Niagara Falls

I’ll post more about the show in Toronto when some of the pictures, sound and video start coming in (I think this may be the best-documented show Mike and I have ever played) but in the meantime, I’m posting some pictures from my stop at Niagara Falls (on both sides of the border) on the way home. It was a cold and rainy day, but in a way that made it more magical. The main problem with these photos is that the most powerful experience of the Falls is not the visuals, but the sound and the vibration and the power that you feel.

Canadian Falls The Horseshoe Falls on the Canadian side are large and powerful, so much so that they’re surrounded by an enormous cloud of mist. If you stand and watch for any length of time, you’ll get soaked.

Behind the Falls For about CAN$12, you can take an elevator down and walk through a long tunnel under and behind the falls, to a viewing platform beside the falls near the bottom.

But there’s not much to see, since the mist pervades everything.

There are two viewing portals cut into the rock behind the falls themselves, but the view is amazing only in concept. (This was more interesting than the other one, which was completely iced up.)

American Falls The American Falls are separated from the Canadian Falls by Goat Island (in the background; behind it on the right you can see the Canadian Falls). The American Falls are smaller and less powerful, but you can see them better since they don’t generate so much mist.

One advantage of going in the off season was the incredible ice formations around the Falls. (The lack of crowds didn’t hurt either.)

Niagara River Ice floes on the Niagara River south of the Falls.

Goat Island Looking over at the Canadian Falls. The buildings behind the cloud of mist are enormous 25-story hotels on a ridge overlooking the Falls.

Lower Viewing Platform Closed For Season At this time of year the snow and ice are still covering the railings of the viewing platforms closer to the Falls.

The cloud of mist from the Canadian Falls is in the background, along with the hotels and casino in Niagara, Ontario.

Arch of Power On Goat Island, there’s a monument to the engineers who created the first hydroelectric power plant. It’s the original arch entrance of Powerhouse No. 1 built in 1895.

Nikola Tesla And a monument to Tesla, whose inventions made the plant possible.