Shaw Festival and Niagara Falls!!

yes i know once again this is loooong overdue and this has become distant memory even in my own little head. but still, the most famous natural attraction in Canada deserves an entry here as part of my adventures through maple syrup land.

furthermore, its not just about the frothy waterfalls! also on the agenda were The Shaw Festival and Stratford Festival!

BUT

because of logistical and transport issues as well as artistical preferences, Stratford was out. there were no shows compelling enough for us to overcome the logistical and transport problems and get our asses to the famed city of regional theatrical fame.

first, getting our asses to Niagara.

i had wanted a complete experience of modes of transport, and i was delighted (and auntie candy distraught) when the train ticket to niagara was sold out and we had to take a coach: we would get to go there on coach via toronto, and return by train! and it turned out cheaper somehow, abysmally.

on the day we got to the Kingston CoachCanada Bus Terminal, to our serious concern there was only ONE coach catering to the entire population of torontonian Queen's students dying to jettison back to toronto for Thanksgiving (which in canada falls on Oct 9th; we left for Niagara from 6th to 8th). so CoachCanada arranged to have us bundled to toronto on....


Yellow School Buses.

for the rest of the freezing cold 3.5 hr ride to toronto (no air-con=no temperature control inside the bus), auntie candy was verbally skinning me alive for my aforementioned careless vacation wish of a "complete travel experience" ("be careful what you wish for!!" she berated) in between our grumblings about the cold and our hunger.

nevertheless, we managed to get to toronto exactly on the dot as the doors for our connecting coach ride to Niagara opened. talk about timing, this vacation is all about that, since the planning phase. precision, to the milliseconds.

and a short 200m walk (in the freezing cold midnight winds it felt like a km or two) to our hostel.


Niagara Backpacker's Hostel!

a 19th century red brickhouse built by a doctor for his wife, it was bought over in the 1980s by Josh's parents who were French Canadians. they didn't know they bought for a bargain a historical relic, and auctioned off below value an antique grandfather clock amongst other historically valuable items left in the house. now run by Josh, his sister and his family as a hostel for budget holidaymakers.

our room, which we shared with 2 other backpackers from england and japan

beautifully designed on the interior with redwood, a must-stay when in niagara (unless like melisa you have lobangs that give you free rooms at Niagara Falls Hotel, 4 star), with excellent beds, blankets and comforters, showers and free breakfast of home-made muffins and excellent strongly brewed coffee at a budget cad 22 per night. we had the fortune of staying in guestrooms on the wing where Josh's family had their rooms, instead of the hostel wing where other backpackers stayed.

the next morning we made our way to Niagara-on-the-Lake, a little atas town situated at a bend along Niagara River which houses the Shaw Festival.


Shaw Festival

an annual theatre festival showcasing and commemorating the works of George Bernard Shaw as well as other excellent pieces by excellent and/or acclaimed playwrights, the Shaw Festival attracts audience of all ages and demographic groups from all over the world every year.


Boulevard, Niagara-on-the-Lake

the obelisk clocktower in the background, of which i took an excellent picture that could not be uploaded for some reason, is a prominently useful landmark for theatre goers. it reminds everyone in the vicinity of the time with chimes on the hourmark.


horse carts everywhere in canada, here in NOTL as well.

this horse, on the direction of the driver, gracefully crossed a T-junction diagonally and caused abrupt stoppage of traffic in all directions. seemingly oblivious to the temporary pandemonium it has caused, the horse cantered as serenely as the driver sat triumphantly atop his perch displaying his law-bending power.

idyllic little town, splendid shows. auntie candy and i caught the critically acclaimed The Crucible at The Festival Theatre, the aptly named main theatre for the annual festival. excellent, powerful and amazing use of lighting and set amalgamation and coordination in look and transition. 2 hours later, after we had extensively deconstructed the literal, philosophical, theological, political and sociological significance of each and every scene in the 3 hour play, we returned to the SAME theatre where we watched High Society.


High Society

the scene changes was amazing; sets flew in and out with almost every scene change, stage-width props rolled out to the beat of the transition music and settings changed seamlessly. which further confounded me to the fact that they had made happen a total switchover of the entire theatre from one show to another, lights and fly inclusive, within the short span of 2 hours. and some foh and foh side lights were clearly re-focused, with different colour schemes from The Crucible. wow.

and that sums the day. two excellent shows for which i still owe my brudder in Richmond Hill cad 128, and a gregarious cab driver who drove us on the hour long, cad 30 ride back to Niagara. a Muscovite who lived and worked in Singapore for a few years, he alerted us to the fact that it costs as much for us to fly to vancouver from toronto as it does to fly to europe. moscow costs only cad 700. HMMMMMMMMM...... moolah permitting, i might just land in venice, rome or paris before i get back to singapore.

and the next morning we were off to the falls itself. the 20 minute stroll to the falls in the cool morning breeze certainly is uplifting and awakening, considering we only got back to the hostel at 12 midnight because High Society ended at 11pm. Josh's coffee was great, but the walk did wonders waking us up proper.


view of Niagara River along Zimmermann Ave.

nearing the American Falls on the left, and the Canadian Horseshoe Falls on the right.


Rainbow Bridge
one of the bridges across which canadians can get into the state of new york along the river.

and we reached the jetty for the Maid of the Mist ride to the foot of the falls! the jetty unfortunately is making exhorbitant profit at nature's expense. witness the froth of petrol discharged from the boats which accumulate and coagulate at the sides of the jetty.

nevertheless, we partook unashamedly in this despicable act of nature genocide. aboard the Maid of the Mist we set sail, each tourist covered from head to toe in a ridiculous thin blue plastic raincoat THROUGH which many many tourists took photos in apparent protection of their cameras. oh i'm sure their pictures would turn out perfect. not blue.

Maid of the Mist trawling into the mist and the morning sun

and we approached the American Falls!

in any case, the falls supposedly had a splash radius of more than 2 km from the foot of the falls, depending on the wind that carried the water droplets. thus we were rained with water droplets from the falls as far as just after Rainbow Bridge on our way to the falls. as the Maid neared the falls, up close it felt like a torrential downpour.

okay it wasn't that bad. we could still take pictures. this is the foot of the American Falls, with majestic powerful rapids.

morning sun caught in the mist

the Canadian Horsehoe Falls

by comparison spanned a longer distance across the river because of its horseshoe shape. in my opinion much more beautiful because of its comparatively more powerful and awe-inspiring feel.

man versus nature

the Falls and the tourist city that grew out of its fame.

Niagara Falls Tourist Area

embellished with casinos, hotels, retailers and thematic galleries, including Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum and Warner Brothers galleries.

the problem with Niagara Falls is that it has, in my view, become much too touristified. especially the tourist area which was very expensive for a tourist destination. in addition to the cad 8 we paid for the Maid of the Mist ride, even the nature trek behind the falls cost us cad 14, which we decided was a ripoff for a nature walk. everything here cost money, except the work of nature itself which fortunately by its own magnitude of existence judiciously preserved for all visitors to the falls the free and unrestricted admiration of its magnificent handiwork; had it been any smaller, or the profiteers gotten any greedier, i suppose they might have built a dome to enclose the two waterfalls and charge entrance to even smell the air.

half a day came to a close, and we embarked on our way home. Via rail!

okay this is free publicity for VIARAIL, a picture taken off its website. from Niagara to Kingston, we got an hour's transfer time at toronto. went to a shop opened by a taiwanese woman to ask for directions to the nearest chinese makan, and she gave us a free map (which she said she would sell to non-chinese). hmmm.

bumbling around, we managed to find our way to a dimsum place that sells very nice changfen. the closest to singapore's chee cheong fun i have found in canada, but i'm sure i will find better chinese fare here in toronto... no time for this short stopover, we had to catch the train back to kingston. but the next trip, during my exam travel window (oxymoronic huh...) i will, with my brudder's and micnie's kind guidance (hopefully... haha), discover greater enclaves of culinary accomplishment which i believe adorn the city of toronto.