The drive up to Niagara, avoiding the Toll roads, meant that we never managed to find an eating place en-route. The Motel 6 provided a rubbish map of the town, which resulted in our walking the wrong way, desperately looking for a meal. Reluctantly, we tried the local branch of McDonalds. Never again! We spent 10 minutes, waiting for the staff to notice us, standing at the counter – then walked out. Desperate, but not THAT desperate!
We walked back to the motel, got the car, and went looking. First place was an iHop – which was closed. [The ‘closed’ theme will run repeatedly through this narrative!]. Then we found a nice little eating place – ALMacs Buffet – highly recommended. Perhaps it was enjoyable because we were tired and very hungry? We went the next day for breakfast – still excellent.
The Motel 6 was OK. The staff had to be prompted a bit, the key-cards failed regularly, but it was clean. They charged an outrageous $20 for parking – no mention when booking – but this seemed to be the norm. Niagara car parks charge anything from $10 to $30 (or more). Daylight robbery. Capitalism. All the market can bear …
The whole point – the only point – to Niagara, is the Falls. You can fight to get close (walk, drive – car parks!) – or do the sensible thing. Go to the Skylon Tower. 775 feet above the falls, so they say. Is that from the top or the bottom of the falls? Don’t know. We did the Day/Night Pass. Photos during day, then bag again after dark to see the illuminated falls and the surrounding view. OK, you have to add in the car parking, but it is still worth it.










You may have noticed the Casino in the photos. We did not go in – the car parks were too much of a gamble!
Things we did NOT do. We never went to McDonalds. We did not gamble in the Casino. No loss. We did not do the Maid of the Mist – get drenched in a small boat sailing up to the Falls. Perhaps the next time, if we happened to be going that way.
Did we enjoy it? Yes. Worth the visit. Our holiday was starting to look up. We were in Canada. Time to head North. Next step – Barrie, Ontario. Nope, we’d never heard of it, either. But we had two days to see it …