Last night, we just back from a small vacation upon
which we traveled to upstate New York. While we
were there, we drove up to Niagara Falls (on
Tuesday the 10th).
Everyone I spoke to told me to go to
the Canadian side of the falls but I lacked a
passport. I figured that seeing it from the
American side would have to do and we drove
into Niagara Falls, New York anyways. First things
first: the city of Niagara Falls, New York is a
shit hole. Dirty and ghetto. Nothing to see there.
While trying to find our way to view the falls,
we accidentally pulled into the entrance to Canada
(Ontario to be exact...). We thought, what the hell,
and pushed forwards. We paid a toll of something like
$3.50 and pulled towards another booth, where a
guard quizzed us on who we were, why we were there,
where we were from, etc. You can get into Canada if you
have a driver license and a birth certificate and/or a
passport. All we had were driver's licenses. The
guard instructed us to pull aside at the imigration
office and told us to go inside. We did and after
presenting them with our ID's and a 10 minute
wait, they told us to enjoy our visit to Canada.
YOU DO NOT NEED A PASSPORT TO GET INTO
CANADA!
After hitting the Canadian side, we traveled
back to the American side to view the falls from
there. The American side is much more like a
natural park, as opposed to the Canadian side,
which is far more commercial. Both have their
pros and cons. The best views are from the
Canadian side, though you have to put up with all
the foreigners....well...uh...I guess we were foreigners
on that side but dammit, at least we speak English!
All bullshit aside, both were nice. Below are
pictures of the American side.....
Click on the image to enlarge...
Below are pictures of the Canadian side.
The images may be a bit foggy but it is due to
the mist that comes off the falls (particularlly the
Canadian side on this day..). The falls emites a mist
that practically 'rains' upon you. In some of the
pictures, you can see a boat that will take
you into the falls (called the Maid of the Mist)
though we did not do it due to time constraints.
Great trip, definately worth the 2000 miles traveled.