22nd August 2010, 22:40
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| Senior - BHPian | |
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22nd August 2010, 22:52
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24th August 2010, 01:31
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| Senior - BHPian | Quote:
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24th August 2010, 01:36
| #19 |
| Senior - BHPian  Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: cincinnati, jabalpur,chennai
Posts: 1,264
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24th August 2010, 03:13
| #20 |
| Senior - BHPian | Trip to Niagara Falls Had booked a round ticket from Chicago - Buffalo - Washington DC - NY - Chicago for a pretty good deal. Washington DC - NY I took Amtrak. Most of the main attractions in Niagara falls closed by the 25th of October, so I decided to go to Niagara first. Niagara falls is around 17 miles from Buffalo Airport and I went directly to the falls from the airport. The Niagara falls is divided into the American Falls and the Horseshoe Falls. The American Falls is entirely on the American side while 2/3rds of the Horseshoe falls is on the Canadian side. The best view of the Horseshoe falls is from the Canadian site. While the falls is there all 365 days a year :O) the Maid of the Mist and the Cave of the Winds tour is closed by Oct end for the winter and reopens only in March or April. There's an Information centre where one can buy a combined ticket for the Maid of the Mist, Cave of the winds tour, the IMAX show and a small acquarium close by. Works out cheaper. First View of the falls. The sound of the waterfalls is amazing.  The fall colours added a lot of beauty to the falls.  You can see both the American falls and the Horseshoe falls here.  The Rainbow bridge connects USA to Canada. Across the river is Canada. Unfortunately I couldn't get across. Or rather I could get across, but then getting back into the Us would have been a problem unless I decided to swim across  The "Maid of the Mist" is the boat ride that takes you right into the Horseshoe falls. They give you a nice plastic raincoat so that you don't get drenched. You can take it or return it. It was probably around 8 degrees and I was shivering. The riverside was beautiful  During peak season, there are long queues and waiting time sometimes exceed 2 hrs. However since I was there at the fag end of the season, there was no crowd. Infact we waited for people to come and fill up the boat!! This is a view of the American Falls taken just as I got into the boat  The American falls is actually divided into a much smaller falls called the Bridal Veil. The island in the middle of the two is called Luna Island. You can walk right upto the edge of Luna Island and overlook the falls.  The wooden deck and stairways that you see on the right bottom below the Bridal Veil falls is the Cave of the Winds walkway. You can actually take an elevator from the top to this place. There used to be a cave at the back of the Bridal Veil falls. However this became unstable in the 1920s and tourists were stopped in the 1950s.  The tall green tower that you see to the right of the bridge has a viewing deck to see the American Falls and also has the elevator that takes folks down to the Maid of the Mist boat ride.  The Horseshoe falls. Once the Maid of the Mist boat gets into it, its almost impossible to hear anything else. There's so much of spray that within a few minutes we'll get soaked. Its pretty tough to take fotos as well.  The other major problem is the perennial mist that envelops the Horseshoe falls. The attributed reason to this I will explain in the next snap. But its an awesome experience to be in the middle of a falls which envelops you on all three sides!!!   The Canadian side is choc-a-bloc with high rise hotels. It has changed the landscape and is supposed to have blocked the wind, due to which the mist on top of the falls stays put. The American side is not commercialized at all and so looks very pretty.  The water is not very deep as it flows towards the falls, but the speed is well over 40 kmph. As you can see the views are spoilt by the buildings on the canadian side.  One can walk all the way along the falls to Luna Island which is inbetween American Falls and the Bridal Veil Falls and then on to Goat island, which separates the Bridal Veil Falls from the Horseshoe Falls.  I spent a lot of time here clicking pictures and just sitting there and watching the water. It was beautiful and also with less number of tourists, quiet and peaceful!  What is this life if, full of care, We have no time to stand and stare. - William Henry Davies  ...... No time to see, in broad daylight, Streams full of stars like skies at night.  This foto was taken from Luna Island overlooking the falls.  It was quite exhilarating to stand quite close to such a huge waterfalls. But something even better than this was still in store.    Cave of the winds. Shoes are not allowed here. Instead they give you a nice pair of slippers which are very very good. They have velcro straps and do not slip at all. Raincoat is also given. You have to take an elevator from the top to the bottom of the falls to get to the Cave of the winds deck.  The whole deck is not bolted and is removed during fall and put back during spring!! The deck is just wedged into the rocks that are found there. I still can't believe this and thought it was an urban legend. But looks like its true!!  It was amazing to be so near to a fall and get once's feet wet. The water was very cold but who bothered!  The Hurricane deck is where one should head to if one wants to have a bath. I imagined if this was India, there will be a lot of tourists having bath there with soap and shampoo!! They'll also have a separate entry for women and the whole place would be littered with shikai and shampoo sachets!!  This final foto is that of the Horseshoe falls. Unfortunately I couldn't take more as it started raining. I had already wet my feet in the Cave of the Winds and lost all sense in my toes due to the cold weather.  As I mentioned earlier the number of tourists were very less and in that the majority were Indians. There are any number of Indian restaurants in the Niagara area. Looks like an Indian pilgrimage center in the US |
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24th August 2010, 03:13
| #21 |
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25th August 2010, 01:46
| #22 |
| Senior - BHPian | Washington DC After spending an eventful day in Niagara, I left early next morning to Washington DC. Well actually my flight was to Baltimore which is pretty close to DC. Got down in Baltimore and took the Amtrak to Washington DC Union Station. My friend had warned me that it had gotten pretty cold in DC. As I was leaving from Buffalo which by itself was very cold, I wore a couple of t-shirts and a jacket. I landed up in DC with layers of clothing, to find that it was blazing hot as I stood got out of the station. I needed to change to something light. So guess where I did my dress change? Read on... The Union Station is very beautiful and was the biggest station in the US until the Grand Central in NY took over. I had actually booked the Trolley Tour in DC. Its pretty interesting in that its like a open tram/trolley with interesting driver guides. They go around the main attractions in DC and you can hop in and hop out any number of times in a day. Also since it was Fall you buy for one day and get the second day free!! There's a lot to cover in Washington DC, especially if one is interested in Museums. I was staying in Washington for 2 days and I had planned to cover Washington Monument Lincoln Memorial Jefferson Memorial WW II Memorial Capitol Hill Library of Congress Supreme Court National Air & Space Museum Natural History Museum National Archives White House and if time permits the Spy Museum and the Holocaust Museum. There are way too many museums in Washington DC and it is impossible to see all of them in 2 days. So I had to pick and choose. Choosing the trolley tour was the best thing that I did as I did not have to walk long distances and could manage visiting all the important attractions pretty easy. Ok.. Enough of stories. Some fotos Capitol Hill - This is the back side. Obama swearing in ceremony happened on this side. The story is Reagan wanted to face his home state when he was sworn in and so the swearing in moved from the front side to the back side.  Capitol Hill - This is the front side. There was a group of tourists using Segways to go around! I wanted to drive one desparately!!  The US Supreme Court is just opposite Capitol Hill. As I mentioned earlier I had to change and so I went into the Supreme Court and used their loo!! It was probably one of the most swanky loo I've been to. Gold coloured taps, marbled flooring, basically the works.  Next I visited the Library of Congress. Its the world's largest library and being an avid bibliophile I definitely wanted to visit this place. I wish all libraries were like this! Beautiful building and so well organized. Had to move on pretty quick though as I had other places to cover.  Next stop was the National Air and Space Museum. All the Smithsonian Museums are in a piece of area called the National Mall. I think there are a total of 16 museums in that area. One needs atleast half a day to go through the entire museum and enjoy the various exhibits.  The Spirit of St. Louis. The plane Charles A. Lindbergh used for the first non stop solo Trans Atlantic flight.  Charles Lindbergh flew from New York to Paris and won the prize on offer at that time for the first person to do so. The plane was so named because the plane was financed by folks from St. Louis.  The Predator UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle). Extensively used by the US in the Afghan Pakistan border area. Awesome.  A collection of V-1, Jupiter, Minutemen rockets and missiles  The Apollo 11 Command Module. This was the living quarters for the first three men to make it to the moon. This is the only part that made its way back to Earth along with Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Collins.  This one tomorrow!  |
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25th August 2010, 12:36
| #23 | |
| Senior - BHPian | Quote:
Frankly didn't have the time. My boss wanted me back in India pronto. Also I didn't have any friends there to put me up or rather put up with me.  | |
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25th August 2010, 12:49
| #24 |
| Senior - BHPian  Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: City of seven islands.
Posts: 2,877
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25th August 2010, 12:56
| #25 |
| BHPian Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Mumbai
Posts: 554
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25th August 2010, 13:14
| #26 | |
| Senior - BHPian | Quote:
With the camera it was a big challenge. Had a waterproof bag, so somehow managed. As long as one's feet was wet it was ok. But after coming out of the Cave of the winds, it was really bad. I only had cotton socks, so it took quite some time for the circulation to get back. Yeah Florida is supposed to have similar attractions. I've heard/read that Disneyworld is better than Disneyland. Been to Disneyland on an earlier trip so just wondering. | |
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25th August 2010, 13:23
| #27 |
| Senior - BHPian Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: City of seven islands.
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