The journey & arriving in Niagara

Well how else were we supposed to spend the time!!
see all photos »

We left NYC just how we arrived, in the rain (wish we had packed a raincoat as our Mum's had said!) 5:15 a.m start and we left our "jazz On The Town" hostel and got the subway to Penn Station and from there we got on to the "63 Maple Leaf" Amtrak train service to Niagara Falls, Ontario (Canada to those of you poor on geography! We decided to stay on the Canadian side as we'd heard there was more to do and there were better views of the falls and they were right.) The train had massive reclining seats and masses of leg room which we guessed is to accomodate the average sized Yank! The train left Penn Station at 7:20 a.am and we eventually arrived in Ontario at 6:05 p.m. If the trains actually went over 40 mph and the Canadian Border Control Officers weren't so slow it would honestly only take half the time but hey, the journies are part of the fun of travelling! When we arrived the weather was nice, blue sky and sunny but not as humid as NYC. We got a cab to Lyons House Hostel, complete opposite to our NYC hostel as it is run by a 75 year old English man Joe Lyons (one of lifes great characters) and his wife, we had a private double room (no bunks!) complete with a full kitchen. Although the decor is very dated it is so much more homely. After getting past Joe (boy can he talk, but he was a professional boxer, so you listen when he talks!) we walked the very short way down Clifton Hill into the main part of Niagara Falls. The falls are as beautiful and as amazing as you'dre told and there are big national parks but some of the surrounding streets (esp. Clifton Hill) are very tacky and commercialised and not what we had expected. After taking some pictures we couldn't find a grocery store so decided to spoil ourselves and eat out and had an Italian meal for dinner. Oh, and Meg developed a lip fungus (cold sore)!