Niagara-on-the-Lake and Fireworks at the Falls.

 

Andrea and Dale picked us up around 9am, and we headed north to Niagara-on-the-Lake. This lovely little town is tourist city, but worth seeing if for no other reason than the gorgeous gardens and park. Lots of historic buildings and plenty of shops selling unnecessary 'stuff', food, and fripperies.

 

First though, we had to get through Border Control at the Canadian Border.

Waz sat in the front with Dale, while Andrea and I sat in the back. I didn't take the best photos from this position, but got some that are ok to publish:)

 

We had to present our passports, and the border guard did the usual profiling with the appropriate questions. We went through pretty fast, fortunately.

Before heading to Niagara-on-the-Lake, we went to the Dam on Niagara Lake. Here we could look back at the bridge which marks the border between the USA and Canada.

The Clock is planted differently, annually, but this one was a bit drab, in my opinion.

You can see the water lilies in the moat around the base.

We have now left 'Bathrooms' behind and are now into 'Washrooms'...this is Canada!

The bridge is where we passed through Customs and Border Control. It crosses the water coming out of the dam, which then goes into 'The Whirlpool'!

This is the pool where the waters coming out of the Dam (Electricity) create a Washing Machine effect. There is a Cable car, or Aero Car that goes right over the top of it across to the other side. we didn't participate!

You can see the force of the water coming out of the dam into the Whirlpool, and then onwards down the river.

 It is true...they DO say Eh! at the end of their sentences.

 On the way to Niagara-on-the-Lake, we passed so many beautiful wineries, and the scenery generally was lovely. The gardens are stunning! Property on the Lake is very expensive, in the multiple millions.

 Entering the town of N-O-T-Lake where the gardens were stunning, if not a tiny bit over the top:)

 The buildings were fascinating...

 The roses were stunning...old fashioned beauties:)

The above roses were in the garden of this Victorian that had just sold, according to the realty sign in the yard.

 Andrea insisted on taking photos of us:)

 Of course, by the time we arrived, it was lunch time. We had lunch beside the Lake (overlooking) at the Niagara Golf Club Terrace Restaurant. The food was forgettable, but the location was great, as was the company.

 It was a busy place, both for the food and the Golf!

Trying to decide what to eat.  Like the view??

After lunch, we were dropped off at the park, where there was an Arts and Crafts Fair. We wished we hadn't eaten at the restaurant...the sucking Pig looked and smelled wonderful!

We looked across the Lake to Fort Niagara. Lots of history, of course...English and French fighting each other...normal story, lol.

Andrea and Dale were attending a performance of Cabaret, at one of the many theatres. We were happy to just walk, photograph and enjoy the sights, gardens and People.  This old home has been beautifully restored and is now an Art Gallery. We didn't go inside, but chose to enjoy the outside instead.

 We loved the architectural details.

 On the main street, it was rather gaudy, but glorious at the same time.

 Even the water fountain was decorative and 'old' with a new faucet, fortunately.

This old codger arrived on his Harley...sat there for a bit, then he paraded up and down in front of it, took photos and engaged people in conversation about it, if they showed the slightest interest, lol.

 I really object to  horsed and carriages, especially in the kind of heat we were experiencing. Central Park in NY city is outlawing the use of them! yay! These horses didn't have the rubber shoes that others have had on, we noticed.

 Love the purple Petunias with the simple red Begonias.

This pup was enjoying the ride with his master.

Not that we will sell the boat, but we considered that this might be fun, some time!! We would need a bigger trailer tho! Lots of 'stuff' to take with us.

On the way to the Falls, we passed this winery. A and D had complimentary tickets for wine tasting...so we did. We didn't like the wine enough to purchase, and the prices were, well....pricey!

Inside the winery, there was plenty of action.

Our arrival at the Falls, at about 5pm-ish was about right to take a look around, photograph and then look for a place to eat dinner. We did the 'tourist' thing and ate overlooking the falls. It was a reasonable meal, fortunately, even though we had a long wait. We enjoyed a couple of drinks and enjoyed the spectacle of so many people who have come from all over to see the Falls.

Having found a convenient parking space, we walked past this Cable Car....which had broken down. After the fireworks, the lines to get back up were enormous and we were glad we hadn't parked way at the top of the town.

 Our first glimpse of the American side of Niagara Falls. The Falls are in two distinct sections. A and D said there were lots fewer people there than they expected or had experienced previously. This is good, as I am not a crowd person.

That is the other side of the bridge to get to Border Control. We are on the Canadian side, still.

This photograph illustrates the erosion of the falls since 1678. Waz calculated that they lose about 12 inches every ten years.

 The water is very rapid, turbulent and very green. There are lots of seagulls flying overhead all the time, and enjoying the updraft created but the water falling. It is easy to be mesmerized by the water, and somehow drawn into it.

 Looking across to the USA side. People were setting themselves up for the fireworks display at 10pm.

You think?

I did get a couple of good shots of the Falls. Somehow I expected them to be larger..don't ask me why! At times there were three rainbow over the falls.

 stunning!

the boats go quite close to the bottom of the falls, and everyone aboard gets very wet. Of course they are equipped with plastic rain coats

 We went into the restaurant with the balcony, in the middle of the photo. Waiting for a table on the lanai took about an hour.

 We finished dinner with a cup of coffee, and by then it was almost time for the fireworks. We found our position not far from the welcome center, and stood under a light post. We couldn't lose each other there! They turned the lights on and the colors played on the water.

 Fireworks began at 10pm. This is the 4th of July celebration on Canadian Soil. There was a live band nearby, which was excellent, so we had music beforehand, to keep us entertained. The crowd was orderly and in good spirits. Lots of babies and little kids...people also brought their dogs!!! hmmm..not sure why!

We left with the crowd and made our way back to the car. We had thought it would take us an hour or so to get out of the parking lot, but we were in luck and everything went smoothly and quickly. I think we were going in the opposite direction to most others.

As we approached the Canadian border to re-enter the USA (we were on US soil at this stage), we could see that there was only one lane open for returning vehicles. Seemed a bit odd, given that the celebrations were not far away.

As we waited in line, a gray Infinity wagon zoomed up alongside us in the next lane, and tried to cut in front of us. We were pretty bummed about this...the arrogant are not welcome anywhere....but he kept getting closer to our vehicle and we inched forward, hoping to keep him out of our line, which was evidently  one lane for at least a mile before...the green light was visible!
We kept hoping this idiot might use some manners and make a nice request to enter the line ahead of us, but he didn't. Instead, he kept pushing forward. We stopped and he turned abruptly into our car, making contact with us. He accused us of moving into him, but we had been stopped for a minute or so to see what he would do next. What he did left us open mouthed...and angry. He deliberately scraped his car along the bumper of ours, making a dent in his own vehicle and ours as well.

Andrea immediately got on the phone to 911 and reported this incident. In turn, they alerted the Border patrol. As we were doing this, they opened another lane, and the idiot shot out of our lane, which he had now infiltrated, into the head of the queue at the second lane. We hoped he would be stopped by the patrol personnel. He was. His car was taken aside and all the occupants were herded into HQ. When we finally approached the gate to re-enter the USA, we told the guard that we were the ones reporting the incident and they processed us quickly and sent us in the same direction in order to meet with local police and the border investigators. This whole incident took another hour to process, but the idiot was found to be in blatant contravention of the rules and we were given his insurance details and police report and allowed to leave.

By this time we were pretty tired, all of us. We finally got home at 1.45am... totally tuckered out.

I had been up since 5am, that morning, and I don't remember my head hitting the pillow. It was hard to open eyes this morning and we slept in until 9am!

Time to hit the sac again...we have had a work day on the boat today, and lots of cleaning done. The dinghy now looks rather presentable, but the rest of the boat will have to wait for Monday.
Tomorrow, Sunday, we are off to do some hiking and look at some of the Finger Lakes in NY state.

Ciao for now.