Mark couldn’t wait to see if the haunted house was still as scary as the last time we were in Niagara Falls in 2020.
But first, Feng and I wanted to walk across the Rainbow International Bridge to the US. Somehow, we had never done it. It was a land border crossing to add to our list—Mexico to Belize, Belize to Guatemala, Guatemala to Honduras, Costa Rica to Nicaragua, Panama to Costa Rica, Argentina to Chile, Argentina to Uruguay, Uruguay to Brazil, Malaysia to Thailand, and many more.
“But it’s going to take forever!”
“Don’t worry, the haunted house will still be open. I promise. Hey, we get to walk to the US, do you even know how rare this is?”
Minutes ago, in the car, I had just read about a surprise attack on Israel. Fucking borders. I hate them. Walls never solve anything, and this is not a political comment on the current Israel-Hamas war—my heart goes out to the civilians on both sides.
“You know,” I went on, “only Canadians can cross the US border so easily. Back when I only had a French passport, I was questioned and my fingerprints were taken. If Daddy still had a Chinese passport, he wouldn’t even be able to step into the US without a visa, and it can take months for applications to be approved. But Canadians are neighbours, I guess, so we get to cross the border easily.”
Mark nodded. “Makes sense. Same for Mexicans, right?”
“Oh, sweet summer child… I’ll explain later.”
We pushed the door with a big sticker reminding Canadians to leave all legal cannabis in Canada because New York State isn’t stoner-friendly. There was no border control to exit Canada. All we had to do was to pay a $1 fee to push the turnstile, loonie only.
Then we stepped on the bridge and realized there was a long, long lineup to re-enter Canada.
“NO! MY HAUNTED HOUSE!”
“Sorry, Mark. We… didn’t know.”
We walked across the bridge to the US side, taking pictures along the way—it does offer a spectacular view of the Falls.
On the downside, the lineup to enter the US was also spectacular, and not in a good kind of way. It was also moving very, very slowly, which was surprising considering we were all Canadian or American passport holders.
“Fuck it?” we asked after 20 minutes.
“Fuck it,” I confirmed because it was quite chilly on the bridge.
“Are we saying no to the American dream? It’s quite a political statement,” I laughed.
We did. Re-entering Canada took another 20 minutes, not too bad.
Honestly, the best part of the Rainbow International Bridge is the view, anyway.
And obviously, the best part of Niagara Falls is the haunted house. The Falls too, maybe.
It’s a scandal ! There is no rainbow on the pictures with the Rainbow international bridge !
It’s a marketing trick, right? 😆
“Are we saying no to the American dream? It’s quite a political statement,”
believe me you haven’t missed too much, the Buffalo Niagara side is a dumping place. To be honest I dislike both the sides of that border. Buffalo is so run down … that even breathing there is toxic, let alone depressing. The Canadian side… I haven’t been there often but I stopped this summer en route to Toronto. Oh well street parking was gone for good and you have to use those places where you were paying for all day long, although you were there for just 1 hour … funny enough when they see American car plates they always ask for dollars and freeze when you tell them you are Canadian and that’s going to be in Canadian dollars (which I always have them handy courtesy of the Canadian TD). The prices were jacked up when comparing to USA, and in general the whole entertainment there seemed so …. trashy and crappy, and don’t get me started on the food. It was much more genuine years ago… and now seemed so fake.
I was also meeting a friend from western Ohio end of summer 2022 (COVID time), and we made it almost halfway to Buffalo. And here is a funny story : they were no free public bathrooms in the US side, and I got so pissed off that I crossed the bridge and went exactly for taking a piss to that restaurant just under the crossing point in the Canadian side. you cant miss the bathroom of the souvenir store down there, as there is a moose mascot standing in one of the urinals…. which is funny and kind of strange …
COVID times … needed a quick load on the immigration system of a vaccination certificate. Had one fake certificate handy from an EU country (yes I embraced the bio version of COVID to build immunity) and filled in the rest, and when I crossed to Canada with a Canadian passport, the officer just waived me in, nothing asked (not even if I had a gun as an atypical American). I was lucky that there were very few people. It was the end of the COVID era, and e-loading the docs before entering was a nuisance. There and then I realized that everybody was tired of this travesty called COVID. And they, the gatekeepers, didn’t really give a damn, as long as you check all the boxes.
When back (immediately after taking care of personal business ) on the American side (no questioning about COVID as a US citizen), the officer asked why I was for such a short time on the other side and I stated the real reason : to take a piss due to lack of public bathrooms in Buffalo. He really gave me a weird look, and asked: How are you planning to go to your home in NYC (after the standard : where do you live)? there’s a car waiting for me outside as we speak. And had a look at my watch.
Handed back the passport and screamed : NEXT. I left smiling 🙂 Even when asked to look at the camera I was smiling … I always kid them with love.
I Felt bad about my friend who couldn’t come along as she was only American and didn’t even have a fake vaccination certificate to fiddle the system. But we did waive to each other and managed to talk on the phone while on both corresponding sides of the bridge. She did go I believe the next moth to Niagara falls as Canadians removed the COVID restrictions, and she wanted to see the Canadian side of Niagara so bad.
So one can create good memories and experiences even when visiting this kind of touristy places. Yes it was a sunny summer day and the view was magnificent. Hatted the standing still traffic on the bridge when crossing on foot. And you were right the view was the only beautiful thing to enjoy. And that coin turnstile always gets to my nerves ….
Border crossing during COVID was such a weird adventure. I still have my vaccination certificates (plural, five doses so far, no, it’s not a competition and I’m not bragging :lol:) as if I was expecting new restrictions anytime now. I did delete ArriveCAN from my phone though, what a shitty app…
The best thing about Niagara Falls is the falls. I’m not very impressed by either town. And yeah, can we talk about this weird turnstile???