Niagara Falls, Saturday, 16-Jul-2022
We often try to do a day trip when traveling, and that’s what we did this day. The last time I was at Niagara Falls was almost 50 years ago, and Melody had never been, so we figured it would be a good thing to do. We were prepared for crowds (a weekend day during the peak summer season) and were able to get plenty of time looking at the falls from two countries.
The reason we had chosen to do our day trip on the weekend was that we were able to get a good deal on train tickets. We knew we wanted to catch the first train for the day, which is why we needed to leave a bit before breakfast service began. We went to the kitchen in the basement to heat up some of our leftovers to go with the other items we had gathered, which worked out well. The kitchen and laundry room are at the opposite corner from us. Being curious, I counted paces and going clockwise or counter-clockwise is the same within 10 paces, so it didn't matter which way we went.
Getting to Niagara Falls
We took the subway to the train station and found the platform pretty easily. The train was waiting there, so we boarded, finding it mostly empty. Since the cars were double-deckers, we went upstairs to hopefully get a better view. As departure time neared, more people kept pouring in, and it ended up being standing room only. We were glad to have boarded early. More people boarded at other stations, and few got off.
Several attractions interested us, but rather than getting a pass for several things, we decided to buy them as we knew we would get to them. As it ends up, even if we did all the things which interested us, the pass would have been more expensive. It was a bit worrisome that cell data was minimal (or nonexistent) for most of the train ride, so we were hoping it would be better once we actually got to the falls.
After we got off the train, a bus was waiting to take everyone down to the falls. This was a free ride, but if you wanted a ride back, you need to buy a ticket. Our train ticket included a two-day pass for the buses, so we were set for that, but we would need to pick them up at some point.
As we were riding the bus to the falls, I tried buying tickets for the Behind the Falls attraction, but the connection was really spotty and the website would actively blank out when the connection went away. It's as if they designed the site knowing how bad connectivity is. After several attempts, I did get the tickets purchased just as we were pulling up to the falls. I made sure I had the tickets from email since the ones on the site also went away when cell data wasn't available.
We took a quick look at the falls from just behind the right-hand side of Horseshoe Falls, then went into the Table Rock Centre. We bypassed the long line at the kiosk for getting the bus passes, figuring we could get them later. We saw a long line that looked like people purchasing tickets, so we went to the line going into Behind the Falls. Alas, the electronic tickets needed to be converted to paper tickets, which was the line we saw. However, the woman mentioned that we could go to the kiosk at the other end, so we did that.
We found the other line which was quite a bit shorter, but people were also buying passes and asking other questions, so each transaction took longer. However, once we got to a window, our transaction was quick and we joined the line of people going to Behind the Falls.
Behind the Falls
I don't remember much about going to the tunnels to look behind the falls, but I do remember the ponchos and seeing a wall of water. Both of those were still true for this visit. Once you go through the attraction's entrance, you go down one set of stairs to a room (complete with switchbacks) where your ticket gets scanned and you get a poncho. You then finish the switchbacks, go into another room with switchbacks, then board an elevator that takes you down to the tunnel level.
Soon after exiting the tunnel, one direction goes to the viewpoints and the other goes to the portals. We started with the portals, going to the far portal first. Considering how many people were wandering around the tunnels, it was no surprise there was quite a line. Fortunately, it did move, mostly in chunks as groups of people did their selfies with each phone or had the people behind them take the photo. We got to the front, and it was what you would expect being behind falling water that was feet deep.
We went to the other portal, and it essentially looked the same, so we instead wandered over to the platforms. These take you just past the right-hand edge of Horseshoe Falls, and you get quite a view. There were two levels, the upper one being a small platform, but the lower one being quite large. There was water misting us, but we would have been fine without the ponchos. The view was pretty great; we weren't as close as the tour boats, but we could see around the mist, and we weren't getting nearly as wet, either; they definitely needed ponchos.
It was a quick wait for an elevator back to the top where we recycled the ponchos and went to find lunch. We then went upstairs to the desk where we got our bus passes with no wait. As it ends up, we could have gotten our Behind the Falls tickets there, too. After we got some dessert, we were ready to do some walking
Walking to and across Rainbow Bridge
Since we were already near the Horseshoe Falls, our plan was to walk along the river, past the American Falls, then across Rainbow Bridge to walk around Goat Island. Since it was starting to get pretty hot, we got out the sunscreen, donned our hats, and started out.
Since it was peak tourism season, the railing was crowded with people looking and taking pictures. People cycled through pretty quickly, so it wasn't difficult to find an opening to take a look. We worked our way along the walk towards American Falls, getting a better look at them. When we were close enough, we could see there was a platform at the base of those falls where people were getting very wet. Yes, more ponchos were involved.
As we neared Rainbow Bridge, we started to try to see how you walk across. It didn't help that when we were looking, there were plenty of cars but no pedestrians in view. After a false start or two, we saw the sign which pointed the way. Going from Canada to the U.S., you need to pay $1, but the machine either takes Canadian loonies ($1) or U.S. quarters. We had neither, and the change machines only took bills smaller than we had. Since CAD 1 is about USD 0.77, we went searching for loonies. We found a gift shop that was willing to make change (we got extra loonies for laundry), and we went back to make another attempt. It was almost as if there was a series of tests to get to the other side.
As we got back to the turnstiles, there was someone who was trying to go through with a U.S. $1 coin, but the machines weren't accepting them. Our loonies worked, however, and we successfully passed that test. Looking back, we saw that we needed to use the ArriveCan app again to fill out our health attestations, like when we flew in. We just went ahead and did that at the time, then we started across the bridge.
Going across the bridge, we kept looking over to the falls. We got a better look at American Falls, as well as the people boarding boats on both sides of the river.
At the far end, there was no one waiting for U.S. Immigration, so we went right on in. The agent was a bit grumpier than we were used to, but we got through without any problems. Exiting the building was another test, as you had to push the bar, wait, then open the door. One's instinct is to just push, expecting the door to open, then think it's not working when you meet resistance. We passed that last test, though, and exited into the U.S.
Goat Island
Leaving Rainbow Bridge takes you directly into Niagara Falls State Park, which encompasses Goat Island and the small islands around it. We walked across one bridge which took us to Green Island, then soon crossed another which took us to Goat Island itself. We had some maps, but we ended up relying more on the signs since they showed where we were at the time. We had to take a slight detour since the Visitor Center was under construction, but we were able to reorient easily and continued on our way.
Our first stop was Luna Island, situated right next to the brink of American Falls. It's pretty impressive to be right next to them, and you can look down at the base to see a small rainbow.
We went to the other side of Luna Island (just a few dozen feet) to see the water go down Bridal Veil Falls. From across the river, it almost looks like it could be part of American Falls, but it's separate. It's at the base of Bridal Veil Falls where people were standing with ponchos. We figured we didn't need to do that, so once we were done with Luna Island, we went directly to Terrapin Point.
From Luna Island, we needed to go to the other side of Goat Island to reach Terrapin Point. Once there, we were at the far left end of Horseshoe Falls (we could look across to Table Rock and the platform from Behind the Falls) and could get a good look. From that distance, you can see how much water goes down the arc of the falls.
Once we were done at Terrapin Point, we started walking upstream to Three Sisters Island. It's a trio of small islands which give you a better look at the Canadian Rapids. Once we had done that, we started planning out the rest of the stay. Essentially, we figured we had enough time to get back across the bridge, eat dinner, then get to the train station fairly early, since we would be catching the last train back to Toronto, and there might be a lot of people wanting to board.
The $1 toll to walk across the bridge is only collected when leaving Canada, so we walked directly onto the bridge. We waited behind a few groups of people, but once we got to the Canadian immigration officer, he was quite pleasant, and we were on our way to find dinner. We headed to the restaurant attached to the gift shop where we made change earlier, so we just ate there.
Returning to Toronto
As we were eating, we were thinking about how glad we were to have only purchased tickets as we knew we would do an attraction, since we ended up doing only one. Even if we hopped onto the bus to get to something else, we wouldn't have time to buy tickets, do the attraction, then get back to the train station.
Speaking of the bus passes, we hadn't used them, but we did get our chance as we were going to get a ride back to the station. We could have walked but we figured we had done enough walking. Nobody was waiting at the bus stop, or at least it seemed that way. They were, however, waiting nearby in the shade; the temperature was going down, but it was still quite warm. As the bus arrived, we all piled in and went to the station.
Stepping into the station, we were met with a packed waiting room. There was a different train than ours sitting there, apparently waiting for customs to inspect before people sitting down could board. On the far side of the room was a public piano, and kids were playing it. We sat in the room for about 20–30 minutes, and there was a constant rotation of kids playing (sometimes 4 at a time). One mother was trying to get her daughter to stop, but she insisted, "But I love playing the piano!" Obviously not one who has had to practice.
When people began boarding the train that was sitting there, we were concerned that there were still a lot of people sitting down. We noticed that as they were boarding, one person asked about our train, and the representative said that it would board further down the track. Outside we went.
As we started walking to the area, several people were already standing along the length of the boarding area, as well as several bikers. We staked out a place to wait, and even more people started showing up. By the time the train was starting to arrive, people were packed tightly along the boarding area, and we must have seen at least 50 bikers. Yes, we were concerned about how full the train would be.
When the train pulled in, people were getting ready to rush on like a Black Friday sale. The people exiting the train must have been alarmed at the mass of people they would have to navigate just to get off the train, let alone off the platform. Everyone did make it on, and there ended up being plenty of room. In fact, it was less full than the train we took in the morning.
Normally, once a train gets moving, a conductor will come through to check your tickets. That didn't happen on the way down and didn't happen on the way back. We were ready, though, just in case (even having the tickets on multiple devices in case one ran out of battery power).
As we were starting to get close to Toronto, an announcement was made that the train would end service at the next stop and not go all the way to Toronto Union Station, due to police activity in the area. Instead, we would need to transfer trains at the next stop, then we would be able to get within one stop of Union Station. We started working on alternate routes to our room, and though we had things set. Most of the people on the train took the change in stride, but one person seemed very disturbed that police action would close an extremely busy transit hub.
Another announcement was given that the police had cleared Union Station, and the train was going there after all. That made the rest of our journey a known route, and the late hour meant we quickly went to sleep.
