I was very curious to finally travel on a famous Greyhound bus. Unless I found out that it's anything other than a bus, only with a grey hound drawn on. The bus station is sad and gray like in the movies, the conductor takes his time to understand the Italian pronunciation... yes because "Niagara" in Italian does not sound like "naiègra" in English, no, better keep that in mind. People are already lining up at the lane, and the happy couple with the child is already jumping the queue, as usual. We divide: the good customers directed to NYC board a huge bus, we get on a little bus because we are the poor people directed only to the falls.The scenery on the way is a highway that winds between two wings of blinding green, and occasionally the sea peeps out... oh no sorry, it's just a lake. Arrived to the village Naiègra Folz (or Niagara Falls, as we persist in writing), I realize that I no longer consulted a map since before leaving Italy. Ok, but my sense of direction tells me to go left. So I head confidently to the right, and in fact I find myself walking along the Niagara River, bound for the first attraction. The road is a highway, surrounded by Motels as seen in the movies, with neon signs at the roadside, and after half an hour under the hood of the sun I finally arrive at the Spanish Aero Car.
The Aero Car is a cable car built in 1916, which has never had an accident -we don't want to start today, right?!- suspended in space and traveling many, many hundreds of feet above the river on the border between New York and Ontario. The wait is long, so I spend it eating a hot-dog (but nothing compared to real hot dog stands); we finally board the cab, and half the trip we're on the right, half on the left of the cab to allow everyone to enjoy the show. Vodafone thanks, and sends me a text message every time I cross the border... basically, the phone vibrates continuously. Down below I see people on the rocks, and I honestly wonder how the hell did they get there, on those rocks. I thought the trip was more impressive, instead, except for the troubling wobble at certain points, the show is enjoyable and relaxing.
Out of the Aero Car, I head to the People Mover train, talking to a couple from New Jersey who of course loves Bon Jovi. Already on the train when you approach the falls area you hear the rumble from afar, and you begin to see the mess. Yes, because you feel as if you were in Las Vegas around the waterfalls, with all kinds of eating-bucks-attractions: Casino, lookout tower, amusement park, water park, Planet Hollywood, Hard Rock Cafe, so on and so forth. But if you just look away from this side of the road, forget about everything else. The water looks green, before falling. And I imagine what it must be like, to fall from there. And in all this glitter, I think, nobody thought of building a bungee jumping. It would be the only thing I would do, holy patience. The first attraction is the Journey Behind The Falls: armed with a K-Way, we admire the falls from directly behind. Apart from the shower because of the water vapor raised by the power of the falls, the view is impressive, even from the observation points behind the waterfalls as well as near it. And then the roar... you can not describe it, you can just live it.
Going from the Journey to Niagara's Fury, I wisely choose to go out... only to find out that the wind is now blowing in my direction, and I don't even have a K-Way. Soaking wet, I am now going to discover the history of the waterfalls with a new K-Way on... and I find out that I don't need it now, but later, when we enter a room with the self-propelled floor that simulates the movement of the falls, while jets of water splash upon us from the ceiling. But I stay dry because I chose the place near the guard, the only dry -a-ha!
As the cashier of Fury has given me the ticket, although it was not in the programs I go to the White Water Walk, the walk over the rapids. The queue is long, the sun is hot, will it be worth it?! Yes, the show is memorable. You walk next to the escarpment (but now, after Neuschwanstein, what will it be?) and admire the rapids, the most violent in the world (well, honestly I don't quite believe so much in this one...) that with an unstoppable energy stream down to the valley. Many records were marked on the rapids (oh no, let's not go back to the CN Tower-style records please!): The first one to cross them in a barrel, the tightrope walkers who have crossed from one bank to the other with all the appliances one can think of (there we go... ) and also with people loaded on their shoulders, the first tightrope walker to bike-cross them, even some banal swimmers, who have had their issues in order not to die.. etc. etc.
After the walk, I go to my last attraction: the Maid of the Mist. It's the historical boat, which has sailed under the waterfalls for centuries and has also recovered the only person ever to survive an accidental fall from the falls, a boy escaped unhurt from the mishap. We're provided yet another K-Way, and there's good reason for it: The boat is making his way under the American Falls, then under the Canadian Horseshoe Falls and back again. I wisely choose not to go upstairs, where I may not get wet, it's quicker to swim directly! The impact force of the wind near the falls is such as to push me a few feet back, but not enough to take away my desire to take pictures of the show, and of the rainbows in the waterfalls. Reluctantly going back, I look at the waterfalls in the distance one last time and tell myself that no, I cannot wait for the sunset or I'm never going back.
I would console me with a hot-dog, maybe at the double-decker restaurant near the station... but of course it's closed, because away from the falls everything closes at 5 pm, we are out of the mess. Low-spirited, I head for the train station, wondering what a family of Amish is doing in this place of perdition, aren't they against all forms of worldliness?! The bus arrives 40 minutes late (coming from NYC, what the hell...), and the driver also takes a break to eat and go to the bathroom. Finally I sit down, exhausted, and the last image of Niagara Falls is a limo parked in a driveway: I think it's because it's prom time, because if there is someone who really enjoys running around town with a limo, we really crossed the line. The line of beauty on one side of the city, the line of ridicule on the other side.
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