Niagara Falls
My wife and I took a holiday in Canada. First it was Montreal for some days (Montreal could best be described as mong Paris, trying to be French but fooling no one), Toronto for some more, down to Niagara Falls, and back to Toronto before flying home. Being cheap bastards we arranged the itinerary ourselves including the greyhound bus from Toronto to Niagara Falls.

So anyway, here is an interesting fact for the geographically challenged. There are actually two Niagara Falls cities. One on the Canadian side which is like Blackpool on acid with theme rides, chain restaurants and hotels galore. The other Niagara Falls on the US side is like Fallout 3, only the mutants are real. They are separated by the falls and the river and joined by a bridge called the rainbow bridge.

We did travel over the bridge to the other side (which is awesome since it has great views of the river). Surely the US side would have *something* to do? Nope, there used to be a mall but it was all shut down and boarded up. Tramps and beggars lined the streets. Almost giving up I spotted a large building which might have been a mall or a convention centre. So we walk up to it and discover its an enormous casino - run down but huge. Since the rest of the place is so shit I decide to play carribean stud poker to at least have done something to justify this waste of a day. I borrow some US money from the wife and in literally the second hand and I got four of a kind and I'm $500 up. That's it, we're out of there.

Without exagerration Upper New York state is the ghastliest slum I've ever seen. The only reason to cross over is to behold what real America can be like away from the tourist attractions. Buffalo is even scarier than Niagara Falls. If you're really determined you can still find a few outlet malls (and we did) so maybe its worth going the crossing just for that. Just don't go expecting anything else.

Canada had casinos too. Happily I was up in every single one I visited, but only by a few bucks. Enough to collect a casino chip and pay for a round of drinks. I must have 20 casino chips from all the joints I've hit all the years.
(MagicMoose, Fri 8 May 2009, 15:12, Reply)