Last Day!

Well the initial plan was to keep the last day free; but a combination of weather and general laziness resulted in a plan re-shuffling. Last day ended up so packed that there was no time for nostalgia.
Me and S set off early to Niagara. The highway is 'as usual' - straaiighhht road. Then a board saying 'Niagara Falls'. Then you turn a corner. The thing is, you read about it, hear about it, it is a kind of a 'standard pilgrimage' to ALL Indians heading to North America. A very 'routine' place. Agreed, but nothing prepares you for what you see. Nothing.

Massive, massive expanse of water. right next to the road man! Your mind first goes blank. Then you think, all that is fresh water. Your mind goes blank-er! Then you recount, fed by waters from all five of the Great Lakes. Wow.
We reached early, before the sun was scorching; the spray from the falls was drenching everyone on the road; it felt absolutely awesome! After the while, the enormity of the Falls settles down inside you and you start appreciating the beauty of it. There is an "American falls" that is - you guessed it - on the US side of the falls, that is huge by itself, but in comparison to the Canadian side, ahem, its little. The Canadian side has the 'actual' Niagara - a horse shoe shaped monstrosity that belittles everything around it.
It got better still. There is a little boat (forgive me, it is a huge boat, but well it looks like a zit on the face when the falls are in the background!) called Maid of the Mist, that takes you till the Falls, till you are in the middle of the 'U' of the horseshoe. We did get on the boat. They give you these bright blue eyesores of ponchos that you wear (and still get wet), and then for the most spectacular boat ride of your life. Even when you look at Niagara from the road, you kind of get a 2-D view of it; it is just too big to absorb the actual horseshoe at one go. But on the boat, well inside the U, you can feel the Falls' horseshoe-ness, if you see what I mean. Absolutely mind blowing; surrounded on three sides by towering walls of water, soaking in the spray and listening to everyone screaming (not that I liked it) is an experience in itself.

After this very eventful morning, went back home, and re-joined the rest of the gang before heading for the African safari just outside Toronto. The idea is that you can take your private vehicle and drive through large areas where wildlife is maintained in large enclosures. It is like a well maintained highly glorified zoo! Separate areas for carnivores, herbivores, birds and fish. Cheetah for the first time in my life! Also lions, plenty of them; ostriches, Thomson's gazelle, wildebeest, bison, elk, various types of deer from all over. Very different. But I kept wondering what all these tropical animals will do in cold Toronto in winter! I am sure they have warm enclosures, but still. Most of them are third generation zoo animals; I wonder how different they are from their wild types.

After all this excitement started my long journey home. I will spare you the details of that!

:)