# Niagara Falls Info **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 12, 2010, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/niagara-falls-info/546430 "2010-07-12T19:02:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2010, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/niagara-falls-info/546430/21 "2010-07-15T02:03:10Z")
Bring passports so you can go anywhere. ---
**Author:** ![luv2draw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/46a35a/32.png) [@luv2draw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/luv2draw)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2010, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/niagara-falls-info/546430/22 "2010-07-15T22:42:44Z")
> [@Duke](#): > > Yes! It’s still there, though it is (as it’s been all along) on the Canadian side. It’s near the Adam Bolt Power Station, which you can reach by traveling up the Niagara Parkway north from Niagara Falls, ON. Just before you reach the Lewiston-Queenston Bridge, you’ll see it. Thank you! I remember the flower clock being off a parkway. Someday I’ll see it again. It tickled me to see something that I didn’t know I remembered from my childhood and to see that it hadn’t changed. We only allowed ourselves one hour in the Falls area on the trip back from Toronto because we were going home to NJ in one day–long drive. We hadn’t planned to stop but we needed a driving break anyway. The first time as a kid I was afraid of the Falls. On the adult trip I was mesmerized and wanted to watch the water forever. It felt so calming… ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2010, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/niagara-falls-info/546430/23 "2010-07-15T22:51:08Z")
There’s a metric asston of Indian restaurants in what remains of downtown NFNY, for some reason. Lewiston, just north of NFNY, has a quaint, well-preserved village center; it’s a decent place to spend the afternoon. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2010, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/niagara-falls-info/546430/24 "2010-07-15T23:21:05Z")
Niagara-on-the-Lake is an extremely _cute_ place, all prettied up with flowers. It’s the home of the [Shaw Festival](http://www.shawfest.com/). ---
**Author:** ![KennerTheGreat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a8b319/32.png) [@KennerTheGreat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KennerTheGreat)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2010, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/niagara-falls-info/546430/25 "2010-07-15T23:29:33Z")
Depending on how old your daughter is, she might like the [Butterfly Conservatory](http://www.niagaraparks.com/garden-trail/butterfly-conservatory.html). It’s about a 10 minute drive north of the Falls, along the Niagara Parkway. ---
**Author:** ![Sticks\_and\_Scones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sticks_and_scones/32/16951_2.png) [@Sticks\_and\_Scones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sticks_and_Scones)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2010, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/niagara-falls-info/546430/26 "2010-07-16T00:14:35Z")
> [@Harmonious\_Discord](#): > > Bring passports so you can go anywhere. Yep. We didn’t have passports when we were there last year so we stayed on the US side. And, as was mentioned previously, even the choice of restaurants was… limited. Especially since my boyfriend and I are not very adventurous when it comes to trying new cuisines. As a matter of fact, I believe we ended up having dinner at the Bob Evans right next to our hotel. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2010, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/niagara-falls-info/546430/27 "2010-07-16T04:29:53Z")
I forgot: Pine Street in NFNY is the heart of the city’s Little Italy area. It’s an active, vibrant pedestrian-oriented district, with Pine Street lined by restaurants and shops catering to the city’s very large Italian-American population. The area hasn’t been gentrified. I recommend dinner at the Como, an old-school Italian restaurant that used to be the favorite of the Buffalo Mafia family, before they moved their base of operations from NF/Lewiston to Buffalo. Signed photos of visiting crooners on the wall, customers mostly locals … very authentic. I don’t know if Buffalo-style pizza extends as far as NFNY, but it’s worth a try if you see it. An answer in the affirmative if you ask a local pizzeria if they use Margherita pepperoni is a good sign. Summertime in the Buffalo area usually means there’s lots of festivals, lawn fetes, and the like. Try to find a copy of Artvoice (the local alternative freesheet) for a guide; you should be able to find it in the Falls. Buffalo is only 30 minutes away, and it feels more like a flat Pittsburgh than a miniature Detroit. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2010, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/niagara-falls-info/546430/28 "2010-07-16T05:50:08Z")
> [@Duke](#): > > Yes! It’s still there, though it is (as it’s been all along) on the Canadian side. It’s near the Adam Bolt Power Station, which you can reach by traveling up the Niagara Parkway north from Niagara Falls, ON. Just before you reach the Lewiston-Queenston Bridge, you’ll see it. That’s “Beck”. Sir Adam Beck power stations #1 and #2. There’s a statue to him in the middle of University Avenue in Toronto. The Queenston-Lewiston Bridge is the major highway crossing. It’s where the Interstate hits the border and plugs directly into the 405, which connects to the Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW), which goes from the Peace Bridge at Fort Erie to Toronto. The other two road bridges in Niagara Falls are car/pedestrian only, though you can get from the Rainbow bridge onto the 420, which also goes to the QEW. ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/le_ministre_de_l_au-dela/32/12181_2.png) [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2010, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/niagara-falls-info/546430/29 "2010-07-16T15:37:51Z")
You don’t mention how old your daughter is - my kids (7 and 11) and I enjoy completely different things about Niagara Falls. How you feel about the Clifton Hill tourist harvest zone will depend entirely on how you feel about its garish charms. I find it a depressingly loud shrine to St. Barnum - my kids love it. They love Louis Tussaud’s wax museum, the Ripley’s museum, the moving theatre and any restaurant with crap food and animatronic creatures. I love to cycle between Niagara on the Lake (which is equally artificial in its determined, ‘Ye Olde Shoppe’ aesthetic; I just find it easier to take and the food is better.) along the Niagara Gorge. There is also some good hiking along the gorge, and in some places, you get to hike at the river level. The Butterfly Conservancy and the Floral Clock have already been mentioned. The Welland Canal is fascinating, esp. at this time of year when large ships are constantly running between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. About halfway between Queenston and Niagara on the Lake is the place where John Graves Simcoe witnessed a slave girl being recaptured and dragged back across the Niagara River, which led to his determination to eliminate slavery in the British Empire. He accepted a compromise limiting slavery, but 30 years later, slavery was eliminated. It is sobering to contemplate what might have happened if he had passed that spot an hour earlier or later… This is also one of the best wine regions in Ontario, with some outstanding cuisine. The falls themselves, while beautiful and impressive, are too overrun for my tastes. I much prefer a spot about 1 km downstream of the falls, where Queen Street ends at the river. This is where the falls were about 1600 BC, if my memory of the plaque serves me well. I sat there for about an hour last year, and thoroughly enjoyed contemplating the implacable force of nature. It makes me wish that National Parks had been invented about 100 years earlier. ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/le_ministre_de_l_au-dela/32/12181_2.png) [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2010, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/niagara-falls-info/546430/30 "2010-07-16T15:45:09Z")
Missed the edit window - [John Graves Simcoe](http://www.heritagefdn.on.ca/userfiles/HTML/nts_1_2724_1.html) link that I meant to add. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2010, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/niagara-falls-info/546430/31 "2010-07-16T16:09:37Z")
> [@Autolycus](#): > > I recommend wearing a poncho. A Mexican poncho, or a Sears poncho? ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2010, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/niagara-falls-info/546430/32 "2010-07-16T16:38:10Z")
Don’t know if this is the same conservatory everyone else is referring to but there is the [Botanical Gardens South Park"](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_and_Erie_County_Botanical_Gardens) in Lackawanna. Don’t let the fact that it’s on the other side of New York’s second largest city fool you – it’s only a bit more than a half hour away if you’ll have a car. Now, I’ve only been to a handful of conservatories but it’s the most impressive one I’ve been to (as far as indoors stuff goes: there have been many places with more impressive gardens) – like the old saying goes, if you like that sort of thing, it’s the sort of thing you’ll like! ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2010, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/niagara-falls-info/546430/33 "2010-07-16T16:40:30Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > A Mexican poncho, or a Sears poncho? I bought mine at Poncho Villa. ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/le_ministre_de_l_au-dela/32/12181_2.png) [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2010, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/niagara-falls-info/546430/34 "2010-07-16T16:45:51Z")
I was meaning the [Butterfly Conservatory, Niagara Falls, Ontario.](http://www.niagaraparks.com/garden-trail/butterfly-conservatory.html) While I’m at it, here’s a link to the [Floral Clock](http://www.niagaraparks.com/garden-trail/floral-clock.html), the [Boat Nerd](http://www.boatnerd.com/) site, and a link to the [Trails, Ontario](http://www.ontariotrails.on.ca/trail-regions/niagara/) page on the Niagara region. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/niagara-falls-info/546430.md?page=1)