New Year's Eve at Niagara Falls

I spent my New Year's Eve at Niagara Falls. A few friends and I booked an apartment there through Air BnB and arrived there in the afternoon. After getting ready, we went to a restaurant and had dinner. They had put together a menu for New Year's Eve, so we could choose from several dishes for each course. We also had some wine.

After dinner, we went back to the apartment until around 11:00 PM and then walked towards the Niagara Falls. They were about a 5-minute walk away. Bryan Adams performed a free concert that evening, so we initially went to see him. It was crowded, but there wasn't a huge crowd, even though we tried to squeeze to the front or get closer to the water.

In North America, fireworks are uncommon even on New Year's Eve. However, there was supposed to be one at Niagara Falls, which I was very excited about. 1 minute before midnight, a countdown was displayed on the big screen next to the stage. At the Skylon Tower, a 160-meter-high observation tower at Niagara Falls, one of the exterior elevators slowly went up and had fireworks attached to it at the bottom. So, it looked like a small rocket flying upwards. At exactly midnight, the elevator reached the top and rockets were launched above the tower and over the water. I didn't know where to look first because the scenery was so overwhelming. Normally, I would have toasted with a glass of champagne, but alcohol is prohibited in public in Canada. So, I had my phone in hand and was able to take many pictures and videos after everyone around me hugged each other. In retrospect, I was glad that I took pictures immediately because the fireworks were already over after 2 minutes. Unthinkable in Germany, but things are different here ;)

Bryan Adams then played 2 more songs and after that, the crowd dispersed. We went to the railing and looked at the waterfalls, both the American and the Canadian ones.

Afterwards, when we were wet and frozen, we went back to our apartment and enjoyed the rest of the evening. The next day, after breakfast, we walked to the water again. After strolling through the streets and souvenir shops, we started our journey home in the afternoon.