Niagara Falls
Our trip to Canada involved one day visiting Niagara Falls! When I found out I was coming to New York for my study abroad year, I realised it was only a 4-5 hour drive from Niagara Falls, and so I told myself I really had to go. We tried and planned a trip to go last semester, but for one reason or another it never happened- and I'm actually quite glad it didn't because we were planning to go to the American side, and I'm so glad we went to the Canadian!! We planned this trip when we got back in January and it gave me something to look forward to, and it was an amazing day. Now, I was 100% convinced Niagara Falls was one of the 7 Wonders of the World, and after an intensive google, I've had to accept it isn't - I got very excited when I thought I had finally been to one of the seven. However, I think it definitely should be on that list (have you seen it by the way? It's actually a very random list in my opinion) and so I'm going to put it on my list. So here's 33 - very very similar, but it was too hard to choose - photos from my day visiting one of my Wonders of the World!
We started off the day with a stop at Niagara-on-the-Lake, which was the cutest little town next to Niagara lake haha! It reminded me so much of Skaneateles, a little town we visited in upstate NY in the fall. There were some really nice looking restaurants and cute shops, but it was absolutely freezing so we didn't stop for too long!!! Down by the lake was especially cold because it was so open and windy, but absolutely beautiful.
Then we got back in the car to drive to Niagara Falls, Ontario. You arrive by driving down a steep hill and the girls in the car were beginning to be like 'wooooaaahh', but I couldn't see anything!! Then when I did realise what I was actually looking at I was absolutely mind-blown!! And that was just the American side!!! (Tip: the Canadian side is so much better than the American, you can get so much closer to the actual falls - in winter you can't get very close at all on the American side - and it's just overall a better view because theres more to look at).
We got out the car and very excitedly ran down to the railings and walked all around the falls. It's also known as Horseshoe falls because of its shape. It was absolutely breathtaking, I can't even describe how surreal it was to see. You could feel the mist from the falls on your face and it made it extra cold, and it was really loud. I can't actually believe how close the railings go to the waterfall, it would be so easy to just jump over them, and you could see some people had to get better photos (you could see their footprints in the snow) and the drop was huge. It was scary enough to watch someone simply lean over the edge to look down! As we walked away from the horseshoe area you could see both the American part and Canadian part together, and it looked so amazing. And we had amazing weather and blue skies, and there was a rainbow, it couldn't have been more perfect!! We really wanted to go on a boat ride - they take you right up into the horseshoe and so close to the falls - but because it was winter season nothing was running.
After we had walked from the horseshoe area and away from the falls, we walked up the hill into the little town to warm up and get some food. It was very very touristy and honestly reminded me of a seaside town with arcades and everything - a bit like Scarborough but next to one of the most amazing natural landmarks in the world - it was quite bizzare really. Because we hadn't been able to go on a boat ride we went on the Ferris Wheel and it was actually a really good view of it all! The sun was just beginning to set too which made it even better.
Then we headed back to the main part of the falls and took all the exact same photos again haha!! It did look great with the sunset.
We got back to the Visitor Centre at around 6.30pm, but we had heard the lights didn't come on until 7pm so we went to wait in the Gift Shop because it was sooooo cold. We went outside just before 7pm and managed to watch the lights come on which took all our breaths away again. Then after a while the lights changed to the Canadian flag (and the American side was the US flag) which was so cool too!!! After watching the lights for a while we were completely frozen, I can't remember the last time I was that cold- I think it was only about -3'c but it was windy and the mist made it feel so much worse!
If you've made it to this point after looking at about 30 of the same photo, I congratulate you! It really was that magnificent though, and I feel so fortunate that I have been able to experience it, I'm going to be talking about it for months!! I do really want to go back one day because I'd love to do a boat ride in the actual waterfalls - so if you ever get the chance to go I'd really recommend going in the summer, and if you go then it will be nice and warm too!!!!
Hope you enjoyed the pics as much as I did!!
Elsie xo
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