Monday August 23, 2010 – Day 5

Today we were in Niagara Falls in Canada again. We did more of the events we paid for yesterday.

First, we took the cable car ride over the rapids and whirlpool that's just downstream from the falls. It was a very windy day, but surprisingly, we couldn't feel the wind at all on the ride. It was a good ride.

Next, we took a ride on the “Maid of the Mist” boat, which takes you all the way to the bottom of the falls. We were wearing our Frogg Toggs, so we stayed nice and dry except for my pant leg which unfortunately saw some water runoff. It was a very cool ride, and well worth the money.

Next, we went for a walk on the boardwalk that's down at the level of the rapids. These are class six rapids, much too dangerous to kayak or raft or anything. Fed by Niagara Falls, this is one hell of a raging river. Many people have died there trying to go down the rapids.

Next, we visited a Buddhist temple called “Ten Thousand Buddhas”. The walls were lined with hundreds of small statues of Buddha. It was a working temple, so worshipers came and prayed while we took photos.

After that, we drove back out into the country and visited a winery. Everywhere in the country you can see field after field of grapes. The people grow a special hardy grape. In the winter, when it's 17 degrees and the grapes are completely frozen, they harvest the grapes and squeeze them, getting only a few drops out of each. From the grapes they produce a product called “Ice Wine” which is a sweet dessert wine. It was fantastic, but also very expensive: normally about $55.00 for a very small bottle. We bought two bottles of wine for ourselves and one for Kathy's aunt Mitzie, because she's introduced us to some wonderful wines through the years.

We drove back to the city of Niagara Falls, and because it was dark, we decided to look at the falls which are lit up in different colors at night. Because parking is such a problem, I dropped Kathy off at the overlook and circled while she took some photos. Most of them didn't turn out because of the low light.