Niagara Falls were absolutely nothing like I expected. I'd pictured them before we arrived, majestic in the midst of a great expanse of nothing. The third largest waterfalls in the world were wild and raw in my imagination, surrounded by untouched landscapes and greenery.
It just goes to show how much I know. As it turns out (and as you were probably already aware) they're surrounded by city!
As soon as we arrived, we headed through the Las Vegas-esque streets towards the queue for the boat trip. As we were on the Canadian side of the falls, we were on the Hornblower cruise rather than the famous Maid of the Mist. Luckily, the falls themselves are on the USA side, meaning that the best views can be had from Canada.
We were handed bright red ponchos and joined the massive queue!
Despite the crowds of people in front of us, everything moved pretty quickly meaning we weren't waiting too long at all in the end.

The decks of the boat were soaking as we boarded, giving us a hint as to what was to come! As the boat moved off, cameras were quickly slipped into the sandwich bags we'd brought along to avoid water damage.
And then suddenly, the falls were upon us! We were enveloped by a thick mist and the pounding of the water tumbling into the river below (apparently the water hurtling over the edge of the falls is equivalent to a million bathtubs of water per minute!)

Poncho or not, we all got absolutely soaked. The boat hesitated in front of the falls for a few moments before backing away and heading back down the river.
Back out on dry land, we went for a walk along the promenade. From that vantage point, we could see the rainbows shimmering in the mists we'd been wrapped in just minutes earlier.
We spent a lazy afternoon besides the river. Aside from heading into the mall to grab something to eat, we stayed out and watched the boats gliding lazily to and from the waterfall.

After popping back to the campsite to set up our tents, we came back to see the falls by night.
If the city had been reminiscent of Vegas earlier, it certainly was now with the brightly coloured lights catching the clouds of mist that permeated the air. We walked along past the falls so that we were behind them, watching the dark waters rush towards the end before toppling off. We'd heard about Annie Taylor earlier in the day, the first daredevil to go over the falls in a barrel back in 1901 and standing there just metres away from the edge, I couldn't imagine a worse thing to do! (Really, don't try this at home kids!)
For some reason, our hair went a bit mad and looked like we'd been attacked by a bunch of balloons!

It was a short but sweet visit to Niagara and the day marked the start of our tour of Canada's Eastern cities including Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa and Quebec before finally crossing the border and heading to New York. With only a week to go, the trip was fast coming to an end but there was still a hell of a lot to do. And my goodness, a lot we did...