I don't know why, out of our whole group, I was the only one dying to go to Niagara. Maybe I found this little trip very romantic, maybe Niagara Falls was a dream for me, or maybe the others just didn't have the money...=))
But jokes aside, going to Niagara was a spontaneous decision, I'd say super spontaneous. We finally found out that we actually had 2 days off, and the decision on how to spend them came to mind on its own! I had wanted to go for a long time and already knew where to buy a tour online. But! There were no tours for tomorrow, only for the day after tomorrow(( And that didn't work for us. Deciding that another opportunity wouldn't arise, we headed to Greyhound for tickets just to Niagara, even though that option was terribly unprofitable!! Judge for yourself, the tour costs $135 (and there are bonuses there too), while just getting there and back on Greyhound is $150!!! Absurd!
Good thing I'm a smart cookie!! Because after getting completely confused with the weeks and days, we made a mistake in our calculations and, as it turned out, we could go the day after tomorrow so that no one would get fired from work, and there were tours for the day after tomorrow! So, having prepared the credit card, we went to the site gotobus.com and placed an order (by the way, this site has a bunch of tours all over America! I highly recommend it, the prices are normal and the selection of destinations is wide!).
Do you know what was funny? Since this tour was bought from the Chinese, Angela (our guide) spoke Chinese first, and then only English. In general, a beautiful language... xin bin luo ya, xiao bin))
8 hours on the bus... it seemed like what could be worse!! But we didn't lose heart, since we booked the tickets last, we got the last seats on the bus... and since the whole bus wasn't packed, we each spread out over 3 seats and slept peacefully for all 8 hours)) well, we only woke up when something went numb and during stops. It also helped that the previous 3 nights were not rich in sleep)))
I couldn't even imagine that when I saw this indescribable sight, I would experience such, such!!! No one doubted that this beautiful waterfall would take our breath away. The first excursion was on a boat, we got soaked to the bone!!! These raincoats didn't help much, especially when you take them off. Then, we went to "touch the waterfall." You walk on steps right by the waterfall and can touch the stones, the water... They give you slippers in addition to raincoats, they are so cool, I even brought them to Russia. In one place, there is a small platform, and if you go close to the railing, the waterfall will lash right at you... it even hurts! Such power!! I decided to do it... delight!!!!
I didn't want to leave the waterfall at all... I wanted to watch and watch... But after walking around a lot, a Russian student wanted to eat. Not so fast! The two of us only had 6 dollars in cash in our wallets, the rest was on cards. It would seem, what's the problem? But, within a kilometer, probably not a single place accepted cards! It would seem again, what's the problem! There are plenty of ATMs... But what Russian student would want to pay a $2.5 commission!! Maybe some would, who earns a lot or is so hungry that they would do it, but not me!!)))) And we set off on a journey to find a place where we could eat and pay with a card. An hour later, completely lost, we stumbled upon a burger restaurant!! It's a real restaurant, with a very beautiful atmosphere, where the menu is only burgers! I have never eaten such burgers! They are very tasty, they cooked them for us for 15-20 minutes, they were huge and melted in your mouth)). Do you know how long we wanted to eat?)))
Angela said that on special days they launch fireworks over the waterfall, but since it was a simple weekday, unfortunately, we wouldn't have the honor of seeing it. But an hour later, she told the joyful news - there's fireworks today!!! And so... Niagara Falls at night, with lighting, and fireworks, and your friends... People... how beautiful this life is!!! You look at this sight and forget that you have no money in your wallet, you are far from home, you are tired and hungry, you only know that in these moments you are very, very happy!
Day 2
Well, a new day - new worries! The camera battery died, it has some kind of thing where you can't buy new batteries(( Oh, well! There's still a phone and impressions. Our tour also included an excursion to the glass museum - Corning Glass Museum. A chic museum, of course - Venetian glass, laboratories of ancient glassblowers, various things made of glass (wedding dress, chess, tire...). We also went to a hot show, they made a vase right in front of us... they showed the whole process from beginning to end! Quite a sight! They work with huge temperatures! In the souvenir shop, you could buy very beautiful glass products, I especially liked the glass flowers. But it's madness to carry something glass to Russia. So only photos and impressions.
And, and, and, another 8-hour sleep!! Hooray - sleep!! And bye-bye Niagara and uptown.
