Day Seven - Niagara / Gatwick
I awoke at 05:30. Jo was snoring her head off. I got up and pulled the chair over to the open window. Although our room had air-conditioning, I preferred to have the window open and breathe the natural cool air of the Niagara night. It was dark outside still, and there was hardly anyone about. I watched as a torch-beam played across the falls – probably a bored security guard trying to write his name in the waters. I sat and listened to the roar of the falls, almost invisible in the darkness. The noise was constant, unchanging in either pitch or volume. Slowly the sun rose and in the faint morning light, the white waters gave substance to the white noise. I watched, entranced almost, as hundreds of birds started to circle above the Falls. The sky took on a reddish tinge as dawn broke and the Falls continued to pour their torrent of water onto the rocks below, sending huge plumes of grey-white mist skyward. It was magical, and almost mystical, to watch.
Jo slept on.
We had breakfast up in the Rainbow Room on the 10th floor of the hotel, which provided another excellent view of the falls. We then packed our bags and checked out. As we weren't being collected until 18:00, the hotel offered to store our luggage whilst we amused ourselves for the rest of the day. Looking at the map, Jo decided that we should take a walk up to Marineland. And so we did. Over 3 miles later, with aching feet, we got there and found that it would have cost us nearly 30 quid to get in. We decided not to bother and walked back, taking a shorter route. The different route back took us right past the Minolta Tower and so we decided to have lunch there. Our waiter was an overly confident young lad called Larry. (Actually, that wasn't his real name, I have changed it here on the off-chance that he, or someone he knows might read this and decide to do me for slander!) He seemed too eager to please and yet was incompetently slow. The food took an age and Larry made excuses that it hadn't been up to his standards and that he had asked for it to be made again. He was slow. He was full of shit. He didn't get a tip.
We walked back to the hotel, stopping to do some last minute shopping en-route. There is always time for shopping! Back at the hotel, we grabbed one of our cases from the storage room and headed on to the pool deck. It was completely empty so we changed into our swimwear and spent an hour and a half lounging around the pool, in and out of the hot tub/Jacuzzi, before showering off and changing for the journey home. The bus picked us up at 18:30 and the 90-minute ride to the airport was uneventful. Our flight wasn't until 23:30 and we wondered what we would do to amuse ourselves for three hours. Upon checking the departure board as soon as we entered the airport though, we were aghast to see that it was delayed until 02:00!
We checked in, had a walk around the paltry collection of shops, had a cup of tea, and went through to the departure gate where we lay on the floor and tried to get some shuteye for a couple of hours. I have never actually tried sleeping on an airport floor before, but from the experience, I already reckon that Toronto airport can boast the hardest floors of any airport anywhere. Eventually, our plane landed, did all its stuff and we finally boarded, taking off at 0200 as promised. Again, I tried to sleep on the plane but just succeeded in cramping my neck as I tried every which way to get comfortable. I think I managed a couple of hours.
At Gatwick, our luggage took an age and then we found that my car had been scratched in the long-stay car park. And to top it all, they charged me £55 for the privilege.
Thirty minutes later we were sitting motionless, in a traffic jam on the M25.