In the year 2002 I traveled with a youth group on a religious pilgrimage to Toronto, Canada for World Youth Day with the Roman Catholic Church. This event, which is a gathering of Catholic youth from all over the world who come to together in one place to celebrate their faith, was being held the third week of July. Besides the many services and programs being held at the gathering during the week-long event for the attendees, there are also local attractions to visit and explore. One of those nearby attractions that our group decided to take was to visit one of the Seven Wonders of the World, Niagara Falls.
We traveled the approximately 81 miles south by luxury motor coach from just outside Toronto to Niagara Falls. Riding along the Queen Elizabeth Way from Toronto provided us a picturesque view of the Canadian countryside. We were also blessed with a nautical view of the many different ships on the water when we crossed over Lake Ontario by way of Burlington Bay. Our group was going to spend the whole day touring The Falls and exploring the nearby shops, restaurants and lush botanical gardens.
Our bus parked high above the Niagara River near the Queen Victoria Park. Our first stop is the “Journey Behind the Falls” tour, which consists of taking us down and behind the great Falls through solid rock. On this tour we will have the opportunity of seeing the cascade of water up close from observation decks which are below and to the side of the Falls. After standing in line for about 30 minutes, we were given a souvenir rain poncho to help protect us from the Fall’s mist and directed to enter elevators that would take us 150 feet below the top of the Falls to the basin below.
After leaving the elevator, we put on our rain ponchos and followed our guide down tunnel to the Great Falls Portal. The guide explains that the portal is approximately one-third the way down under the Falls. The guide tells us that the “Journey Behind the Falls” use to be called “Sheet of Falling Water” up until 1994 and that the first tunnels were built in 1889. New tunnels were dug in 1944, lined with concrete and fitted with electrical lighting. It is hard for me to hear the guide because of the roar of the rushing water and as we get closer to the portal the roaring sound grows even stronger. At the portal, which is a huge opening in the rock, I see the water rushing downward. The water is so thick and heavy that I cannot even see through it to the outside.
After viewing the portal we make our way back to the observation decks. This is my favorite and most frightening view. The deck is completely wet being covered from the mist being spewed by the falling water. Looking upwards towards the top of the Falls, my head spins a little at the dizzying height; but it is a spectacular, breath-taking sight. Tons and tons of water are crashing down from 13 stories above to the river below. Out on the river I see the tourist boats from the “Maid of the Mist” tour being tossed around like bobbins from the waves created from the tumbling and turning water.
We make our way back to the elevators, ascend to the top and enter the Shops at Table Rock were we all buy a variety of souvenirs to take home to our family and friends.
It is now lunch time and we all go our separate ways, agreeing to meet back at our bus at a particular time for departure back to Toronto. My friend and I decide to eat lunch at the Planet Hollywood restaurant. Afterwards we buy T-shirts at the Hard Rock Café gift shop next door, which is very busy with many teens from the World Youth Day gathering. We them make our way to Queen Victoria Park.
Queen Victoria Park is full of beautiful flowers, trees and bushes. There is a rock garden, well-kept lawns, a variety of colorful plants, multitudes of flowers, and benches to sit and gaze at the wonderful Falls in the distance. I am in awe sitting there amongst the gorgeous plants and Niagara Falls nearby, one of the Seven Wonders of the World.
All too soon it is time for us to return to the bus and head back to our lodgings in Toronto. I hate to leave this magnificent place and feel honored and privileged that I had the opportunity to see this magnificent natural wonder.
Niagara Falls Facts:
-Niagara Falls is approximately 180 feet high and 2,500 feet side.
-The water that flows over the Falls comes from four of the five Great Lakes and empties out into Lake Ontario.
-The Falls started flowing at the end of the last ice age over 12,000 years ago.
-At one time 5,000,000,000 gallons of water flowed over the edge of Niagara Falls.
I would recommend to anyone that seeing Niagara Falls, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, is well worth the time and money. I would also recommend the “Journey Behind the Falls” tour. No one would be disappointed.
Source: www.torontotours.ca
