Sunday, May 13, 2012

where I play tourist, part one

A few weeks ago, a friend of mine got in touch and floated the idea of us going on holiday together. When you don't work in a job that requires you to take vacation time you sometimes forget to actually make plans. It would be nice to have someone to have dinner with. To share the experience with and compare stories when we wandered off on our own. So, with a little back and forth and sharing of ideas, we had a booking. A Mediterranean cruise! It took about 2 days. We have never travelled together, so this could be quite the experience. My friend, X, is very good at the research; I am much more free spirited and will just wander and see what happens. Neither of us is particularly interested in seeing the tourist sights, preferring to soak up the local culture (as much as one can in a few hours), but it may be hard to avoid.

So on Friday, I decided I would practice playing tourist. And what better place to practice than Niagara Falls?

Anyway, I wanted to check in on the World's Tallest Flower. The first one bloomed late last Friday night and by Sunday morning the top had fallen over and it had closed up again.. It's younger brother, Clive, has been having quite the growth spurt and has been moved to the front. It is interesting to see the new growth and the decay.



When I was there last week, it was too foggy and dull to bother taking photos, but this time, it was sunny and warm and perfect. (perfect as it was still very early in the season and so not very busy.) I tried to pretend it was my first viewing... it all fell apart when I started giving directions to people. And when I laughed at the people who were amazed to see a rainbow.













But, for you, with a good blog post in mind, I took photos of the Falls. Many, many photos. I even went to the tackiest of spots, Clifton Hill, and took photos. I have never seen so many hotels and themed restaurants in such a small area. The 'fun spots' does not bear thinking about - every kind of thrill seems to scream out at you. It was loud and bright and I bet you are thinking it would have been neat to see at night when everything was all lit up. Yes, it might, but I was not going to hang about that long.
But I did gets lots of pictures of signs. And I found some cheap postcards for Postcrossing.
I did not go up the Skylon Tower or this SkyWheel ferris wheel, though really, it was a perfect clear day for views. Had I really been on holiday, I am sure I would have been tempted.

After wandering down this hill of thrills, I found a lovely quiet park, with a huge green space and perfect views
I had lunch at a restaurant with views...
as you can see, it really was not busy.

part two to follow.....

22 comments:

  1. Such a good idea!
    Sometimes I play tourist in Rosario, my own town. And I enjoy and discover a lot of interesting things.
    Greetings from Argentina
    Elisa

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    1. We often overlook so many interesting sights if it is too close to where we live.

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  2. The falls are beautiful but I did not realize that around there it looked like a theme park. Is that on the American side? Talk about exploitation. The photo with the rainbow is amazing. I guess that is quite impressive when you see that for the first time. The view from the restaurant is great. I bet that place is crowded in the summertime. You went there at that right time. Thanks for these photos. They were quite enlightening.

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    1. This is the Canadian side. The American side doesn't have much to offer and their town is a little depressed. I guess they figured there needed to be something else for families to do once they'd seen the falls if they were going to be travelling from all over the world.

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  3. I had dinner at the Skylon Tower restaurant a few years ago. At night, the falls are all lit up - really beautiful.

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    1. The falls at night are beautiful. I have been to the Skylon restaurant and it is nice to have that great view while eating.

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  4. Ooooh - a Mediterranean cruise! Lovely! Cruises are great vacations - not quite as nice as Niagara Falls, of course, but pretty good nonetheless!

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    1. and I am leaving the same night as Wallenda does his tightrope walk over the Niagara Gorge, sigh!

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  5. So much water! And what IS that flower? I am sure I have never seen its like.

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    1. oh, that is only a tiny portion of the water.
      The flower is known as a 'corpse flower' because of its stinky smell when it blooms. officially, it is Titan Arum and is very rare (therefore all the excitement)

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  6. A cruise? Oh you will have so much fun..at least I hope so!! Ha!
    Nice Falls pics!
    Hugs
    SueAnn

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    1. I hope so, too!

      If anyone out there has any advice for a first time cruiser, I will be happy to hear it.

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  7. So that's the giant, smelly flower... looks interesting!

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    1. it is really cool to see, especially as it just grows so damn fast!

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  8. How exciting! I am looking forward to hearing about your cruise! The woman I work with won a trip to Dubai, so they tok another 3 weeks leave and went on a cruise round the Greek Islands and up to Venice and Cairo etc...she is back next week and I am keen to see her pix etc too. I am such a lazy traveller aren't I??

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    1. I have become a bit of a lazy traveller myself, depending on pretty pictures of exotic places from other bloggers....

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  9. That actually looks really fun. And cool. Thanks for this.

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    1. it was fun. and cool. and you're welcome.
      it is no day at the beach, however.

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  10. There's a certain style to the tackiness all the same.

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    Replies
    1. yes, you have a point. it is all part of the personality.

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  11. Wow, that is a great collection of photos, thanks for sharing

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