Niagra

Escaped Toronto at about 11am and sped down the Queen Elizabeth Way toward Niagra..

Approaching the Falls we weren't prepared for what we found.. we turned the final cor ner into Niagra itself and found ourselves in tourist hell.. could it have been any more tasteless? Nope. every slot machine known to man, houses of horror, dinosaur mini golf.. you name it they have it.. The only thing missing? ..a sign to the Falls themselves! we flipped a coin and came up lucky first time.. when we eventually caught sight of the main event we were still so stunned by the trail of tackyness we`d just traversed that the waterfalls themselves were a total letdown..

The place was packed with tourists of every hue, London buses zoomed up and down the main street (They even had one from my road in London! ...spooky..) kids were disciplined and the sun beat down.. we watched the jolly little boats take their plastic coated passengers into the spray and decided to cross the bridge into America and give the Yank side a go..

What a contrast! a clean visitor centre welcomes you into a park remarkably free of exploitation and you can get right up to the falls themselves without fighting through acres of human flesh.. I -much- preferred this side.. I know there are folk here who will swear the Canadian side is more fun, and if you`re here to push quarters into slot machines and visit Frankensteins house then I guess it is, but for a gawp at nature doin` its stuff the US side wins hands down.. I`ll take my Vegas in Vegas thank you! ..oh, I forgot to mention that close up the falls are AWESOME! approach from the south and spend the evening in Canada is my advise...

Did I mention the "Louis Tussards House of Wax" on the Canadian side? ...I hope he`s a relative is all I can say..
With Niagra behind us it was next stop Cleveland.. well it would have been had we not found a Dennys en route! Hoo boy! mana from the gods..

At about 8pm we pulled into Cleveland, Debs had booked a motel for us.. we should have guessed from the name but the "Knights Inn" is themed.. our room has "beams" "ramparts" and paintings of shields on the walls... not to mention the blood red carpet! I like it!

In the evening Debs took us into Cleveland to an area called the Flats.. we visited a bunch of clubs, the common denominator being bad music from the eighties playing at head splitting volume.. don`t get me wrong I like loud music as much as the next Motorhead fan but cheap sound systems pushed beyond their limits by Culture Club hits re ally don`t encourage repeat custom from this old fogey.. between torture chambers we managed to have a good natter to the Debmeister but I`m afraid we wern`t the best company in the world..

Until tomorrow dear reader..

Back to intro..
Onward ..tomorrow is another day!

Approaching the Falls we weren't prepared for what we found.. we turned the final cor ner into Niagra itself and found ourselves in tourist hell.. could it have been any more tasteless? Nope. every slot machine known to man, houses of horror, dinosaur mini golf.. you name it they have it.. The only thing missing? ..a sign to the Falls themselves! we flipped a coin and came up lucky first time.. when we eventually caught sight of the main event we were still so stunned by the trail of tackyness we`d just traversed that the waterfalls themselves were a total letdown..
	The place was packed with tourists of every hue, London buses zoomed up and down the main street (They even had one from my road in London! ...spooky..) kids were disciplined and the sun beat down.. we watched the jolly little boats take their plastic coated passengers into the spray and decided to cross the bridge into America and give the Yank side a go..
What a contrast! a clean visitor centre welcomes you into a park remarkably free of exploitation and you can get right up to the falls themselves without fighting through acres of human flesh.. I -much- preferred this side.. I know there are folk here who will swear the Canadian side is more fun, and if you`re here to push quarters into slot machines and visit Frankensteins house then I guess it is, but for a gawp at nature doin` its stuff the US side wins hands down.. I`ll take my Vegas in Vegas thank you! ..oh, I forgot to mention that close up the falls are AWESOME! approach from the south and spend the evening in Canada is my advise...
	Did I mention the "Louis Tussards House of Wax" on the Canadian side? ...I hope he`s a relative is all I can say.. With Niagra behind us it was next stop Cleveland.. well it would have been had we not found a Dennys en route! Hoo boy! mana from the gods..