Columbus Day weekend

We decided to spend the long Columbus Day weekend visiting to leaders of our to-do list – Thousand Islands and Niagara Falls.

We took a flight to Buffalo NY and from there drove to a lovely town called Gananoque on the river bank, overlooking some of the thousand islands (there are actually over 1800 Islands including one artificial).

BTW: this is the place where the famous thousand island souse was invented…

We got a RED FORD MUSTANG which made it mostly a cool drive. The only uncool part was a flat tire we had to deal with in the middle of nowhere…

In the town of Gananoque we stayed in Trinity Inn. This is a beautiful place to stay in and to eat dinner. It is highly recommended if you are looking for a romantic place full of 19^th century atmosphere. The land lord was a bit grumpy, but we did not see much of him.

The highlight (at least for us) was a cruise in the river between the islands. Some of the islands are very very small (just a few SQ feet) the other are huge with many houses, stores and even fire department and churches. We also got to visit Heart Island. It is a small island that has a heart shape that one billionaire bought at the beginning of the 20^th century and bought a huge mansion on it for his beloved wife. A few moths before it was ready his wife died and he decided to stop the construction. Thus you get to tour this almost ready house with beautiful gardens.

Two pieces of advice for the American readers –

1. You do not have to pass the border to Canada for that Cruise and visit to Heart Island – you can do it from the American side of Thousand Islands as well.
2. There are other recommended activities we did not do. For example, taking a boat and selling between and onto the Islands by your self. Is this time of the year the water are low so it is not that safe, but a few months earlier it could definitely be fun.

Niagara Falls:

The second highlight of the trip. We decided to focus on the Canadian side which anyone you ask say it’s nicer. Well it basically looks like a downscale Vegas, with a strip of restaurants, stores, shows and whatever you might be thinking of. Too commercial to my taste.

Since I guess most of you been there I will just add a few pictures. If you want to see the rest, please follow the following link (will be added later).

An actress dressed up like Elvis made of Gold. This picture was taken before I started tickling him from behind with a branch – but this is a different story (very funny one).

On the way back we spend a few hours on the American side. I must admit that I liked it better. It was much less crowded, full of peaceful atmosphere. Besides, the views are impressive from both sides.