Everything went pear shaped while I was making my last blog so, I am continuing it here. We stopped off at the whirlpools, floral clock and souvenir store. (Great fudge making, tasting and, of course. buying for Bill). While we were stopped at one point we saw a squirrel, not grey or red, but jet black. We hadn’t even realised such creatures existed, and watched transfixed as this beautiful black squirrel went about his business of eating nuts in front of our eyes. Then we continued on to the main part of the tour. We chose to do the Canadian tour because it is the only way to see the magnificent Horseshoe Falls. We went behind them. Taken down under the earth, and through tunnels until we were standing 15 feet behind the falls. It is difficult to imagine the force of all that water falling just in front of you. It was pretty wet, but we were given yellow plastic smocks to wear (very trendy) to protect us. Next stop was the Maid of the Mist. This time we wore blue plastic smocks. We entered the boat and stood right at the front, on the prow. The skipper took us right in to the falls, as close as you can get. Bill was pretty amazed, just as I had been when I last visited in 1985. It is really difficult to describe the feelings you get when you feel the force of that water, and see the size of it all. We passed the American Falls, and the Wedding Veil Falls on the way back.

Rita gave us a very entertaining trip, and after over 4 hours we were on our way back across the Rainbow Bridge, through customs to get back into US. On the way in to Canada we had all had to leave our vehicle and take our passports in to the Customs people, but in this direction we were met by an official and he checked us out in situ. We passed a rainbow shaped building which used to be the Conference Centre, but was bought by the Seneca people, and turned into a casino with an enormous hotel alongside.

Back at our hotel we were limited in how to spend the rest of the day. The hotel is well away from Downtown, so after lunch we just walked to the local mall, collected some items to cover the next part of our trip, and then back to our room. It was a lovely walk in the brilliant sunshine, and comfortable temperatures. It was a good idea to rest awhile, as we have a gruelling 2 days coming up. Our choice. We are setting off today from Niagara at 12.25 p.m. heading to Utica where we change trains and wait for 4 hours for the train to Chicago, where we arrive at 8.40 tomorrow morning. We have the day in Chicago before catching another night train to Memphis. We arrive there early on Friday. We have a hotel booked in Memphis for 5 days, so there will be no more blog until we are established in our hotel there.