NIAGARA FALLS - CANADA

Niagara Falls  is a Canadian city on the Niagara River in the Golden Horseshoe region of Southern Ontario.  Across the Niagara River is Niagara Falls, New York, United States.

The city is dominated by the Niagara Falls, a world-famous set of three large waterfalls on the Niagara River and benefits from the fact that both falls, the American and Horseshoe, can be best seen from the Canadian side of the river, thus presenting the city one of the major tourist attractions of the world. The natural spectacle brings in millions of tourists yearly. 

The city permitted the development of a tourist area along the falls and the gorge. This area which stretches along the Niagara Parkway and tourist promenade is particularly concentrated at the brink of the falls and, apart from the natural attractions along the river, includes huge parking lots, souvenir shops, observation towers, high-rise hotels, casinos and theaters, mostly with colorful neon billboards and advertisements. 

The Canadian side of Niagara Falls has more attractions. There are:

Maid of the Mist

 

 The Maid of the Mist is a boat tour of Niagara Falls. The actual boats used are also named Maid of the Mist, followed by a different Roman numeral in each case. The boat starts off at a calm part of the Niagara River, near the Rainbow Bridge, and takes its passengers past the American and Bridal Veil Falls, then into the dense mist of spray inside the curve of the Horseshoe Falls, also known as the Canadian Falls. The tour is available starting from either the Canadian or American side of the river, returning to the starting point in each case.

Journey Behind the Falls

 

 Journey consists of an observation platform and series of tunnels near the bottom of the Horseshoe Falls on the Canadian shore of the Niagara River. The tunnels and platform can be reached by elevators from the street level entrance. The tour is unguided and visitors have the option of using radios to receive facts and information broadcast into the tunnels.The two tunnels extend approximately 46 metres (151 ft) behind the waterfall and allow visitors to view water cascading in front of the open cave entrances.  The observation deck provides a vantage point looking up with the falls to the right, allowing photographers a full view of the famous landmark. The deck is sprayed with water from the cascade so visitors are provided with plastic raincoats prior to their descent.

 

Niagara Parks Butterfly Conservatory

  


The conservatory has over 2,000 tropical butterflies from over 60 different species. The conservatory glass dome is 1,022 square meters in size with 180 meters of paths inside the greenhouse portion, which has a wide variety of foliage. 

 Since captive butterflies usually have a life span of 2–4 weeks, the conservatory imports up to 3,000 butterflies per month from world butterfly farms in Costa Rica, El Salvador, the Philippines, and Australia. 

Special netting along the inside of the glass dome keeps the butterflies from getting stuck to it and from dying from hypothermia. 

Visitors who want the butterflies to land on them should wear bright clothes, move slowly, and wear perfume or cologne.

 
 

Floral Clock Niagara Falls

Niagara's Floral Clock is another free horticultural attraction just 2.5 kilometres  north of the Niagara Parks Botanical Gardens. Built in 1950, the clock is one of the largest in the world at 12.2 metres  in diameter. The "floral face" of the clock is changed twice a season. Violas are planted to provide a colorful design to welcome in the spring season.

From the latter part of May, traditional carpet bedding material is used until frost occurs. Adjacent to the Floral Clock is the Centennial Lilac Garden which blooms profusely late in May each year. There are over 250 varieties of plants here and a total of over 1200 individual shrubs. The Floral Clock is beautifully maintained for the visitors to photograph.

 

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