B Vaughan wrote:
> On Mon, 11 Jun 2007 17:10:20 -0400, Dave Smith
> wrote:
>
>
>>> 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.
>
>
> If they hadn't put so many hotels up right smack across from the
> falls, the traffic wouldn't be so horrendous, would it?
>
> The large parking lot with the people mover pass was *full* when I was
> there.
The butterfly park is a fair ways off on the other side of the falls
(downstream).
>>>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.
>
>
> What's on the other side of the road?
>
>
>>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.
>
>
> I spent most of my time walking in the park on the American side. I
> also went to the observation tower over the river and took the Maid
> of the Mist ride. Is that a tourist trap? Because that was the only
> paid attraction I frequented.
>
>
>>>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.
>
>
> Did the high rise hotels just spring up like mushrooms?
>
>
>>> 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.
>
>
> Look, I've done a lot of hiking all over the world, on four
> continents, actually, but that's not what I would go to Niagara falls
> for. I don't visit tourist traps, period, not here, not there, not
> anywhere.
>
>
>>>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.
>
>
> If you actually enter the park there's no problem finding a parking
> space. It's just in the tarted up towns on the perimeter that there's
> a problem and unfortunately you can't get into the park without going
> through those towns. We did a lot of hiking there, but as I said,
> Niagara's Falls has one big attraction: IT'S THE FALLS. If you've
> lived there for 30 years and don't think the ambience has been ruined,
> I can only say that it must have happened so slowly that it crept up
> on you. Or maybe you have a fondness for neon.
>
> I visited Niagara Falls once in the 1960s, once in the 1980s and once
> in 2002 or something like that. In the 1980s the American side had
> improved since my first visit and the Canadian side was nice but
> already getting a bit overbuilt. On that visit, we spent most of our
> time on the Canadian side. On my latest visit, I was pretty much
> horrified.The Italian first time visitor to the falls who was with me
> couldn't believe the level of tackiness. I could only say, "You should
> have seen it 30 years ago."
> |