By Trey Rusk
Last week the wife and I took a trip. She had been wanting to see Niagara Falls and walk The Freedom Trail in Boston.
Niagara
Falls is a city that that depends on tourist money. The falls are
located in a state and federal park across the Niagara River. We did
all the things tourists do including the boat ride and wind cave. It
was fun, but it was more fun on the Canadian side.
Ontario, Canada
Ontario is a lively city that is cheaper to visit than
Niagara Falls. You walk across the bridge and you are there. The
dollar is strong and buys about 30% more in Ontario. The restaurants
are very affordable and clean. In fact, the city is much cleaner and
the people nicer on the Canadian side. Servers will accept tips but
they don't expect them because it's not a custom in Canada. We tipped
anyway for good service.
The
U.S. city of Niagara Falls is circling the drain. Even our Uber driver
warned us not to stray from the beaten path. Our hotel was advertised
as a Holiday Inn and was expensive for a rundown older Holiday Inn. For
dinner, we were seated outside on the terrace and were never waited on.
We left. Another Uber driver told us that drugs had taken over the
North section of the city and factory jobs had left town. As we were
exiting the National Park, drug dealers could be seen selling weed from
food trucks. The city smells of dope smokers and the sidewalks are
filthy. There are several older tall residence buildings that had seen
better days. Even the City Visitors Center was run down and the
employees didn't seem to care. If you must see Niagara Falls go to the
Canadian side.
Boston
Boston was nice, clean and easy to navigate. They love
their police officers in Boston. Each location where a police officer
has been killed is marked with a street sign. The people were nice and
the city is not in disrepair. We took a tour bus around the city which
was nice. We were able to walk to most areas of the city. We stayed at
the Hyatt Regency Downtown and it was clean, nice and the employees were
the best. As we checked in I asked the clerk which area of town to
avoid. He politely circled an area that wasn't near anything we wanted
to visit and then went over the entire map for us. The restaurant was 5
Star and it was difficult to eat with wait staff hovering over the
table. We walked the entire Freedom Trail and then took the clean
subway to Harvard. A couple of students were down on capitalism and
preaching Communism to folks that would listen. We also went to Boston
Harbor and attended a re-enactment of Boston Tea Party. We toured
cemeteries, churches and meeting houses. The history was amazing. Our
second day we went to the USS Constitution N.P. and Museum. I was
detained by N.P. Police at a metal detector because I was carrying a
pocket knife. Once I provided them with my retired I.D., we shook hands
and I was allowed to board the vessel.
Our
day wasn't finished. We then took an Uber to the Italian Festival and
it was outstanding to see the parades and have a cannoli while walking
around. If you get a chance, go see Boston. It made us feel good to be
Americans.
ADDENDUM: Photos from Trey's trip
.JPG)
2 comments:
Boston is a nice city, if you ignore the traffic and the fact that the streets were laid out for horses and not cars. I have only been there once but really liked it. Went on board the U S S Constitution.
I failed to mention the traffic congestion especially near 5pm. Boston's Logan Airport is on an island and the underwater tunnel was slow. However, our driver negotiated the traffic well. As in all major cities, we did see a few homeless persons downtown but no tents or encampments. I read that Boston has a program to house the homeless in a free rescue shelter downtown. Lots of Irish and Italian owned businesses. People would stop what they were doing in order to assist us with directions. I have an Uber App and Denise has a Lyft App. Both worked well and saved us money. With the apps you see in real time where your ride is located and ETA. No money is exchanged and the record keeping is done for you.
Post a Comment