The Chinese bus tours, something you hear a lot about in the
Au Pair community, primarily because they are inexpensive, and also because
they are short and fit into our weekend off time frame, was a home run this
weekend. Niagara Falls, the collective name for three waterfalls that straddle
the international border between the Canadian province of Ontario and the U.S
state of New York, renowned for its beauty and source of power, was our
destination tour of choice. A package that offered a buy 2 get 1 free,
discounted us into what would be a 4:30 am rise, to make our way to the train
station, to catch the Metro North into the city, catch the green line downtown
then walk 13 blocks in Chinatown, to meet at Christie street at sharply 7:30am,
was a dreaded yet successful journey.
Slightly chilly but warmed by excitement
we waited for our tour guide leader to stick a cheesy seat number sticker to
our shirts and point us in the direction of what would be the bus we spent most
of the weekend on. Climbing aboard, we were outnumbered by the adequately named
tour company, to be thankfully huddled together in our four seats, Jacorine and
Alida, myself and Danielle. We headed North, IPods charged, books in hand, to
travel hours to our first destination of Thousand Islands, an archipelago that
shares both Canadian and U.S waters. Climbing aboard Uncle Sam’s boat tour,
beanies and jackets plentiful, we were guided by a lovely lady who provided a
light hearted stance on the facts of the islands, in which totaled 1864. The
communication barrier of sitting down if you were on top, was lost in
translation in frustrating ways. Learning about the islands, crossing the
underwater Canadian border, viewing the smallest international bridge in the
world provided for an interesting day. My favourite story would be the Island
of the Yale swim team members of the Skull and Bone committee, in which they
spent every summer on the grounds of this remarkable Island, chosen by prestige
and reputation, from George Bush to Senator Heinz, I could only imagine the
young carefree spirits of men that have made history, running around shirtless
oblivious to their future impacts.
Time constraints had us off the boat, back
on the bus and off to our hotel for the night, which I was pleasantly surprised
about. Exhausted, and unable to sleep like the dead like our companions Jack
and Alida, who slept 80% of the journey, we had 6 hours sleep and were to meet
in the Lobby at 6:00am. Delirious laughter and giggles powered by fatigue, lead for an enjoyable evening in the hotel room.
Freezing and ready to face the day, we devoured the
second half of our subway foot longs and climbed aboard our now very familiar
seats, to get cosy for a few more hours. Having thankfully denied the $11
Niagara Falls DVD summary, which we candidly stated could easily be watched on YouTube
for free, due to the rushing time clauses, we had the opportunity to snap a
bunch of awesome pictures of the falls during this time. The sun just rising,
and hitting the water like a mirrored gesture from God, the orange, red, yellow
and brown leaves of the fall providing a gorgeous backdrop to the already
gorgeous rapids. The constant cool mist showered us delicately as we viewed the
powerful vista of mass amounts of water pouring over by the gallons, a sight so
beautiful yet profoundly dangerous and alive.
Moving over to the ticket stands
for the Maid of the Mist, we huddled by the hoards, as the crowd waited
anxiously to participate in the last weekend of such a trip due to the winter
weeks. Prepared with our recently purchased gumboots we got the occasional
compliment from employees, as we pulled a sneaky move to jump the elevator
queues. We joined the small pink marshmallow zigzag formation that we had
viewed from the top, as we entered a tented office and exited the other side,
and too, transformed into a pink marshmallow. The pink was in aid of breast
cancer awareness.
Freezing toes and fingers, we fiddled and probed at our new
attire as we stepped onto the Maid of the Mist, to begin the boat ride that was
exhilarating and magical. The world of course being as small as it is, would be
a group of Afrikaans speaking tourists beside us, I took the opportunity of the
language barrier to dive in when the gentleman proclaimed a photo “ vir almal
wat my verstaan “ to which I announced “ Ek verstaan “. It was shock and
laughter and embrace as we conversed with our familiar people while we were
experiencing a wonderful journey. Being at the bottom of the falls was truly
majestic, the pure size, power and magnitude of the falls itself was worth
every minute on those upright, too close for comfort bus seats. Not getting as
wet as I anticipated, the 20 minute boat trip came to an end, and we made our
way back to the bus for our deadline. Of course we were all on time, but lost
30 minutes due to, which I spoke so passionately about, always that one person
who would be late. It was the next brutal 10 hours that I would like to erase,
as we made the journey home, climbing into bed only after midnight. Already worth
every second when I look back...
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