Hello from Niagara Falls – Exploring
the Clifton Hills Entertainment Area & Doing A Little Gambling
Yesterday morning my last full day in Niagara Falls, Ontario, had
arrived. After a packed
schedule the day before that had included a wonderful presentation
at the Imax Theatre, my up-close encounter with the Great Falls
at the Journey Behind the Falls and an entertaining show at the
Oh Canada Eh? Dinner Theatre, I got ready for another full day of
explorations in Niagara Falls.
View of the Kilpatrick Manor B&B
I already got a great start to the day when Kevin Kilpatrick, the
gourmet chef and co-owner of Kilpatrick
Manor, prepared an absolutely scrumptious breakfast for me:
after a delicious fresh fruit platter with yoghurt and freshly made
banana bread I feasted on “breakfast ravioli”, one of
Kevin’s unique culinary inventions. This light yet tasty breakfast
dish features scrambled eggs, bacon and old cheddar cheese surrounded
by thinly rolled out pasta and a home made tomato sauce with garlic,
white wine and leeks. Kevin, with his gregarious and outgoing manner,
sat down with me and kept me entertained with stories from his international
hospitality adventures in France when he and wife Nance were managing
a large chalet in the French Alps.
Niagara Falls' Skylon Tower, with the Illumination Tower in front
After this great start I rushed out to take my rental vehicle back
to Budget Rent-A-Car since my husband was coming in from Toronto
to join me in Niagara Falls. Although I had driven only 78 kilometers
in two days, my little Toyota Yaris had served me extremely well
in getting around Niagara Falls at a reasonable price.
View of the American Falls on a crisp sunny day
On this sunny yet very cold day we started with a nice walk at
the foot of Clifton Hill, strolling westwards along the Niagara
Parkway towards the Canadian Horshehoe Falls. A brilliant blue sky
bathed the Niagara River in bright light, and some of the metal
railings next to the walkway were covered in sparkling ice formations
from the mist that is formed by the Horseshoe Falls. Dozens of other
tourists were also taking a noon-time walk and were snapping pictures
of their friends and families against the backdrop of the mighty
Niagara Falls.
Frozen mist
Our real destination for today was the Clifton
Hill area – Niagara Fall’s main tourist promenade.
Clifton Hill, the street, extends from the Niagara Parkway next
to the Niagara River to Victoria Avenue on top of the hill and features
dozens of restaurants, gift shops, fast food outlets, hotels and
various attractions such as haunted houses, wax museums and other
tourist entertainment. This popular tourist trap is often packed
to the gills with people strolling up and down, soaking in the boisterous
carnival atmosphere of this area.
Louis Toussaud's Waxworks
Clifton Hill has a long-standing history as an entertainment area:
hotels have been in existence here since the late 1800s. During
the 1920s this area developed into a popular tourist destination
and several additional inns and tourist camps were constructed nearby
over the next few decades. Since the 1960s several museums have
been built, which include the Houdini Hall of Fame, the Hollywood
Wax Museum, the House of Frankenstein, the Guiness
World Records Museum, Ripley’s Believe It Or Not and several
others.
Ripley's Moving Theater and House of Frankenstein
We decided to make our first stop at the Niagara
SkyWheel, a recently constructed giant ferris wheel whose 42
climate controlled gondolas provide an excellent view over all the
main attractions of Niagara Falls. During the 10 minute ride on
this 53 metre high ferris wheel we had a magnificent view over the
Canadian and American Falls as well as over all the other attractions
and the residential areas of Niagara Falls. Fortunately, the weather
was perfect for this experience and our 360 degree panoramic view
extended for many miles.
The Niagara Falls SkyWheel
Because of the brisk weather we decided to duck inside and headed
into the Guiness World Records Museum. Formerly called the Guiness
Book of World Records, this institution has a colourful history:
the managing director of the famous Guiness Brewery in Ireland happened
to ask himself during a hunting party in 1951 which bird was faster
– a grouse or a golden plover? Unable to find an answer to
this question in reference books, he figured that there would have
to be thousands of other questions that could not be settled by
consulting a reference book and decided to create a book to supply
answers to these types of questions.
Views of Clifton Hill
The book became an overnight surprise hit and eventually an updated
version featuring new records was published on a yearly basis and
has evolved from a text-heavy reference book into a colourful, richly
illustrated publication. In recent years several small museums have
been created in locations such as Tokyo, San Francisco, Hollywood,
Atlantic City, Myrtle Beach and Copenhagen to showcase noteworthy,
and sometimes bizarre, world records. The location in Niagara Falls
features photos and descriptions of many examples of world records
including such curiosities as the world’s tallest man and
the world’s smallest woman.
Clifton Hill
We explored the many interactive displays that feature world records
in the spheres of entertainment, art, literature and sport. Natural
disasters and scientific achievements are covered as well. Some
of the records on display truly boggle the mind and it makes you
wonder who has the time to come up with some of these rather offbeat
ideas for world records, and who might have the time to execute
those ideas. Images of record holders such as the man with the world’s
longest ear hairs (4 inches!) were a little scary, to be honest.
Ripley's Believe It or Not!
Our next destination featured similarly off-beat human feasts:
Ripley’s
Believe It or Not!, built to look loke a collapsed Empire State
Building with King Kong standing at the top, is a true collection
of human oddities. Robert LeRoy Ripley (1893 to 1949) was a cartoonist,
entrepreneur and amateur anthropologist whose newspaper panel series
featured odd but true facts from all over the world. Ripley travelled
a lot and became a collector of unusual items from all sorts of
exotic destinations around the globe. From 1929 onwards Robert Ripley
fascinated readers of seventeen national newspapers with his Believe
It Or Not syndicated newspaper panel series. At the height of his
popularity he was said to have received more mail than the American
president. Ripley became a true media giant of his time and expanded
into radio and early television before his death of a heart attack
in 1949.
The Clifton Hill Entertainment area
At the Niagara Falls Ripley’s Believe It or Not! we continued
our exploration of strange and exotic things and were greeted right
away by a three-dimensional sculpture of the world’s largest
woman. True oddities such as vampire killing kits, a collection
of macabre yet funny gravestones, two-headed piglets and a variety
of life-sized optical illusions transported us into the land of
the surreal and bizarre. To round out the collection of oddities,
Ripley’s also operates a Moving Theatre and Louis Tussaud’s
Waxworks in Niagara Falls.
Castle Dracula
After these explorations of the strange and unusual we decided
to head back to our cozy bed and breakfast, the Kilpatrick
Manor B&B. Chilled to the bone we decided to relax on the
comfortable king-size bed, turn on the fireplace, watch a bit of
TV and warm up under the soft cotton covers. A luxurious shower
in the multi-jet Neptune shower helped to warm up my frozen bones.
Now I understood what the owner Kevin Kilpatrick was referring to
when he told me that guests just like to “nest” at their
bed and breakfast. It was indeed a supremely comfortable relaxing
environment that got us ready for our last evening in Niagara Falls.
View of the Fallsview Casino Resort and the Skylon Tower
We decided to have dinner at the Frontier
Grillhouse which is located adjacent to the Best Western Fireside
Hotel with a great view overlooking the Niagara River. This modern
casual restaurant features an extensive menu with a variety of freshly
prepared breakfast dishes or an all-you-can-eat breakfast. The dinner
menu has a large selection of appetizers, soups and salads and a
wide range of grilled dishes including prime rib, New York striploin,
Filet Mignon, T-bone steaks. Pastas, seafood and desserts round
out the offering at the Frontier Grillhouse. I enjoyed my piping
hot French onion soup and garlicky escargots with gratinated mozzarella
while my husband treated himself to a very generous plate of Fettucine
Alfredo. We couldn’t have added dessert even if we had wanted
to.
The Frontier Grillhouse
We could have relaxed for even longer at the Frontier Grillhouse,
but one more adventure was waiting for us: a bit of gambling at
the Fallsview
Casino Resort. Niagara Falls has long been a popular destination
for gambling. On the Ontario side there are two large casinos: Casino
Niagara, located in the Clifton Hill area, and the recently opened
Fallsview Casino Resort which has been enticing gamblers since 2004.
As we had already explored Clifton Hill, we decided to visit the
Fallsview Casino which is an impressive hotel, shopping, gaming
and entertainment complex located on a hill with an amazing view
of the majestic Canadian Horseshoe Falls.
My French onion soup
The entire complex is mind-boggling – with a 100,000 square
foot gaming floor it impresses even the most experienced casino-goer.
Since it was our first time here and neither one of us is a casino
regular, we were astounded by the seemingly never-ending gaming
floor which features 3000 slot machines and 150 table games. Everywhere
lights are blinking and the chime-like sounds of the slot machines
fill the air. My husband is quite a talented hobby poker player,
and he checked out the amazing array of table games, which include
poker games like Let It Ride and Carribean Stud. Other table games
include Baccarat, Blackjack, Craps, Roulette and Spanish 21 as well
as more exotic varieties such as the ancient Chinese Sic Bo game
of dice, Pai Gow Tiles – a Chinese version of dominoes, and
Pai Gow Poker which combines elements Asian Pai Gow and Western-style
poker.
Sculpture in the Galleria shopping area of the Fallsview Casino
Resort
I decided to just watch the action and sit back as my husband tried
his hand at different types of poker. Lady Luck was shining on him
for a while, but as the evening progressed he gave back all his
winnings and lost a bit of money. But I could see from his face
that he had thoroughly enjoyed himself and had a great evening.
We resolved to come to Niagara Falls again and next time we were
going to bring my mother-in-law as well who loves playing the slots
occasionally.
Glass-covered dome at the Fallsview Casino Resort
Nicely tired from a full night of entertainment we got back to
our cozy B&B and just fell into bed for a great night’s
sleep. This morning it was time for us to leave, but before our
departure we enjoyed one more delicious breakfast at the Kilpatrick
Manor B&B. Chef Kevin had prepared an absolutely scrumptious
strawberry crepe with Grand Marnier sauce (absolutely heavenly!)
while my husband enjoyed Kevin’s “full-on fry”,
featuring eggs any style, bacon, sausage, potatoes and toast.
At the edge of the Horseshoe Falls
We regretted to have to leave Niagara Falls, but fortunately our
adventures were set to continue with a trip to Buffalo and a subsequent
flight from Buffalo for a quick tropical jaunt to Puerto Rico. But
this three-day adventure in Niagara Falls has been a great entertaining
winter getaway from the city. Despite my tightly packed schedule
in Niagara Falls I have only scratched the surface of things to
see and do and I plan to come back some time in the summer to see
enjoy some of the outdoor activities that Niagara Falls and the
surrounding region have to offer.
