After 2 failed attempts, the trip to Niagara falls finally pushed through.  We got there through a local travel agency in downtown which offers shuttle service sponsored by Niagara Fallsview Hotel and Casino.  Glad we’re able to catch a glimpse of the falls before the icicles starts to melt.  The view during the winter time is just breathtaking. We spent a few hours strolling along the Niagara River Parkway.  We got to see the Horseshoe Falls, on the Canadian side of the border and American Falls on the United States side. It’s too cold and foggy that day so it’s quite a bit of a challenge to take really good photos (excuses excuses *LOL*).  We reached the mouth of the Canadian falls and it’s so gigantic as though it’s gonna swallow everything around it in a snap! The mist was so high which made us feel like we’re in the middle of a hurricane!  Needless to say, we’re drenched, as well as the camera (thank God not the SLR). It would be fun to take the Maid of the Mist boat ride but we will be totally crazy to do that on a winter day.  We’ll just reserve it for our next trip.

We spent around 2 hours walking around.  An hour before the scheduled departure time, we went to the Casino and had our play money exchanged to cash (it comes with the package since it’s a sponsored trip).  But since we’re already there, we decided to try out the slot machines (the sound of the beep beep and ting ting was really tempting!)  It’s exciting they still have these traditional slot machines where you can spin through the handles.  You don’t see that very much in Manila anymore coz most of the Casinos have already upgraded to digital ones.¹ It’s our lucky day or what, we were able to earn double the amount of our initial play money!  Got 100 credits in 1 spin!  Woohoo… After that round, we exchanged our credits to cash right away just so we don’t lose what we have won.  And our earnings got us a cup of Tim Horton’s coffee² and a bottled water.  Life’s simple pleasures huh?  *LOL*

Hoping to go back again during spring time.  I’m sure the view will be different by then.

Now it’s photo sharing time. It took a bit of research to embed the flickr slideshow here. I can’t get the captions to show automatically. So just click the photos to see the captions.  If you’re having trouble viewing the slideshow, click here to view the entire album.

By the way, all photos were taken using our good ole point and shoot camera as we weren’t allowed to bring big bags or backpacks. Apparently, the casino wanted to make sure that the passengers go there for the gamble and not for the tour. It’s their shuttle service after all.

¹ - Note, we don’t gamble on regular basis *LOL* Just tried it once in Manila.
² - famous coffee chain in Canada (more famous than Starbucks). Good coffee at a cheap price.

Filed under travel, photography | April 2, 2008 at 11:44 am | Trackback | Comments RSS | Add Comment

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