Deep Shah's Blog: Canada calling - Niagara and 1000 Islands

This is the 3rd post in the multi-part series of our trip to Canada.

The Back Story
East Canada - Toronto
East Canada - Niagara and 1000 Islands ← This post
Rest of East Canada
Family Reunion and West Canada

We have now reached Niagara Falls, a sleepy town that hosts the world-famous Niagara Falls.

First, we visited the Skylon Tower, which is similar to the CN Tower. Basically, a lift takes us up about 158m (roughly 52 floors) and we get an aerial view of the Niagara Falls. At night, the falls are illuminated and look stunningly beautiful. Pictures don't do justice to the view. In the morning, it feels like you're looking at the falls from a giant drone.

Illuminated falls

The border between the US and Canada passes through the Niagara Falls, but you can see the entire Horseshoe Falls very clearly from the Canadian side. From the US side, you only catch about 30% of it.

The best way to see the falls up close is by going on the Hornblower Cruise. These boats take you very close to where the falls are crashing down. The water falls with such intensity that it forms a mist cloud at the bottom. By the time you reach near the bottom, you are guaranteed to get completely drenched! Needless to say, this is an absolute blast.

That boat you see near the falls, thats the cruise

Our stay was close to the falls, about 1.5 km away. We walked to the falls numerous times. No matter how many times we saw the falls, we wanted to see them one more time. They are mesmerizing!

We can walk right upto the tip of the cascade, looking at the sheer speed and volume of water flowing down the cascade can make you feel dizzy!

While Niagara is famous for the falls, the parks around them are equally beautiful. We saw cherry trees in full bloom and lots of nicely done landscaping. We spent almost half a day roaming around the parks.

The Fuel Mystery

Remember how I had forgotten to ask the car rental company what kind of fuel to put in the car? I was somewhat certain it must be diesel because we had an SUV, and most SUVs in India are diesel cars.

To be doubly sure, I decided to call the car rental company's customer care. I tried to ask what kind of fuel to put in the car. They said, "Regular." I was confused. I asked specifically if I should put gasoline (petrol) or diesel. The person on the other side kept saying "regular fuel," but wouldn't clarify if it was gasoline or diesel. When I persisted, they finally said "use diesel." That kinda confirmed what I had in mind all along. I thanked them and disconnected the call.

In the morning, we had to leave for 1000 Islands. On the way, we planned to have breakfast at my cousin's place in Toronto. We reached their house and had a lovely time with their family.

It seemed like time was flying by. Soon enough, it was time to head towards 1000 Islands, or we risked missing our cruise.

I only had 25% fuel left in the tank. I had thought I'd take my cousin's husband along with me to the fuel station to get fuel. On the way, we started chatting about the car, and he mentioned that most cars in Canada are petrol cars. I confidently said that this car is a diesel car—I was sure since I had confirmed this with customer service. He was a bit surprised and said usually only big trucks use diesel fuel in Canada.

We reached the fuel station. I stopped at a pump, but there was no nozzle for diesel. Again, my cousin's husband reiterated, “See? There are so few diesel cars that even the fuel pumps don’t dispense diesel at all outlets.” My confidence was now slightly shaking. We moved forward to a pump where diesel was available. In front of us, a mini bus (a 12-seater) was filling up. To my surprise, the bus was filling up with petrol. This shook me and caused me to doubt what I knew. If this big mini bus was using petrol, why would my SUV be a diesel car? But I had confirmation from customer service!

Noticing that I wasn’t backing down, my cousin’s husband said, “Okay, let’s try filling it with diesel and see what happens.” We pulled the nozzle out and tried to insert it into the car’s fuel tank. To our surprise, the nozzle wouldn’t fit—the nozzle was bigger than the opening in the car’s fuel tank! This was concerning. I requested him to talk to the car rental customer care and check what to do. This time again, the customer care representative insisted we use “regular” fuel. On pressing whether to use gasoline or diesel, the person again said “diesel.”

This was super confusing and frustrating. The diesel nozzle not fitting was a huge signal that this might be a petrol car. So, we decided to take a chance and fill petrol in the car—the fuel whose nozzle would fit the tank opening!

If we had filled petrol in a diesel car, a disaster was waiting. I thought the car would stop working in about 30 minutes or so. We went back to pick up my family, said goodbye to my cousin's family, and decided to move towards the 1000 Islands cruise.

At the back of my mind, I was making backup plans for backup plans—what if the car stops working? But luckily, it was indeed a petrol car, and we had filled the right fuel. I thought of some curse words for the car rental company and thanked my cousin's husband and the diesel nozzle for saving the day!

1000 Islands

We reached the place where our cruise was starting and boarded the boat. 1000 Islands are called that because it’s a cluster of many tiny and some big islands. Two-thirds of these islands are in Canada, and the rest are in the US. Some of the islands are so tiny they just have one small house on them, while others are so big they have communities living on them. The houses on the islands are incredibly pretty. Guess what they keep in their parking space? A boat, obviously!

People who own the houses on these islands must be super rich. This would be their second or third home, which they use when they come on holidays!

There were many pretty houses, but the king of them all is Boldt Castle. It looks like it came straight from a Disney movie. As the story goes, George C. Boldt was building it for his wife, but unfortunately, she passed away only months before its completion. The husband was inconsolable and abandoned the house, deciding never to step foot in it. Now, the Canadian government looks after the mansion!