We wanted to see Niagara Falls and were told that the best views were from the Canadian side. Both the American and Horseshoe Falls can be seen from the western side of the Niagara River and this is in Ontario, Canada.
We arrived mid afternoon and as our motel was a fair distance from the attractions we decided to walk down to the falls and stay there for dinner.
Visiting Niagara Falls is like seeing one of the Wonders of the Natural World on a wide screen TV.
Apart from the falls themselves there is nothing natural about the surroundings or experience. They are the pinnacle of commercial exploitation of a natural phenomena.
Hotels, restaurants, fast food outlets, casinos, shopping centres and viewing points dominate the scene.
Then after dark the falls are bathed in an un-natural spectacle of coloured flood lights with a fireworks display on Friday and Saturday nights.
To compound the influence tourism has had, the water is regulated to flow less, after dark, when the tourists aren’t around. This is primarily to allow more water to be diverted for hydro electricity generation – it’s still screwing with nature.
The falls are spectacular, if you look beyond the commercialism, but it is a strain on the imagination.
This however isn’t a new phenomenon with world acclaimed tourist destinations.
The view of the Golden Arches (AKA McDonalds) behind the pyramids of Giza, is testament to this.
The first recorded siting of the falls, by a westerner, was by the French explorer Samuel de Champlain in 1604. I am sure that what he viewed with amazement back then, looks nothing like what tourists fall over themselves to see today.
