day six | niagara falls

We arrived at Niagara Falls on the US side on Monday afternoon and decided to go down to the falls and have a look that day.  From the US side, you sort of see things side on as they fall into the river that borders both the US and Canada.  There was a distinct smell about the falls too and we wondered if they were actually salt water.  Dan has told us they aren't and that he suspects its just the smell of churning up the water combined with the fact that there are fish in there.

They are quite spectacular even from this side on sort of view. Its amazing to think that that much water can constantly flow and not dry up.  Well I assume it doesn't dry up. We thought about doing the boat cruise but realistically we figured you wouldn't be able to get any photos down there anyway unless you had a waterproof camera. Which we don't.

While we were there we found some photos of a woman who had ridden over the falls in a barrel. I thought that was just some sort of evil dare that was given to me but it seems it actually happened.  

There are another set of falls here called the Horseshoe Falls. You really couldn't get too close to these without getting completely wet.  And the railing they have around the viewing area is an easy step over if you were so inclined to attempt death by Niagara Falls. I found it quite interesting actually that there isn't a higher railing to stop people from jumping.

The next day after we passed through Customs to get into Canada we decided to stop and have a look at the Falls from this side. It is definitely a better view from this side as you are seeing the Falls straight on.  You also don't get as wet on this side so that's a bonus. The Canadian side isn't as touristy as the US side either but the Customs lady was cranky. The Customs guy in LA was much nicer. In fact, I felt a little bit intimidated by Canadian Customs!

Mechelle