The Wish…..
A glimpse of the view of Niagra falls was always in my dreams though i knew it was really a big deal to come true!!
It so happened after my dear husband Jishnu, got his on-site oppurtunity to USA ,a ray to hope emerged that my dream might come true. So i pleaded him “please amake chara Niagra ta dekhona!!” (Please to go to see the Niagra falls without me!!) as due to my job etc i could not go with him instantly.
After a week i landed to US he said me i have a surprise for you! just open your mail!
Instantly i did so and saw the soft copies of the passes to niagra and the hoel booking receipt!!! I was overwhemled!!
The journey….
So on 24th of September we a group of five consisting of me, Jishnu and three of our friends Avik(kundu), his wife Tanusree and Supriyo started for the trip…….
It was a friday and the boys somehow managed to leave their office at 2pm, meanwhile me and tanusree did the packing and arranged some food so that we could have the dinner and breakfast in the hotel itself. A point to note that most of the hotels and hostels in USA are provided with kitchen facility.
We had booked a car from enterprise (KIA sedan) and set for our journey.
It was a long 8 hours of journey and Avik da being the only driver,it was a toll on him. We had a total of two breaks in the rest areas after each 3 hours and finally reached the destination at 10pm.
Hotel George View was the place we had booked and it was a hostel rather than a hotel with two bunk beds which was completely fit for 5 people and a kitchen with an attached bathroom. According to the T&C of the hotel as we had entered after 10 we were charged $35 per person extra 🙁 After such a long journey we were all tired and jumped into the bunkbeds (which i loved!!!!) and dozed into deep sleep…….ZZZZZZZZ
Niagra Day……
The alarm struck at 7 am ,me and tanusree gotup and started to prepare tea and breakfast. The boys are always a lateriser so it was really teditious for us to wake them up and get ready.
Around 10pm we go ready and went out of the hotel. Now, as the hotel was very near to the destination, we deceided to walk to the place instead of taking the car.It was around a 10 minutes walk to reach the state park.
And man!!!! WHAT A VIEW!!!! “if there is heaven on earth it is here it is here…..”
Like millions of pearl dust and a gust of fresh dewy shower thrusting upon your face. After treating our eyes with the view we went towards the other attractions. The first one named as the maid of the mist.
As we had the tickets already,we advanced towards the counter where we were to go down by the lifts.We then proceeded to the counter where we were given blue raincoats (its blue for US people and red for canadian) and then we were made to stand in the que.
As the boat arrived and the gates were open everyone hurdled to the boat to get the best place. If you want a better view always go to the top part of the boat. But, if you have elders or babies with you prefer to stay at the bottom.
There are mainly three falls in the maid of the mist, the bigger, bolder and best being the horseshoe falls. As the boat approached the gust of the wind thrusted upon our faces! we had to pull our hoods hard else be ready to get drenched!!
Avikda started to have a breathing trouble as the wind and mist made it difficult for him to breath. If you are having any breathing problem better to remain at the bottom part of the boat.
After the first magic we went up to the rainbow bridge from where the USA and Canada border can be seen. We went rumbly and tumbly but we had to go a long way to reach the food court.
To our rescue the state park has a facility of trams! so we got up from the station and took a relaxing ride to the food court. You wont have plenty of options apart from burgers, wraps and fish & chips; so we ordered five burgers and french fries to stuff our stomach.
After being recharged we went for the 2nd magic (the most exciting ones!!) named the cave of the winds. Before joining the que we had to go to another counter and take waterproof slippers. The entire thing was so systamatic like you just need to tell your shoe number and they will give the exact sized slippers.
Then we went to the que and the lift took us down. We then had to pass through a tunnel where we were given yellow raincoats and were asked to enwrap any of the belongings in plastic. This was a bit strange to us!
And then!! the que followed the way up to the falls where you can drench right underneath it!! Jishnu was so excited that he started to jump around and shout “I’m not going to go home!!” We soaked up every drop of the power spray; thankfully for the raincoats didn’t get drenched (you can save your head though!). And to add on, there was the spectacular view of three rainbows altogether!! One needs to be really careful as the showers of the waterfall made the place too slippery.
After so much of enthusiasm, we all very really exhausted so we boarded the tram and went to the exit and headed to the hotel.
We rested for few hours but then again we had to head towards the park to see the night view which was another piece of attraction! This was another enthralling experience for us; like now there was reflection of colorful lights on the waterfall!! It was a spectacular view though one can have a better view from the canada side. Unfortunately we missed the fireworks as it did not take place that day. So we enjoyed just the light show and clicked numerous pictures.
We started to starve after that, thus went out of the park to the main street. After searching a few eateries in the internet we noticed there was a renowned indian restaurant nearby named Zaika which was eventually quite famous! We went there a found a lavish buffet spread for 11$. As it was a bit crowded we were asked to wait for about 15 minutes. It was a pleasant meal and especially when it was an Indian spread for which we were craving for so long!
The Return
Alls well that ends well as people say, the trip had come to an end.We checked out, got onto the car and tuned on the player with a seven hour episode of sunday-suspense (an audio thriller) which added a extra flavour to the return to the journey of usual livlihood from the paradise.
Expenses:
- SUV from enterprise: $54
- food @ MacDonalds:$7 per head (approx)
- Hotel Grand View:$250 $ for two days
- Niagra falls ticket:$45
- Lunch at state park:$7-$10 per day
- Dinner at Zaika:$11
- Price of petrol exactly i don’t remember
Points to remember:
- Rates of car and hotel may vary at long weekends
- Carry warm clothings if you have the plans to visit late september and after
- If possible carry some food items to prepare for breakfast and one meal
- Avoid strolling on streets at night and avoid arguing with people as it might not be safe
- Always carry a copy of identity proof
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