Niagara Falls

[mallorys_camera]

And here I am enjoying the ne plus ultra in tourist kitsch: a REVOLVING RESTAURANT high over the Canadian portion of Niagara Falls!!!

Does tourist kitsch get any better than this?

Honestly, it doesn’t!

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I will say the hotel chains, revolving restaurants, casinos, and Tim Horton shoppes make it difficult to catch a glimpse of the Canadian portion of the Falls when they’re not being rotated around.

The hotel chains etc., all build barricades around the view. Literal barricades! Twenty feet high. They won’t let you see the Falls unless you pay them to let you see the Falls.

There is a park (named after Queen Victoria) traversing the Niagara River Gorge. If you can make it to this park, you’ll enjoy some lovely views:



But the Canadians running Niagara Falls apparently have not heard about that trend of barring automobile traffic around natural wonders. Or maybe after 150 years, the commercialism surrounding the Falls is just too intense to buck.

There is crazy traffic getting down to Queen Victoria Park.

Plus it was like 90°, so walking down the ridge to the park—and then back up the ridge to the car? Not pleasant.

I wanted to be filled with awe! Under the right circumstances, I’m sure I would have been filled with awe.

But these were not the right circumstances, and if you strip a miracle of its true context, you’re gonna be left with kitsch.

Look at that, I thought, staring at the Horseshoe Falls. Lotta water.

Comments

[halfmoon_mollie1]

oh, now I am disappointed for you. I've had dinner in that same restaurant. High summer lots of tourists Sunday...

[mallorys_camera]

Disappointed? Why? I had a lot of fun.

Niagara Falls deserves a more pristine setting. But the kitsch didn't detract from my good time.

[smokingboot]

That's the important thing. Also, fab photo of you and the falls!

[mallorys_camera]

Awww. Thank you! ❤️

[rebeccmeister]

I have to say that the tourist kitsch of the Maid of the Mist was 100% worth it, and would have felt incredibly refreshing at that temperature. Of course, that was on the American Side.

[mallorys_camera]

Oh, the Revolving Restaurant tourist kitsch was enormous fun!!!!

I should have booked one of those boat things, too! (They have them on the Canadia side as well.)

[puddleshark]

I am overawed - there really are such things as revolving restaurants!

I would be too busy wondering how the mechanism worked to pay much attention to the food.

[mallorys_camera]

Revolving restaurants were quite a thing here in the States back in the Jurassic. I remember being taken on a date when I was an undergraduate to the fanciest of the fancy ones called the Hyatt Regency. Rotating view of San Francisco!

A rotating restaurant atop Niagara Falls makes a little bit of sense: The falls are quite lovely. But most of the rotating view is of the village of Niagara Falls, which is pretty hideous.

[adoptedwriter]

We researched doing a driving trip there a few yrs ago. We wanted to take bikes and ride around. Then the Hub got all angsty about being indoors in public places (fckn' COVID phobia). Maybe another summer. We are good with heat as long as we have drinks and breaks if needed. Is it still smoky there?

[mallorys_camera]

Maybe a little bit smokey in Niagara. But not too bad. And the air quality in Buffalo was fine.

It would be a terrific bike vacation.

[wayfaringwordhack]

I saw the falls about 33ish years ago, and I don't remember a lot of the kitsch. I do remember really enjoying the Maid of the Mist and the museum with all its barrels of the thrill-seekers of questionable mental stability who had gone over the falls with high hopes of not being smashed to smithereens.

[mallorys_camera]

The Falls are totally commercialized now.

This did not interfere with my enjoyment! I like kitsch. But I couldn't help wondering, What if the surroundings were one big natural park instead of a million cheesy hotels and fast food restaurants?