Tuesday (18.05.2010): Niagara on the Lake and Whitewater Rafting
On Tuesday we finally went to the whitewater rafting on the Niagara River.
The weather wasn’t as nice as I wished for (sun behind clouds and maybe 16-18°C) but the lady from the hostel told me that it would be cold anyway so I didn’t care. We were four people to head for Niagara on the lake: Bjorn, the guy from Norway, an Australian (?) couple who was doing the winetour and me.
We got a great cab driver who stopped at all important locations to take pictures and told us a lot about the story and the history of the area (unfortunately I always tend to forget these things as soon as the speaker has closed his or her mouth 🙁 ). But of course I don’t forget about Catherine Sercot who walked 60k in three days to warn the Canadian troops that the Americans are coming. She is kind of a holy person here and got herself an own chocalate branch.
We arrived at the boat terminal at about noon and got the delightful news that there were only seats available for the last boat, leaving at 4 PM. Brillant! I was a bit mad at Patrick, the hostel guy, that he didn’t just called the boad company and reserved two seats for us. But never mind….
So Bjorn and I took a walk through Niagara on the Lake (nice and old – in Canadian terms) and were heading then for the closest winery, the Pellers. There I asked for work and left my data at the desk and they promised to hand them to the contractor – who never called.
Back in Niagara we went to an Irish Pub (these are reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally good over here) and I had some awesome chicken wings. The atmosphere felt almost real with great music and a lot of stuff from Ireland. It was really good publicity for Ireland, so maybe I’ll go there someday J
After lunch we went back to the boat company where we still had half an hour to kill. We met Cherry and her husband on their honeymoon and were all looking very much forward to the trip.
After our security briefing we were ready to go: we got our sweater, the catsuit (very big and yellow and very fashiionable) and the poncho and the life safer and some water shoes (whatever they were for) and took our places in the boat.
As recommented by Patrick, Bjorn and I were sitting in the second, the power row….yeeeeeeeha J At first it was quite boring since we were transfering along the marina but then….. J
Wednesday (19.05.2010): To Fort Erie and back by bike
On Wednesday I did another of my famous bike rides. The highlight of the tour should be Lake Erie and the Fort which was conquered by the Americans in 1812.
So I started at 10 AM off to the Indian mini supermarket to by some water and food – and lost my new sunglasses somewhere along this long journey of 10 minutes bike ride.. so I went back to the hostel, back to the store but the glasses where nowhere to be seen L Fortunately these were „only“ my bike sunglasses, so I took my regular ones. Because it was a beautiful bright day with blue skies and a brilliant burning sun.
So at around 10:45 I finally started to get off to the South. I cycled down Clifton Hill….jiiiiiiiiiiiieha, and along the waterfalls, taking some pictures at the Fury of the Falls where you really get wet but also very close to the upper rim of the horseshoe falls.
Then I cycled along the river, passing the Canadian powerhouse of Niagara and some veeeeeeeeeeery nice and exciting villas on the way.
I also came across the battle field with some interesting stories written on some signs which I already forgot – since I’m not quite into these historical war things…
I passed some more veeeeeeeeeeeeery nice and very expensive houses and buildings and after only 2 ½ hours later I arrive at Fort Erie. In fact it’s a quite small thing and I guess I should have paid for some tickets….
I just went to the „back door“ and ups… in I was. I took a quick tour around and talked to some lady who wore some clothes from the 1820ies I guess. She told me that the cannons are only replicas – sooooooooooo there is not too much to be really impressing at Fort Erie and I didn’t take the tour to let them tell me more about.
Instead I took a quick nap in the attached park which was really nice but I guess I earned some more insect bites there L
At 2PM I headed back to Niagara. Surprisingly it took me another 2 ½ hours cycling against the wind wihtout taking pictures until I got back to my beloved falls.
Back at the hostel I was dying to get something to eat, I had a very impressive headache (although I wore my fantastic base cap all the 30ks down to Fort Erie and all 30ks back) and had a nice sunburned wrist where my watch used to be. But after a burger from Wendy’s, some minerals from the pharmacy and some vinegar for my burned wrist the world was in order again and I was ready to pack up my stuff for the next day and my travel to Montreal.
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