Thursday, May 25, 2006

Birthday @ Niagara Falls

Drove back from Niagara-On-the-Lake to the Canadian side of the Falls the next day. The Canadian Govt was nice enough to declare Victoria day on the same day as my birthday, so as part of my "present" we had to fight lots of traffic as well around the Falls area! Checked into the Ramada @ Konica/Minolta Tower at around lunch, and managed to SCORE the highest floor on that hotel, and Check out this spectacular view from our room of both the American Falls & the Canadian one! Its a really small hotel, shaped like a dixie-cup on top of a cylinder with about 30 rooms in the "cup".

We also booked a tour of the Falls area with another tour company. AND, just like the B&B, we were the only 2 people too! Gotta tell you, we felt like VIP's being shuttled around with almost empty tour van, with our guide Shirley right by us, talking up the points of interests! Nothing beats a personal driver+van on an EXTREMELY busy holiday weekend, especially when YOU don't have to worry about parking! Here's a shot of the obligatory Maid-of-the-Mist ride, a huge ferry that brings you close enough to Horseshoe Falls (the Canadian side) to even get a free shower! BTW, that's why we have the really snazzy raincoats on too!

At night, we went up to the Pinacle dining room at our tower, for an excellent dinner with the falls in the background. This picture of the view before sunset doesn't do it justice I think. Its alot more impressive when you're dining and the lights come on at night! Can't believe a huge hole in the ground with water running over it can be so mesmirizing! At the end, I think Yeesin managed to mention to the server that it was my Birthday! So, I got a very nice ice-cream cake with a single candle (to hide my real age).


Somehow she even convinced the Canadian Govt to put on a firework show for me too! (Probably she probably arranged for this Victoria Day to fall on my birthday too!) Actually, our Wedding Anniversary is next week, so I'd argue that the Fireworks was MY idea... so that we could have a romantic dining experience!

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