Still in Niagara - day 3

 Today's plan was hit the Falls and make some use of the bus passes we'd bought. But first breakfast. Everyone was up late, but we seemed to get moving fairly quickly. When I'm on these jaunts I tend not to keep checking on the time, unless there's something specific to aim for, and today it was just making good use of the time. We'd decided to make our way over to the Queen's Coach again, a wise move given the availability of vegan comestibles, and the fact that it was only ten minutes from the Aerocar parking lot on the Niagara River Parkway.

The Queen's Coach was not quite so busy, so a little easier on my ears. The vegans went vegan, and I opted for the cheap default breakfast again, which I knew was going to negate the need for lunch. The bill was still fairly reasonable for four people, so I think the Queen's Coach gets a thumbs up from all of us.

It really was a short hop to the Aerocar parking lot. Because it was free parking, we weren't sure how busy it was going to be in the middle of the day, and had a backup plan if we couldn't park there. The main, and very large parking lot for the Falls was our fallback, made possible because the WeGo bus pass allowed us to park there without paying the $36 fee, which I thought was quite the deal. As it turned out, we didn't need to drive into the Falls because there were plenty of parking spaces at the Aerocar lot.

The young ones booked Aerocar car tickets for the afternoon, and we all piled onto a bus and let it take us into the chaos of Niagara Falls on a summer Thursday. The bus was slow and very full, although the driver seemed to be equipped with superhuman patience as he exhorted people to move down the bus, and to get able-bodied people out of the "Mobility" area, to allow people with mobility issues to sit. There may even have been a wheelchair loaded, I couldn't see from the back, but either way he had everyone boarded and charged headlong into the heavy Falls traffic.

At the Table Rock Center, the shopping mall that sits just feet from the edge of the Horseshoe Falls, it was manic. There were lines for the toilets, lines to buy tickets for the various attractions, and above all noise. I had to retreat to the outside and wander around, marvelling at the Falls and at the all the people milling about rather have to deal with the assault on my ears. To be frank, I wouldn't normally attempt Canada's most visited tourist attraction during the summer, but when there's a school-aged child in the mix, there's no choice. That said, it is part of the overall experience, and the crowds are very International. Tourists from China, Japan and Korea flock to the Falls, as do Americans (the US is literally just on the other side of the river), and of course, Europeans. I saw footy shirts being worn, from Chelsea, Arsenal, and Shamrock Rovers of Dublin. As I said, a truly international gathering.

We sauntered up towards a position opposite the American Falls, but didn't get very far. We watched various iterations of the "Maid of the Mist" boats driving loads of poncho-wearing tourists into the spray at the base of the Horseshoe Falls, and we took in the sights.

What we didn't do was head up Clifton Hill, which is a street that runs up from the river into the Hotel District. It's Canada's answer to Blackpool, or Pigeon Forge, a street so full of tacky diversions and ways to relieve you of your money that I would pay good money just to avoid it. Yes, I'm getting old and grumpy, and maybe Charlie will appreciate it when he's older, but for this trip, we kept away from the place. The strip of land along the river on the Canadian side, and pretty much most of the way to Niagara-on-the-Lake, is controlled by Niagara Parks, a quasi-Governmental organisation that still has some standards. Yes, the attractions along the river are expensive, but all of the outlets are Niagara Parks branded and you know that some of the money is going back into maintaining the place and not into some wealthy person's already bulging pockets. The Parks also limit the worst commercial excesses, and if you want to know just how bad the Falls area could be if left to private enterprise, just visit Clifton Hill.

While I'm on the subject of who runs what, I have to say a word about the WeGo buses. There are a couple of routes, one along the river and one up the hill into the town, and they run every fifteen minutes during the day. The vehicles themselves are the lovely "Bendy" buses, and while fairly new and full of innovate things like wheelchair ramps and "kneeling" suspension, they did scrimp a bit on the seat padding. I'm certain they're operated by a local bus company, but it's all under the auspices of Niagara Parks again, which keeps them honest with scheduling and the like. When we visited last time, a long while ago, the buses were the green and white Parks buses and they stopped running after Labour Day. Just take that in; Canada's most visited attraction and the transit system stopped at the beginning of September. That was old thinking, where it was imagined that everyone went back to work in September and nobody visited. Thankfully Niagara Parks has moved into the twenty-first century now and the WeGo buses run all year round, albeit on a reduced schedule away from the summer. There's also the link up with the attractions and the parking, where you can by one ticket that covers everything, which is another innovative move, although I have to say that it was long overdue.

Anyway, back to our day. We decided to buy some tickets for the "Behind the Falls" attraction, a walk in the tunnels behind the cascade, and out onto a deck right at base of the falls, pretty much where the Maid of the Mist boats travel to. We had to time it so that we could get the kids back to the Aerocar for their trip over the Whirlpool, then come back to the falls for the tour, and that involved yet more bus rides. We were getting value from the tickets we bought.

We were early for the timed ticket entry for the Aerocar, so hung about the gift shop and any shaded areas we could find, because it was a very warm day. They wouldn't let the kids in to the ride until 3pm, and even then it was a twenty-five minute line up before they could get on the Aerocar, but the they did get on, and I think they enjoyed the ride. For those that don't know, the Aerocar is a big cable car that runs across the Whirlpool, the circular pool in the river formed by the river taking a right angle turn at that point. The river does fairly rush through a narrow gap before entering the whirlpool and then lurching off towards Lake Ontario. When you remember that Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron and Erie all drain through this little gap, you can imagine the quantity of water that's gone through there to create the whirlpool.

Aerocar trip completed, we boarded the bus again and made our way back into the Falls area. On the way, the bus diverts from the Parkway into the town of Niagara Falls and the combined GO railway station and bus terminus. I have to say, and others on the bus said it too, that two blocks off the Parkway and you're into a seriously run down area. Boarded up buildings, empty lots where buildings have been pulled down, and even Queen Street, the main shopping area, looks as run down as any little Ontario town. Then, two blocks east and you're back on the razzle-dazzle of the Parkway. 

The tour of the tunnels under and behind the Falls was self-guided (although we knew that), but involved a forty minute line up where you collect a yellow plastic rain poncho and line up for the elevators. Part way along was a young man in charge of a camera, whose was taking pictures of people with an exciting backdrop. I didn't want my picture taken but was nudged into position by one of the youngsters. I kept my hat down over my eyes, too. The photographs were available at the end of the tour, but we passed on that, and I didn't even take note of the cost, which I'm certain would have been exorbitant.

Down in the tunnels and out on the terrace there were too many people to make it enjoyable. That said, standing at the base of Niagara Falls is quite the experience. The noise and the spray frame the view up as millions of gallons of water continually cascade over the lip of the falls. We'd done the tour before, but even with all the people, it was well worth doing it again.

Back up above the falls, we made for the bus stop and yet another journey out the Aerocar parking lot to collect the car. It's worth pointing out that all the attractions have good public washrooms available, and that I put down to Niagara Parks influence; I doubt commercial enterprises would be so keen to provide such things for free.

In the car, we opted to go straight back to the Lemon Tree restaurant in St Catherine's for another vegan food-fest. Second time around it didn't have quite the wow factor, but it was still a good way to end a busy day. Of course back at the hotel, there were a few ships to watch through the lock before bedtime, ad I felt the choice of the Inn at Lock Seven was inspired if only for the canal excitement.

I would be packing up day tomorrow, and an end to the trip. There was one more excursion, though, which I'll document in the next post.

Still in Niagara - day 2

 Our first full day here was a quite mix. We started by watching ships in the canal lock (of course we did), before driving over to popular eating spot called "The Queens Coach". I say popular because it was packed.

Breakfast and lunch places are very common in Canada, and many follow a certain pattern, and clientele for that matter. The restaurant will generally be dark wood, as was this one, and the patrons will be of a certain advanced age, as was they were this fine morning at the Queen's Coach. It was packed, too, but we were efficiently ushered to a free table and menus arrived forthwith. The serving staff were very busy, but coping, until two of them collided and upset a few tumblers of cranberry juice on the white outfit of the unfortunate lady at the end of the long table they were sitting at. A brief altercation between the staff ensued, but they all quickly turned their attention to the now pink-suited customer. A free meal was offered, and I suspect that the rest of the party would have been offered a similar deal, if only the party hadn't been one of at least fifteen people. I think the wet customer was very unhappy, as she had a right to be. I hope the manager offered her a little more than free meal.

Our breakfasts, vegan platters for the vegans and a standard sausage, egg and home fries for me, was ordered and delivered in quick time. My coffee was regularly topped up, too. Because my meal was the default breakfast, it was $7.95 before tax, which is really competitive, at least compared to Chatham. We were happy bunnies as we left.

Our next port of call was a farm shop on the Niagara River Parkway that hosted a real church in a garden shed, or at least that's what it looked like to me. It's a show stopper and gets people in the shop, but there was a constant stream of tourists having their photographs taken one the church step. That's step in the singular of course, it being a very small church.

From there we motored over to the port of Dalhousie, just west of St Catherine's, to visit a couple of lighthouses there. The run over there took us through the famous Niagara wine producing area, and the rows of vines were present for miles around. Did you know that warm air is wafted over the vines in the winter to stop the plants from freezing? I didn't, but I do now. If we were more winey people, we'd have loaded the car with local wines, but we're not so we didn't.

The lighthouses were a bust, for Charlie at least. They're not big stone affairs, but rather wooden structures built to mark the harbour entrance. The old, disused but preserved one was all fenced off, and Charlie took against walking to the end of the breakwater to see the active lighthouse, so it was back to the car with very little to show for our efforts.

Just across the harbour, though, was a very interesting attraction that we decided to visit, namely a lovely, preserved Merry-Go-Round, just by the beach at Dalhousie. It was $3 to park, and the parking lot was busy with beach goers, but the Merry-Go-Round was excellent. It was housed in a purpose-built roundhouse, it was every bit the classic fairground ride, with prancing horses, mirrors, and fairground organ music. The fee was a five cents a ride, but if you didn't have five cents they let you ride anyway, and Emma, DW and Charlie all had rides. I'm a bit of a martyr to motion sickness, so gave it a miss. But what a great thing for the people of Port Dalhousie and its visitors! I didn't take any photos of the Merry-Go-Round because pointing a camera at lots of other people's children really isn't the done thing these days.

After a fairly long stay there, we motored back to the hotel for a break, and to watch ships in the lock again, before going almost all the way back to Dalhousie to visit the Lemon Tree Restaurant in St Catherine's. The Lemon Tree's menu is 100% vegan, although you'd never know it from the choices. I won't bore you with the meal details, but it was fabulous and all four of us had to carried to the car in wheelbarrows afterwards as we'd eaten so much.

The night was still young, so we drove over to Niagara Falls, yes the one with the waterfalls, the tourist tat, and the tourists. The Falls area gets ever more commercial and ever more busy, particularly given that its the summer holidays We drove right down past the falls, but baulked at paying $36 for a car park when would only be there for an hour or so. We turned the car around, drove past the falls in the opposite direction and headed away, along the Parkway again. When we reached the Whirlpool and the Aerocar attraction (a big cable car that runs across the Whirlpool in the Niagara River), we pulled into the parking lot to see what was what because Emma and Charlie wanted to ride the Aerocar. While were there, a couple of WeGo branded buses came and went, and, realising that the parking there was free and we could access the Falls area by catching the bus, we made an on the spot decision to buy a couple of 48-hour bus passes for everyone. As if to prove that it was a brilliant wheeze, we boarded the bus and rode the thirty minute bus journey right back to the Horseshoe falls. 

The bus, a noisy and quite uncomfortable "bendy" bus, duly dropped us at the Table Rock Centre and we alighted to give young Charlie his first glimpse of the mighty falls. For a five-year-old he looked quite impressed. As usual there was a lot of wet mist coming up from the base of the falls, but for some odd reason, it suddenly started to rain huge amounts of spray, so much that thought it was rain. Like so many of our fellow gawkers, we were soaked in seconds. We retired from the fray, (or should that be spray?) to go inside the shops there and buy a couple of plastic rain ponchos and in my case, a $30 baseball cap to keep my specs clear. We had hoped to stay to see the Falls all lit up as the night drew in, but it was so busy and so wet that we decided to call it a day and head back to the car on the WeGo bus. We did at least see the lights, all LED and fancy now, but it wasn't yet dark enough for them to make an impression on the falls themselves.

Back at the hotel, we watched another ship transit the lock and finally crashed out at about 11pm. A busy day for sure, but will we match it tomorrow?

Blighty 2025 - Unplanned Oxford

 A sound sleep did help, but not as much as I'd have liked, and it was still a stressed morning as everyone started to find their feet in their new surroundings. Still, the shower was nice.

We had another run into Witney to complete the immediate supplies requirement. It was still busy through Burford, where despite a perfectly good, and free, Car Park at the bottom of the town, people were causing all manner of traffic-related problems while they tried to park at the side of the main road. 

Sainsbury's in Witney was very busy, which is something we're not used to, comparatively speaking. Charlie was "wired" and had to be withdrawn from the fray so that Mummy and Grandma could complete their shopping without losing their minds completely. Back at the cottage, Charlie's excitability continued, so his mother decided that a ride on a train might help. With remarkable spontaneity, off we trotted to the village of Charlbury where a reasonably priced train ticket could be had for the seventeen minute run into Oxford.

I'd never been on "The Cotswold Line", and like a lot of Britain's railways, it's been brought back from near death over the past few decades by paying passengers wanting to go into London after moving out into the countryside. The train, a nine(!) car Hitachi set in the dark green of the Great Western Railway company, pulled up at the tastefully refurbished station. (I just read about the station, and it's second platform and double track were reinstated in 2011 after being removed in 1971. The reinstated platform was extended to accommodate the nine car sets in 2018). It had come from Great Malvern and was heading into London Paddington, carrying a fair few more passengers than I'd expected, especially given that it was a Saturday. I pulled a face about the nine car set because that's a very long train compared to the five car sets on most UK Cross Country operated trains that do far longer distances. Indeed, there was even an hourly service in each direction on that route, which kind of knocks spots off Canada's VIA Rail's sad attempt at providing a service with a four car train only four times a day servicing Chatham Ontario.

Anyway, a swift seventeen minutes later we were walking into an incredibly busy Oxford, not looking for anything in particular. Goodness, but Oxford is vibrant. Obviously it's a university town, the university town I suppose, so there are hordes of young people about, but it was also full of day trippers and longer-term, more serious tourists as well. With Charlie in tow, it's not easy to walk around too much, so we visited a Pret A Manger store for a snack, a gift shop for some gifts, and did a small circuit that included Cornmarket Street, the Covered Market, Turl Street and Broad Street. It is a fabulous little town, even when crowded, and I'd recommend it to anyone visiting the UK, and that's not mentioning all the fabulous colleges and museums that you can visit if you stay longer. The high point of the day was witnessing one of Farage's Reform/right-wing "National Strike" demonstrations in town. There were about a dozen "Reformers" waving Union flags (the biggest of which was upside down), two dozen Police officers, and hundreds of counter-demonstrators waving Pride flags and easily out-demonstrating the Reformers. Fun, fun, fun. 

When Charlie started to get anxious about missing the train, we made our way back to the station, and then back to Charlbury and the car. We took a detour around the lanes to get chips from a place in Witney, but the little fellow had crashed out in the car and he wouldn't even eat his vegan nugget thingies when we arrived home. He cuddled with his mum and went to bed, which was really him doing what we all wanted to.

If things go according to plan, we'll go a little further afield tomorrow, but that's another day.