Niagra Falls - no water shortage then

Niagra Falls 1
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We finally had the chance of lie in, so didnt do much on the morning.  Met up with my cousin Karen and she offered to drive us about to areas we otherwise wouldnt be able to get to.  We headed off to Fort Erie, which the locals call Fort Dreary, and it was pretty boring.  The only good thing was that some geezer there was able to tell us about Canada's history and how the country was formed with the american indians and how that the French and English hate each other, nothing changed there then.  Next was a nice drive along the Niagara river (before the falls) seeing some gorgous countryside and amazing custom built houses.  Next was the bird sanctury, lets just say im glad i didnt pay for it.  We came back then went out for an amazing juicy steak (not as good as outback like) at a resturant in one of the local casino's.  In Canada its illegal to open a casino unless your a traditonal North American Indian on traditional North American Indian land.  In other words, the Canadian goverment own 95% of all the casinos in the country, thats like 100% tax on gambling, get Tony blair on that idea, all the addicts just pay back into the taxpayers pockets!!!  We all had a quick gamble on the one arm bandits, Jill did better than me.  We all lost apart from Aunti Joan who won enough to cancel out everyone elses debts.

Niagra Falls 2
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Monday was the main attraction day so we were up early.  Aunti Joan showed us the local gardens & power plants before dropping us off at the Aero Car (over the whirlpool) before heading off to work.  The whirlpool is there because the water travels too quickly to make the 90 degree turn, so just errodes a massive whirlpool as the water swirls under itself.  We met some Americans that said when they came to England, they couldnt navigate those dam turnarounds (meaning roundabouts) and we need T plates for tourists.  Apparently the car we travelled in was built in 1912 and they have never needed to change the cables once.  Not much more to say apart from see the pics.  Next was the white water walk where you get to walk along some class 6 (classed as unnavigable) white water rapids downstream from the falls.  The water really is amazingly fast and powerful, the photos dont come close, you really need to see the videos to understand it, its the highlight of the day.  Apparently people used to (try) and white water raft it, but there were too many deaths so it was made illegal.  We then walked down to the falls itself and hopped aboard the Maid Of The Mist.  This gives amazing views untill you get so close to the falls that the spray and mist off the falls turns into torrential rain and you cant see anything.  After the drenching we had a spot of lunch at Tim Hortons (Canadian version of Starbucks but better set up by a retired ice hockey player) where Jill had the nicest Hot Chocolate on the planet (like purte chocolate) and i shook the chocolate milk well (as it said on the tin) and it went all over my England shirt, as can be seen on the photos.  In the afternoon we walked behind the falls, which to be honest was a waste of time, all you do is see some water and get wet in tunnels.  We then headed up the Skylon tower (a smaller version of the CN tower looking over the falls) which gave mint views of both falls then saw an IMAX film about the falls which was suprisingly good.  After some home made lasagne we went back to the falls to see them lit up.  This was really good, even better than during the day, but unfortuantely none of the photos came out.

people used to (try) and raft it, but there were too many deaths so it was made illegal.

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On our last day we had some breakfast at the buffet back at the casino, said our goodbuys and headed to the airport about 90 mins away with uncle Jim.  Nightmare with immigration as the American immigration was in Toronto airport, which meant we had to see three diferent people before a guy said we couldnt eat a Canadian apple in a Canadian airport "It is a prohibited item, exit to the left".  This left us with a pack of bombay mix each for a five hour flight to LA.

Managed to catch a cheap bus out of LAX, but it took about an hour to get to our hotel in Hollywood.  We arrived expecting the worst, but it was actually quite good and there were no problems.  Had a quick walk around and saw the hollywood walk of fame on Hollywood Blvd.  By 6.30 (9.30 eastern time) we were absolutley starving so had to eat in a resturant that was empty.  They started lighting the candels and setting the majority of tables as we left.  We then saw the other side of Hollywood Blvd (over Highland Av) which was a lot better and much less seedy.  Its here that we saw the chinese theatre and all the famous names in the concrete.  Absolutley shattered we retired at about 9.30.