Visit to Niagara Falls..

Visiting Niagara falls was always a dream for me. I started wishing for this back in 2006 when I saw one of my teammate's pic in Orkut. I had to wait another 6 years for it to happen. As it is said, late but not the least, my visit to Niagara became one of the most remarkable events of my life.

To be very frank, other than the picture of my team mate, I had no clue what is to be expected at this place. We  (my husband, sister, b-law and nephew) started in the morning from New Jersey and drove via Philadelphia to see the American side of the falls. The journey was very pleasant as there was slight wind and 'about to rain' weather. The greenery on both sides on the road in PA made it all the more spectacular.We reached Niagara about afternoon.We had our lunch and then started to move to the view point.

Niagara falls include three main falls which divides Canada and U.S. The 'Horseshoe Fall', the 'American Fall' and the 'Bridal Veil Fall'.The first look of the falls made me dumbstruck.It was not at all what I had expected. I was expecting water from a great height falling to the level we were in. Then I realized that we were in the same level as the top of the water fall and water was falling down from there. Also the width of the horseshoe fall  really surprised me.And above all the speed with which the water was falling down(216,000 tons of water per second) made it really prodigious. Words seem short to express the grandeur of these falls.

After the first look of the fall, we decided to take the 'Maid of the Mist' ride. It is a boat ride which takes the passengers pretty close to the 'Horse Shoe Falls'. We were given a special blue raincoat to protect us the from the misty waters of the falls. The boat passed 'American Fall' and 'Bridal Veil Fall' and then took us into curve of the 'Horse Shoe' . Wow ! The feeling of the dense silvery mist of the water falling on you from all directions is a 'must-experience' one. We all were so excited and jumping around in joy. The boat stood in the wavy waters for almost 15 minutes and took us back to the shore. On our way back, we could see a beautiful rainbow along the 'American' falls.People mentioned that this rainbow is a very common sight here due to the angle of the falls. When we reached the shore, all of us had the same feeling. We felt like we didn't have enough of the falls. We looked at each other and it was an unanimous 'YES'. Yes ! We decided to do the boat cruise again. We enjoyed it thoroughly the second time too.

After enjoying the 'Maid of the mist', we went to the 'Cave of the winds' ride.'Cave of the winds' is a natural cave behind 'American Falls' . We were given special shoes and taken down in an elevator . Then we walked through a cave like structure , out to the level of the river to take a closer look at the 'American' and 'Birdal Veil' Falls.Wooden steps took us to the base of the falls.Water was flowing above, behind beneath and also splashing in huge quantities all over us.We could hardly speak and had to constantly wipe our face to see each other. It was like 'back to childhood' experience. Then I realized that how a simple thing like 'splashing water' used to make us so happy in our childhood days.

After all the watery experience, we changed ourselves , had some food and walked to the observation deck. After seeing the falls, from such a close view, the deck did not fascinate me much. Then we waited for the night to arrive.It was a Friday and it was told that there would 'light show' on the falls. I should say it was worth the wait. The 'light show' illuminated the falls with various colours like blue, green, red, purple etc. It was an added beauty to see the colours on the roaring water. And  the cracker show at the end of it made the whole experience a very memorable one. On the way back, I could only hear the sound of the raging waters till I reached home.