I finally got around to transferring my pictures of Niagara Falls from my digital camera to my computer. I took dozens, but I'll only bore you with three! The first one shows the Horseshoe Falls on the Canadian side, which I think are simply magnificent. You can't appreciate the power and force of the falls until you stand next to them and hear the thunder of the water rushing over the edge. In fact, our hotel room on the 22nd floor faced the falls and we could hear the roar from up there when we opened the window. If I remember correctly, somewhere between 5-6 million cubic feet of water flows over the edge every minute. 
The second picture was taken from Journey Behind the Falls where there is a series of tunnels and observation platforms that bring you behind the water. I'm not claustrophic, but I felt very uncomfortable down there. The walls and floor are slimy and wet and the thought of tons of rock above me made me uneasy. What can I say? The older I get, the more neurotic I become! (I also skipped the Maid of the Mist this time. I survived that 30 years ago and decided not to push my luck!) They provided us with yellow plastic rain ponchos to protect us from the water, and I got several pictures, but we look like drowned rats so I decided not to embarass myself by posting them. 
The final picture shows the American Falls on the left and the very narrow fall adjacent to that on the right is called Bridal Veil Falls. On a side note, I had several opportunities to engage Canadians in conversation while I was there so I decided to conduct my own unofficial poll. The question was: Who do Canadians believe is the best American president in recent history? The answer quite surprised me - Bill Clinton. They love the man over there. They believe he had the potential to do great things for our country and the world, but he was stymied by Republican self-serving zealots who put the party ahead of the country.
It seems like the GOP's image is taking a beating from everyone these days.
10 comments:
Great pictures Kathy! I've never had the opportunity to go to Niagara Falls. Hopefully one of these days I'll manage to see it...
I guess I'm not that surprised to hear Bill Clinton is/was so popular. He has several qualities so severely lacking in President Bush: charisma, forethought, and a holistic perspective (internationally, environmentally, socially).
In some ways it's really unfortunate there are term limits, because I'd love to see what he would have done with four more years. And yet in the same breath I'm thankful that Dubya can't be President again...
I don't know about you, but I love my wife's (an Australian) perspective on Clinton: Scumbag of a Man; Great President. I wonder if most women see him that way?
You got some great shots of the falls. It must be breathtaking to be there.
Bill Clinton, huh? No comment. ;-)
Mike, I have to agree with your wife about Clinton being a scumbag of a man. I certainly wouldn't want to be married to him. However, his infidelity has nothing to do with his qualifications to be president.
One Canadian told me Americans were laughed at by the rest of the world because we made a big fuss about Clinton and Monica. He said Clinton's infidelity was seen as a badge of honor in most European countries and Canada simply because of his stature.
By the way, I don't know the exchange rate from Aussie to Canadian money, but the people we went to the falls with were from England and they made out well. Each British pound was worth $2.12 Canadian! We weren't as lucky - each American dollar only netted us $1.08.
Abi, I've never known you to be shy about speaking your mind before. ;-)
Great pix and I'm not surprised about Clinton. He's well loved all over the world. I'm amazed that anyone is still flogging Monica at this point, but then that's all the Bush supporters have got. Clinton is as much revered as their guy is loathed and they got nothing good that Bush has accomplished to point to.
Libby, I agree with your comment, "they got nothing good that Bush has accomplished to point to." He wanted to leave a great legacy and it's looking more and more like he really will go down as the worst president in history.
It will be interesting to see what people say he accomplished after he leaves office.
Libby, I forgot to mention this. I saw Barbara Walters interview Bill O'Reilly on 20/20 last night and she asked him his opinion of Bill Clinton. He said he thought he was a great president! You could have blown me over. Of course, both Bills have a little something in common when it comes to fooling around with women! :-)
Why would you care who Canadians think our greatest president was? What affect did Clinton's charisma have in Somalia? What affect did it have in the Middle East?
Clinton's biggest legacy was everyone liked him. Heck, I liked him and I'm conservative! Reagan ended the cold war. Lincoln ended slavery. Nixon pulled our troops out of Viet Nam. Kennedy put men on the moon. Truman ended WWII. Wilson ended WWI. Roosevelt's New Deal ended the depression.
A few Canadians pick Clinton and American's think that means something?
Ever stop to ask who American's favorite Canadian Prime Minister is? Can they name three of them? Two of them?
I thought so. That's how important Canadian opinion is. How about Denmark's leader? Spains?
Sure, we know Venezuala's because he's the latest squeaky wheel to appear on the UN's "Anti-American Idol" program.
Come on, folks! We can dig deeper into public policy than "who's your favorite democratic president?"
Pull out your year books and ask yourself how important it is 20 years after graduation to have been the most popular kid at school. Other kids have started companies. Other kids invented something. Someone else cured a disease. Someone else defended an innocent man and freed him from jail.
How important is it, really, to be popular? Is is possible that in doing tough jobs you may be unpopular?
Thomas, lighten up and consider the context in which I asked that question! I was not attending a geopolitical symposium. I was on vacation and had the opportunity to talk to people in outdoor cafes, restaurants, and other gathering places. It occurred to me to ask them that question after listening to them bash Bush so much. I actually expected them to say Carter was their favorite American president (I did not say Democratic president) because he won the Nobel Peace prize.
Anyway, I asked the question because I was curious, and I'm the editor of this blog and can write anything I want. That's what makes blogs so great. We aren't constrained by what the media thinks should be on our minds (like I really cared who Tom DeLay wanted to see win on Dancing With the Stars).
By the way, the current prime minister of Canada is Harper. I also remember Chretian (not sure that's spelled correctly) and Trudeau. He was married to Margaret and I remember their names were splashed all over the media when their marriage failed.
"Thomas, lighten up and consider the context in which I asked that question!"
OK.
I've been cruising a few blogs lately and have noticed a theme. Canadians have been spending a lot of time America bashing.
This follows another trend which is Americans bashing America. Though the seeds may have been planted in Korea or Viet Nam, I believe its waterhshed was Iranian radicals invading the American embassy there and kidnapping 300 American citizens. Large and influential groups of Americans, primarily "progressive" politicians, authors, and Hollywood, became victims of an odd strain of Stockholm syndrome. Editorials, books, and movies have had a decidedly Patty Hearst flavor to them since.
One of America's greatest exports is its culture. In addition to MacDonalds, Burger King, Rock and Roll, movies, etc., our exported culture includes America's opinion of itself in editorials, movies, and lyrics.
That culture used to inspire other countries and citizens to be more self reliant, take individual responsibility, be entrepreneurial, encourage liberty, promote education, all kinds of positive behaviors.
Now it seems we're exporting the opposite, and the rest of the world is copying our behavior much as they did for 100+ years before--except now the examples are dysfunction, neurosis, anti-social behavior, and hostility toward our own government.
And now I come to Stone Soup Musings and find a casual interest in Canadian opinions (you could have been in NY and gotten the same opinions--I'm not sure I would have "gone off" but may have) and Mike is wishing Clinton had 4 (why not 8?) more years.
Since when did America care what the rest of the world thought? When did "the rest of the world" become the standard barer of what should and should not be done even regarding our puritanical reactions to our politicians extramarital affairs?
When was character excused from the list of presidential virtues? America's leaders carry a heavier burden than "the rest of the world's." So what if "they" will tolerate any number of character defects? In America there remains a large population that expects more.
If Clinton had abused the trust in him from blacks as he did the trust in him from femininsts, would he still be thought so kindly? Maybe we don't take feminism as seriously as we do racism?
The Canadian Prime Minster quiz wasn't for you as much as for any reader that might happen by, thinking foreign opinions should be given more weight than they deserve.
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