we didn't need to see them any closer.

So - off to Toronto!