Niagara Floral Showcase

I’ve already established that the Canadian side of Niagara Falls has a superior view of the water.  As it turns out, it also had a superior park, one that does credit to the province of Ontario, who runs the lovely Floral Showhouse in the park.  I’m completely unable to pass by such a prospect and so T and I took a tour. 

From the start, it offered a lovely prospect.

In addition to abundant displays in the greenhouse, there were lovely pots of flowers.  

Fuchsia displays were everywhere and all of them were beautiful.

The second greenhouse had some unusual succulents and normally I’m not a fan, but I liked this yellow flower amidst the collection. 

There are several pothos plants in my care, but none are quite this splendid.  

Outdoors were beds with canna bulb flowers and I especially liked this yellow display.  

We checked out the pond outside the greenhouses.

The lily pads were pretty.

As we were leaving, we sighted this little black squirrel in the high branches of a tree.

It was a all-together lovely display and yet another reason to admire Canada's Niagara's Park.

Real Life Conversations with Border Guards: Canada edition

The backstory:  T and I talk our fair share of smack but when it all shakes down, we’re the well-behaved, law-abiding type.  Given the trouble my mother had at the gates of Mother Russia, we planned to behave ourselves when it came time to enter Canada last week.  Passports in hand, we approached the border patrol gate at Niagara Falls. 

Canadian Border Patrol:  Do you have any personal protection with you?

S & T:  No, ma’am.

It took all of my self control to avoid blurting out, “I may have a tampon or two in my bag.”  Something told me she wasn’t talking about that kind of personal protection and so I kept my big mouth shut.

There’s a first for everything.

Niagara Falls

One of the side effects of growing up in California is disdain for the waterfalls on the east coast.  The fact is that my expectation of waterfalls is that they look like the amazing falls of Yosemite National Park.  At Yosemite, Bridalveil Falls descends more than 600 feet.  Yosemite Falls is even more splendid, falling over 2400 feet.   There are 8 other waterfalls in the park.  It is unreasonable to expect that other waterfalls compete with this splendor, but alas it is my expectation.

Niagara Falls upends that view because while it isn’t tall it really is quite beautiful thanks to its width and abundance.  The falls are exceptionally wide, with two falls and so much mist that it’s hard to see the larger horseshoe-shaped falls completely.  Suffice it to say that the falls are famous for good reason.  But the most surprising element is that the Americans (for once) didn’t take the best for themselves.  The Canadian side of the falls have the best views and the nicest parks.  Go Canada!

T insisted we see the American side first, mostly because it has a nice view, albeit one that would be completely uninteresting if I’d seen the Canada view first.   The American views, seen from the cliffs alongside the American falls, were lovely.

But the American falls when viewed from the Canadian side were amazing.

As for the horseshoe falls, the Canadian share of Niagara Falls, they are hard to make a picture of because of the sheer volume of mist generated by the falls.  They can only be fully viewed from the Canadian side, tricky given the mist.  But I gave it a go.  First, from the edge by the rapids that precede the falls.

And then in the midst of all the water blowing around.

Lovely!