Niagara falls... nature "calls" once again

The fact that I live close to Niagara falls, one of the seven wonders of the world.... so what? Does that mean I should go there often? Of course yes. It is damn beautiful. But all these in theory, on paper. The reality is you do not appreciate things which are near to you. For example, your parents, siblings, friends. Its when you go far far away, "saat samundar paar", that is when you realize the importance.. sob!! Enough of the senti, k-serial stuff. The point is even if it is near I do not often get a chance to visit Niagara. But the two times that I have been there, two different experiences. The first time was a bit hectic visit, the second one was a more elaborate, so much elaborate that we had time to know the history of Niagara, get "gyan" on migrating birds flying in "v-shape" formation.

My two friends with whom I spent my summer had come down from Boston, for visiting Niagara falls. It was a case of "neki aur pooch pooch".. And off I was on my second visit to Niagara.... The journey started on "rainy" note, dark clouds hovering above our heads, bijli kadakna and all that. 20 miles into the journey, and it all cleared, enlightening our spirits as much as the sun enlightened the sky. Great visit was on the cards.

As you start approaching Niagara falls, from far away you can see a cloud of mist forming in the air. This is from the force of water that falls down. It is an amazing view. Sad there is no place to pull over your car and watch it. But nothing to fret over. We reached the falls and surprisingly found a place to park our car at nominal rates. Surprising because inspite of the weather being so nice, there was not much crowd. We approached the information center to get some maps and stuff. The guy sitting behind the desk was like guys we have a complete package for the Niagara for 60 bucks which includes 5 attractions and blah blah... I was like wait a minute. What 60 bucks? One of us was brave (pun intended, kindly use any adjectives you wish to use) enough to ask for student discounts.. hahahhahah... the guy was like, "we are sorry, but we dont have that kind of thing. But I can do one thing for you guys. I can waive of the taxes on the 60 bucks"... I started immediately walking away without turning to look around.. Is it some kind of joke.. Folks planning on a visit to Niagara, dont buy into it.... who wants to see a aquarium and other s@#t along with other stuff for 60 bucks. You go there to wonder at the force of the nature unleashed and you can do that for just 23 bucks, which is the entrance fee to two attractions: "Cave of the Winds" and "Maid of the Mist".. Full too "paaisa vasool".

Our first ride was the "Cave of the winds"... Yellow ponchos... Here you get to walk right upto the falls.. Its amazing..... You see multiple rainbows formed because of the falling water... Walk right upto the falls and look up, amazing feeling.... The force of water hitting the rocks and splashing on you is so powerful. This is what I had missed in my first visit to Niagara falls, it had closed by the time we went there... And you get a pair of non-slip sandals.. ofcourse they are supposed to be recycled, but people bring it back home as souveniurs...The second ride was the "Maid of the Mist".. Blue ponchos... A ferry takes you right into the Horse Shoe Falls... The niagara is made up of two falls.. the "American falls" and the "Horse Shoe falls" name given because of the shape... The horse shoe is the big brother of the two falls.. You have to visit it to appreciate the beauty... Now our ferry driver was a fatooo... He did not take us as deep as other ferry ones, but no complains...

After covering the two rides it was time for some ice creams... Ice creams at Niagara sucks... One of my friends, dared and bought a double scoop rainbow... He could see rainbows everywhere after eating that rainbow... Close your eyes and remember all the cough syrups and medicines given when you were as a small child. Same to same.... Moral of the story: "Go with the flow, do not diverge i.e. buy the basic chocolate or vanilla when you are eating from a ice cream store which has no history"

We had decided to see the light show in the evening before returning back home. We had some time in the middle before the light show started, so what to do during that time. We inquired about the movie which tells history about Niagara, a 40 minute documentary covering the myths and tales associated with Niagara. Ticket was for 11 bucks, but we got it in black for 6 bucks.. :D
One family did not want to see the show, as they were getting late and wanted to get rid of their tickets.... The show was not until 40 minutes after. Stomachs grumbling it was decided to invest the time in hunting for food... We saw a sign for a Punjabi Dhaba on one of the corners of the street, as we approached it we saw a sign "Punjabi Dhaba...moved two blocks away... Free pick up and drop service available".. By the time we were able to decipher the message, one uncle came and said... "Come on guys the car is waiting... lets go" We decided to take the risk..."the two blocks was in reality very very far away" We were feeling as if, we will not be able to come back for the movie. 6 bucks gone down the Niagara. But finally we reached.. The food was amazing.. we decided to take a take out... the aunty of the dhaba was a kind lady.. she gave us extra rotis..

Just in time for the show... But to our shock.. there was huge line to get in... there was no way we could have got a seat.. the thing is even if you have a ticket.. it is on a first come first serve basis... What had happened was "two tour operators" had bought a lot of tickets and with the help of the checker managed to get all their people ahead of the line...Result no way we would have managed to get in... But here is where the Indian training to handle public situations like this comes in handy... A little raise in the voice.."janta ki awaz" gather a crowd and the poor checker was forced to let us in... They are not at all used to this. But there were no seats, so we saw the movie sitting in the ally.. the aroma of our Indian food spreading throughout the theatre.. The movie... less said about it the better.. it was how the "Maid of the Mist" got its name... some mythical girl commits suicide by jumping off the Niagara, is catched by the spirits who reside behind the waters of Niagara.. no need to worry folks.. Niagara is not haunted... :D.. by the way the chick in the movie was hot.. she commits suicide because, she was being forced to marry a old man... Some war stories about the quest to control Niagara because people believed it be a way of entering China and other stuff... Movie over... nice to spend your idle time though...

Time for the light show.. This is also what I had missed in my previous visit... Huge flood lights of different colors are flashed onto Niagara from the Canada side... Truly beautiful view.... Thing is there are 7 different colors that will be flashed, one after the other and in the end all together. This usually happens fast and the entire stuff is for like 40 minutes... I dont know what sin we had commited, but for us first the white light came on.. We were like ohhhhhhhh aaaaaahhhhh, wowwwwwww" but after some time "change the f@#&ing light".. the white light was on for full 10 minutes, then came on the green, same story of ohhhs, ahhs and f#$%" We had patience to wait for two more colors, and then we had enough... But nonetheless it was beautiful...

Probably next time I go I will get to see the faster version of the show.... Happy and content with the visit... we commenced back on our return journey....

By the way the meaning of Niagara is Thunder Water...