Due to some lingering jet lag I woke up early, kind of drifting in and out. The room was quiet and dark, and with the king size bed it was easy to lay back and relax. After a while we got up and showered and spent some slow time. Looking out the window we saw a trash truck coming down the street – the collectors took a before and after photo of the trash they collected at each stop, which seemed like a semi-modern way to ensure quality control.
We ran out to the nearest Tim Horton’s for some early morning coffee. The place was busy but just one staff was working, a young Asian woman who seemed unperturbed by being stuck with all the work. Later someone came in late and started helping out. We got our coffees and a lemon poppyseed muffin stuffed with cream, and then went back to our room to pack up our stuff.
We hit the road from there, rolling our suitcase south towards Union station to catch our bus to Niagara Falls. We walked through the financial district which was cleaner and wider than the area near our hotel – less weed aroma in the air. We walked past the Maple Leafs hockey arena, got a cheesy keychain to hang on our Christmas tree, and eventually we arrived at the bus terminal for the next stage of our trip.
There is also train service to Niagara, but it didn’t run very often, and the train station was far enough away from the falls that we’d need a bus or taxi anyway. The bus terminal was surprisingly clean but not very well organized. We knew our bus departure time and destination, but the gate announcements didn’t really mention our bus. There was a long line near our gate but it turned out to be another bus that was late – ours was on time and a shorter line.
We boarded our bus and left on time, but once we hit the freeway we immediately got stuck in gridlock. That’s one good point about using the train – no traffic to worry about. After spending an extra 30 minutes or so in traffic things thinned out and the rest of the journey was fine. We drove over a big bridge as we turned east from Hamilton, and closer to Niagara we started passing huge vineyards and the occasional winery.
Kuniko was eagerly anticipating the arrival at Niagara Falls, but the bus had to make two initial stops first. At each stop the driver spent time explaining how we can get back to Toronto later in the day, but as this was a one way trip for us we didn’t need the explanation. Near the final stop traffic got more intense, and it was almost agonizing to be so close but have to wait for the bus to find the proper parking spot.
But finally we got off the bus, grabbed our suitcase, and walked a few steps to see the waterfalls. The air was heavy with what seemed like rain, but was actually the mist from the splash of the water. We needed a raincoat as it was so heavy, but everything and everyone was wet too. With a little maneuvering we avoided most of the mist and because of the sunny weather and blue sky we soon dried out.
The views of the waterfalls were spectacular. It has been around 25 years since I was here last with Brian Haven, and I had forgotten the scale of the falls and how dramatic they are. We spent a lot of time trying to capture the scene with our phone cameras (impossible), and watching the big boats (that seem tiny at this distance) carrying raincoated tourists for views from the base of the falls. There was even a hot air balloon tethered to the American side, which looked like it was doing a good business.
Despite all the tourists the falls are big enough that it was easy to roll our suitcase along, and to find available places along the rails to take in the view. Since we were getting a little hungry we decided to stop at a nice looking restaurant across the street from the falls, and saw that they had a second floor covered terrace with great views. The downstairs was a gift shop and cafeteria that smelled faintly of toilet, so I carried our suitcase up the staircase and checked in with the staff. They let us stash our bag behind the counter and then led us to a table right on the edge of the terrace with great views of the falls. It was the perfect table – something I would have liked to have arranged before but ended up lucking into.
So it was in this beautiful environment that we had a nice lunch, two flights of local wines, and some chill time in the shade. We ordered whipped feta with a chipotle jalapeño sauce, a short rib sandwich (which needed salt – I think someone forgot to add it) and just a regular hamburger (which was not bad at all). The wines were interesting – we liked the whites overall more than the reds. I took pictures of the two wine flights and for the whites I liked (from the left) #1 and #4 best. For the reds we preferred #1, then #2 and finally #4. #3 wasn’t really our style.
Our server was nice enough to take our photo, and then with a nice little wine buzz we grabbed our suitcase and started heading over to the Rainbow Bridge to walk into America.
It was bright and hot as we approached the bridge, and had to pay a $1.25 CAD toll (tapping our credit card was OK) to walk across. There were a few people crossing both directions but not as many as you might expect. There were a few more cars – just not many pedestrians and we were the only ones with a suitcase. At the midpoint of the span we were able to get some great views of the whole area and look down to the river far below. I thought the view alone was worth the $1.25 CAD.
On the American side we went into a small building, and found about 10 people waiting ahead of us. On the other side of a glass wall there was a line of young Amish men and women, who were staring at us as much as we were staring at them. They were being processed separately (for some reason) and so we just had to wait a short time. One small family ahead of us was rejected and sent back to Canada, so that put the pressure on us a little.
But when we were called to the front of the line the border guard just had a few questions (any food in that suitcase?) and he had Kuniko give her fingerprints. The machine and system had just been updated, so there was some confusion on both sides – the immigration officer’s dry wit made it hard to see if he was pissed off or just being clever. In the end it was a smooth entry into the United States, and we passed through the next door.
As we opened the next door into America proper, we almost hit a huge overweight guy, part of a family of grossly overweight people who were buying Cokes from the vending machine. I thought that they would make a huge first impression on first time visitors.
Beyond the building was a big park, and part of the area where Americans who don’t want to cross the border can see Niagara Falls from their side. I agree that the view is better from the Canada side, but the park was pretty busy with tourists. We found a shady spot, called an Uber, and we were off to the Buffalo airport. It was a 40 minute ride in an air conditioned car which made for a pleasant link on this journey. I would have liked to do the whole thing with public transportation, but the Niagara Falls – Buffalo link isn’t well-served by public transit.
We arrived at Buffalo airport three hours before our short domestic flight to LaGuardia airport. When planning the trip I didn’t know how much time the border crossing would take and so we had some time to kill at the airport. It was a pretty small place, and I when I saw Buffalo Sabres merchandise for sale in the gift shop it really brought back memories of another life before I came to Japan. To kill time we dozed a little, played Balatro, and finally caught our flight which left 15 minutes late. It was a small plane but we could sit together for the short flight.
A highlight for me was flying in over New York City at sunset. We were on the wrong side for Manhattan but I could peek through the window on that side and see the city as we descended. I turned to Kuniko to point out the sights but she was zonked out – so I didn’t wake her up. Once we landed there was traffic while our plane taxied and a fairly long delay getting to the gate.
It was my first time to LaGuardia airport and we were impressed with the quality of the restaurants and bars we passed as we headed to the baggage carousel. It was too bad we wouldn’t come back to this airport this time. Our suitcase was already on the carousel so it was on to the curb and we easily found our hotel shuttle to Aloft, a cheap chain hotel that was not far away.
At first it was just us and a lady who had already gotten on the shuttle bus, but soon a huge middle eastern family showed up and the driver started stacking their suitcases on top of ours – the lady complained to the driver (in Spanish) and managed to save her laptop from flattening. She talked with us a little (in English) and we bumped into her again later at the hotel restaurant. The driver was bilingual too – it was cool to see him slipping between languages for different passengers.
At the hotel it was an easy check-in process, and then we dropped off our stuff in our (quite large) room, and then went down to the restaurant for a quick dinner. We were the only customers, but the manager was really cool and took care of us. We had shrimp sliders (excellent) and beef sliders (so-so). Kuniko asked for a white wine and the manager asked her if she preferred a particular varietal – nice! I had a Stella Artois beer, and after dinner we moved to the bar for a couple of margaritas.
The bar was a little livelier than the restaurant, and the bartender had a couple of people with a service dog on one side, and a lonely looking dude sitting at the bar right in front of her. Later a group of Cincinnati Reds boosters came down, having attending a Mets game where they came out on top.
We were pretty tired after a long day of travel, so we went on up to our room. The suite layout was nice and the bed was huge, so it was a comfortable first night in New York.
