Tag 11: Niagara Falls...in English: Niagara Falls

For today, there was a lot of sunshine predicted at Niagara Falls, so we decided the evening before to take advantage of the weather and make our way to Buffalo.

We covered 200 kilometers to get to Niagara Falls on Interstate 90 in a leisurely 2 hours, so we were at the parking lot shortly after 12:00.

And what do you do when you want to see the Niagara Falls?

You walk across the Rainbow Bridge and admire them from the Canadian side, because they are said to be most beautiful from there....

And what don't you do?

Walk across the Rainbow Bridge without a passport...

Well, you can do it... but since the moment you pass through that revolving gate at the bridge, you automatically leave the USA, so afterwards you have a little hassle with the authorities...

Anyway... we went onto the bridge without passports (only with identity cards) and enjoyed the wonderful view of the falls.

There is really nothing more to say about it, because it is such a gigantic natural spectacle that you have to see it and no description can even come close to the sight you have there. I found it INCREDIBLY AMAZING up there on the bridge!!!

Well, when we had looked and taken enough pictures, we continued towards Canada to the other end of the bridge.

There, you have to go through the border formalities and then enter Canada. ...at least if you have a passport with you.

However, if you only have this insignificant German identity card with you, you get special treatment:

The friendly Canadian asks if you have more than $10,000 US dollars with you...? (No, not today), weapons...? (No, we left them in the car), drugs (No, they are also in the car) and then you are asked to wait until another friendly Canadian border officer comes to pick you up and greets you with "Hi guys".

When he asked us why we don't have passports with us, we couldn't really come up with an intelligent answer, but the conversation itself was very nice and he told us not to worry, this happens every day.

So we went with him to the other side of the street, into a processing building, sat down, waited, laughed ourselves to death about the situation, wondered what would happen next, and meanwhile watched one busload after another of Japanese tourists being thrown out of a bus in front of a barrier, then going through the building and showing their passports, only to be squeezed back into the bus three meters behind the barrier.

After a quarter of an hour, we were called and another really nice Canadian official explained to us that they were now going to issue us with papers so that we could re-enter the USA, because otherwise we couldn't get back....

Alright. Wait another quarter of an hour...then our turn again...we were handed two papers, got our identity cards back, another nice Canadian who escorted us across the street to the other building, and then: Goodbye...and next time please enter Canada with a passport...

Now we wonder: Does this actually count for the list of countries? Can we cross off Canada now because we have been there before? 🤔

Anyway... we went back across the Rainbow Bridge and then had the next hassle with the American border officers.

Why don't we have passports with us?

Yes, why? Because we are naive?! Because the term "freedom of movement" has become so ingrained in our consciousness that it is normal for us to drive across national borders without applying for a visa and conducting an interview and having more identity documents with us than our identity cards...

After a bit of back and forth, we were allowed to enter again, because we had the confirmation from the Canadians that, as far as they could tell, everything was fine with us...

So let's take a closer look at the waterfalls from the American side.

Again, the impression: BREATHTAKING

I really wanted to go to the observation platform. My husband declined politely. He already had enough on the bridge. Heights are not his thing.

So I went alone to the platform. A real bargain for $1.25.

And again a great view of the waterfalls. The weather continued to cooperate and I could have looked forever, I was so impressed.

We left at around 3:30 p.m.

Everything around the falls is mega touristy and absolutely annoying. Here you really have to concentrate only on nature, otherwise it can get too much.

We were back at the house around 5:30 p.m. and somehow pretty exhausted, so we had dinner at home with our son.

We have prescribed ourselves rest for the next day... and packed our passports. Just in case someone asks....