Travel: Niagara Falls

The Two Niagaras

Why should the Falls drag me down here at 5 o'clock in the morning? To show me how big they are and how small I am?
   George Loomis in Niagara

   If anyone is curious about what pre-apocolyptic dystopia might look like then I recommend that they visit Niagara Falls.  While vacationing in Niagara Falls, New York I was able to view The Falls in all its glory from both the American and Canadian side and I must say I was impressed. Niagara Falls is magnificent no matter how you look at it.
   Yet, I was disturbed by what I saw. While staying on the US side, I observed the conventional shell of a resort town dominated by the casino towering over it. Around every corner I discovered a new Indian restaurant for dinner.  My friend and I ventured into the Swagat Indian buffet restaurant one evening as we strolled around town and we were rewarded with a filling and enjoyable meal. It was a $10 buffet and there was a variety of entrees for meat lovers and vegetarians.  The food was well spiced and required a glass of water, however no gastronomical  distress ensued.
  The more I walked around town, the more I realized that there was an austerity and desperation about the place that fascinated yet at the same time worried me.  It was trying really hard to be something, but it didn't know what.
  

I decided to hike around The Falls and discover it for myself. I walked into Niagara Falls State Park  and found an area under construction, behind a barricade. It was as if New York State had decided too little too late that we need to preserve this mid century landmark. I was surrounded by pushing and shoving Chinese tourists trying to capture via a selfie one  last glimpse of Americana.
   While viewing Horseshoe Falls from the American side, it struck me what the problem was. Canada has the money shot. The resort hotels loom on the Canadian side like alien space craft peering at The Falls.  I decided to walk around to the Canadian side and see what everyone was gawking at.
   As I crossed the Rainbow Bridge pedestrian crossing I felt like I was entering a no man's land. Wind gusts threatened to propel my camera over the edge of the railing like a toy.  People stared at me from the safety of their cars and pretended not to notice. I was neither here nor there.
  

It wasn't until I set foot on the Canadian side that I felt that I belonged somewhere. After clearing Canadian customs I was regurgitated into a parking lot across from The Crowne Plaza Hotel. Once known as The General Brock Hotel, or mecca to Marilyn Monroe fans.  I meandered into the hotel lobby as though I belonged there and went up to the eighth floor. The cleaning staff was courteous and allowed me to visit the room where Marilyn stayed while she filmed Niagara, room 801/802. 
   Following my Marilyn moment, I continued my sojourn down the Niagara Parkway on the Canadian side. It was a bittersweet stroll down lover's lane, part nostalgia and part romance. Tourists edging in for a selfie with the falls became too much for me so I moved on. I wandered up Clifton Hill, drawn in by the hedonistic carnival atmosphere. At one intersection I was taken aback when I saw some guy reach inside his too tight jeans to adjust his package.  Music blared from every store front. Wax museums and believe it or not places hawked their wares
   It wasn't until later that evening when I attempted to return to the US side via the pedestrian walkway that I realized the full horror of my dystopian vision. I became disoriented in the duty free parking lot as I looked for the exit toward my utilitarian accommodation on the US side. I ended up locked in a literal cage with bars as I awaited the call from the next customs officer who glared at my enhanced drivers license in disapproval as he waved me on. 
   I staggered blurry eyed into another parking lot and was left to fend for myself on the way back to my hotel. I was so disoriented when I arrived at my hotel for a quick shower before dinner that I inadvertently went to the wrong floor and tried my key in the wrong door too many times so that my key card became deactivated. I then had to convince the concierge and the receptionist at the front desk who I was before they would issue me a new key and let me into my room. 
   Meanwhile, Niagara Falls raged on, unknowing and uncaring about my human foibles.  Fifty years from now this place will be much like the movie Snowpiercer or Elysium, the people who have versus those who have not.  It begs the question, on which side do you want to be?