During last two days it rained and snowed. Temperature dipped as low as minus 22 degree Celsius. It was no point going out it such a hostile weather.
In Canada, the weather app "The Weather Network" is widely used. It's forecasts are considered reliable and before planning to venture out, people do look at its predictions and plan their journey accordingly. It's forecasts are on real time basis and are update hourly.
We were looking for a conducive weather to visit Niagara Falls. And according to its forecast, today was the day when we could plan. Incidentally, it was Saturday and we all could go together. We decided to drive to Niagara. It was around 175 km. Though longer, we decided to take a route that avoided Highway.
We packed our lunch and set off. Soon we left the Toronto and were driving through Greater Toronto. Towns like Burlington and Hamilton passed by. After Hamilton We drove on the bank of Lake Ontario. We were driving nonstop as we wanted to return before dark. We had our lunch while driving.
Then we were on lonely stretches. It's both sides we could see large farm land. There was a single hutment near every farm land. Cars were parked outside the house indicating that these were habitated. "How any family could live there alone far from the nearest town?", I wondered. Then came a row of houses. It must have been some small town. Then came wind-mills lined up in a row; rotating slowly with the wind. A board welcomed us in Niagara - a City of Falls.
We were around 20 km away from our destination. By 3:30 , we parked our car and started walking towards world famous falls. The yesterday snow had gathered on the top of trees and on the pavements. Even in the gloves our hands felt frozen. Feet were chilled in the shoes. Thick warm jacket was somehow managing to keep the winds away. But as we saw the mighty, roaring falls amidst mist, we forgot the cold. A beautiful rainbow with all its colors vividly displayed emerged as the sun rays fell on the falls. I removed the lens cover, set focus and started capturing the falls from different angles. Many tourists were standing besides the iron railing admiring the beauty of this wonder. A few of them dared to climb on the wall and sat their legs hanging towards the full-side. A slight push or a little imbalance could prove fatal. But these selfie lovers had no respect for their lives that the God gifted to them without their having asked for it.
My daughter told that the arch bridge which was seen on the other end joined the Canada to the USA. She also told that all the high-rise buildings which we could clearly see on other end were in fact in the USA territory and we required USA visa to go to that side. The residents of Canada ,however, had free access to the USA.
One hour was more than enough to admire the beauty of Niagara falls. It was 4:30 and the sun light had faded. We were also feeling extremely cold. We crossed the road and entered into the "Tim Hortons" coffee shop. It is a popular coffee chain here apart from "Starbucks". It was warm inside. We sat there and sipped hot coffee. By the time, we came out the sun had almost set. The sky had a mixture of pale and orange pastel colors painted at the horizon. The water falls were roaring as before.
We tossed with the idea to stay in some hotel there overnight. But finally decided to leave. As we left Niagara, darkness took over. We did not have a very clear idea of route to follow. Google Map guided us as usual.
One thing which I noticed during this drive was that on a stretch of 350 km, I did not find even a single driver who honked even once. And I found only one vehicle that overtook us while we were returning. I admire the traffic discipline these people follow here. It was unbelievable.
We stopped over some 45 km before our destination to have dinner at Barar. There are a few restaurant and hotels which serve food without onion and garlic. And it was one of them. Buffet was ready and out of so many dishes, there were only four dishes that we could take. We were happy with that much. We had dinner and drove home.
We were terribly tired and soon retired in our beds.
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