Niagara Falls

A curved drop 670m wide taking some 2800 cubic metres of water each second. Stand at the rail and the spray rides the wind into your face.

In a plastic poncho the boat runs right under the falls. Glasses fog and streak until nothing is visible, so they are better off.

Tunnels cut through the rock lead behind the sheet of water for a view from that side. The noise is loud enough that talking to the person beside you fails.

A tower of 236m climbed in a yellow lift fixed to the outside. Nowhere else fits all three falls into a single view.

A cable car crosses above the whirlpool formed where the river turns at a right angle. The machine dates to 1916 and still runs on the same principle.

Twenty minutes away, a lakeside town whose street is lined with nineteenth century buildings. Vineyards ring it, and the wineries are visited by bicycle.

Two thousand butterflies fly loose in the glasshouse and settle on clothing. The humidity fogs both glasses and camera lenses.

After dark the falls are lit in colour, and the sequence changes with the season. On summer weekends a short firework display follows.

Several paths drop from the rim into the gorge below the falls. The current runs hard, and reaching the water's edge is prohibited.

A face twelve metres across is planted with some sixteen thousand plants. The planting is changed by season, so the pattern differs each time.

A short street climbing from the falls, flashing with neon signs for wax museums, haunted houses and arcades. From the big observation wheel near the top, the falls lie below you. Shops keep late hours, so evenings bring the busiest strolling crowd.

A hydroelectric plant that generated power for 100 years from 1905, now turned into a museum. Past the hall of giant generators, a lift drops to a tunnel bored under the river that ends at a platform right below the falls.

A lift drops to the gorge floor, where a boardwalk runs right beside the rapids. They rate Class 6, the top of the scale, too wild for any boat. Roar and spray keep the boards permanently wet.

The ridge where American and British forces fought in 1812, topped by a tall monument to the fallen British general Isaac Brock. The hilltop park overlooks the plain where the Niagara River meets the lake, a 15 minute drive north from the falls.

An arch bridge of 1941 linking Canada and the United States. You can cross on foot, taking in both countries' falls from the deck. There is a border checkpoint, so you need a passport and clear immigration again on the way back.

A quiet park of small islands joined by footbridges on the river above Horseshoe Falls. Though it lies just a 10 minute stroll beyond the crowds at the brink, ducks and geese outnumber people. Lights go up in the island woods for the winter festival.

The canal that bypasses the falls between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, where eight locks lift ships nearly 100m. From the Lock 3 viewing platform in St Catharines, big freighters pass right in front of you. A ship schedule is posted at the platform.

Home of the woman who overheard an American surprise plan in 1813 and walked more than 30km through the woods to warn the British. It is restored to its period look in Queenston village. Guides explain the kitchen and household tools of the time.

A short funicular linking the hilltop hotel strip with the riverside at the falls. The ride takes under 1 minute and spares you the steep stairs. Its windows face the falls, so Horseshoe Falls fills the view on the way down.

A zipline that drops from the gorge rim to a landing by the river below the falls. You ride down facing the American Falls and Horseshoe Falls. Spray drifts over the landing and dampens your clothes.