B Vaughan wrote:
>
> >> By the way, one of the reasons the view from the Canadian side is
> >> better is that the Canadian government has allowed all those high rise
> >> hotels to be built right up to the edge of the falls. If you're on the
> >> Canadian side, you're looking at the falls and the American park,
> >> whilst if you're on the American side you're looking at the huge neon
> >> signs in Canada.
> >
> >The reason that the view of the falls is better from the Canadian side is
> >that the American falls runs the side of the gorge and faces the Canadian
> >side. While the American side of the falls looks better, you have to go to
> >the Canadian side to see it.
>
> I believe I said the same thing.
No, I believe that you said that the reason the few is better from the when
you look across from the American side you see all those big hotels that
overlook the falls. You do have a point, because when you look across the
river from the US side that is what you see, as opposed to looking across
from the Canadian side, from which you see the entire length of the falls.
From the American side you can get close to the falls and see where the
water is going to go over the fall. From the Canadian side you see the
water going down.
> However, due to heavy traffic and
> inadequate parking I was unable to stop on the Canadian side the last
> time I was there.
Christ, first you complain about the hotels ruining the view, but they you
complain that the entire park is not paved for your parking convenience,
and in your mind there is less to see because the place is packed with
people. There us a large parking lot just south of the falls where you pay
to park for the day and get a pass on the People Mover shuttle buses.
> I wanted to see the falls. The immediate area of the falls on the
> Canadian side resembles Cancun.
Bullshit. The "immediate area* is a park. There is a road along the side of
the river and a nice wide sidewalk, plus a paved pedestrian walkway right
by the falls. Most of the tourist traps are on Clifton Hill and along
Victoria Ave, which is more than a half mile away and its total area is
less than the park alongside the river in the "immediate vicinity" of the
falls, and not counting the 25+ miles of park land than runs along the
river al the way from Fort Erie to Niagara on the Lake that you managed to
miss because you spent all your time in tourist traps.
> The reason the tourist traps are there
> is of course because there are so many tourists there, but a
> responsible urban planning would have prevented them from ruining the
> immediate vicinity of the falls. The Canadian side was truly beautiful
> 30 years ago and now it's been trashed.
Most of those tourist traps were there 30 years ago. Some of them have
changed hands or changed themes. The road was repaved and roadside parking
removed along the last mile of the parkway by the falls. The sidewalks have
been replaced and there was a lot of interlocking brick installed. The old
concession building by the falls was refurbished. A parking lot was added
when they removed the roadside parking. Other than that, the "immediate
vicinity" of the falls on the Canadian side has not changed much in the 43
years I have been living in the area.
> You can have all the hiking
> trails and butterfly conservatories and riverside parks you want along
> the Niagara river, but what's been done in the vicinity of the falls
> is execrable. People don't go to Niagara Falls to see butterflys.
Obviously some of you are more interested in driving around the tourist
traps and looking down their noses at them than putting a little effort
into seeing something significant. People do go to the falls to see the
falls, but then they want to see something else. If you think that they
don't go see the butterfly conservatory, then I guess you haven't stood in
line for an hour or two to go through it. What you have managed to do is
to ignore the miles and miles of parks and hiking trails in the area and
harped about a few blocks of tourist traps because you were too lazy or
apathetic to get out an look for them are take part in them.
>
> Smoky Mountain National Park in the US is beautiful, but to get to it
> you have to pass through a gauntlet of tourist traps and heavy
> traffic. I took some European friends camping there and was sorry I
> had.
>
Yep. And the worst thing is that you can't find a parking spot when you get
to those places because that is where everyone else goes. |