WE ARE STAYING AT THE Sheraton Fallsview Hotel, overlooking Niagara Falls in a way that really brings a whole new meaning to the term "overlook". Choosing this hotel pretty much set the tone for this whole vacation. There are dozens of hotels and motels in Niagara Falls and extending out into neighboring Lundy's Lane, and our first decision in planning the trip was to find where we would stay. This was made a little bit more difficult because we wanted to go at the end of July -- at the height of the season. Many hotels had no rooms available.

Mary and Lou (well, mostly Mary I think) took on the task of locating accommodations. The most important decision, even more than price range, was proximity. Having been there before, Linda and I knew it would be. When we were here on our honeymoon, we stayed originally in a really nice little motel in Lundy's Lane, with a heart-shaped Jacuzzi (oh so chic, at that time) and only a very few minutes' drive from the falls. But we changed to a hotel on Murphy Lane, within walking distance of the Skylon Tower, Clifton Hill, and the Falls attractions, and found the the whole Niagara Falls experience is so much different from that "angle". We were successful in convincing Mary and Lou to look for lodging in the immediate Falls vicinity. Mary, on the other hand, was successful in convincing us that we should spend the extra money for first class accommodations as part of the tone of the vacation. When we learned that what she had in mind was the Sheraton Falls View, we were an easy sell.

The Sheraton, a four-diamond rated, world-class hotel, stands on a high bluff, overlooking the very rim of the Horseshoe (Canadian) Falls. Our adjoining rooms, on the eleventh floor, were about two-thirds of the way up the highrise building. The rooms were large and very comfortable, and the view from the front of the hotel was breathtaking. On the third floor is an outdoor patio, open to all guests, where we would later watch the Friday Fireworks over the Falls. The hotel has all the things you would expect in a first-class hotel, including a concierge desk, where we purchased tour tickets, and jewelry stores, such as the one where a very helpful lady replaced a tiny screw in my broken glasses frame. They have, of course, several ballrooms, meeting rooms, conference rooms and so forth. Occasionally they have entertainment shows; such was the case while we were here and Mary, Lou, and Liz attended one. More on that tomorrow night.

We are here on a package plan. Leave it to my little sister to come up with an attractive deal, even at a luxury level. Our stay includes buffet breakfasts all three mornings and one buffet dinner. The hotel restaurant, the Fallsview Dining Room, is beautifully laid-out, with tables arranged on terraces to take maximum advantage of the glass wall overlooking the falls. A truly spectacular environment for breakfast or dinner.

There is also a small coffee shop, called La Plaza, just off the main lobby, and it's here that we sit down and spread brochures and maps and ads and stuff all over and try to decide what all we want to do and when we want to do it.

Even though some things about the Niagara Falls tourist environment remain constant, Linda and I are amazed at how much has changed since we spent our honeymoon here twelve years ago. For example, we recall there used to be lots of independent tour bus operators, all competing for business. Now they seem to have all vanished, save for the double-deck bus tours. This company appears to be independent from the Niagara Parks Commission, but is obviously an "approved vendor", which shares facilities and advertising with the NPC attractions. It's a pretty good tour, with picturesque and historic old English omnibuses (these are real, retired from service in London) and helpful guides to show you the sights. The tour covers thirty miles and includes many sights we would not ordinarily have seen, well over a dozen in all. Since the buses run continuously, you're free to get off at any stop and spend as long as you like, so you don't feel you're being "herded" around. Tickets may be purchased at the concierge's desk in the lobby of the Sheraton, and we did that. The tour bus also sells ticket packages, but we decide it will be more cost-effective to buy the PeopleMover package and visit the main sights tomorrow. The bus tour begins at the front door of the hotel, and we board at about 11:00. On this over-view tour, we get off the bus at several locations to spend time looking at the sights and we don't get back to the hotel until late this afternoon.

AFTER A FINE BUFFET dinner at the hotel, we set out to discover the Clifton Hill area. From the very earliest days of tourism at Niagara, this section was developed as a gaudy honky-tonk. During the early 1900's, it was an area of rowdy bars and cheap bordellos, but today Clifton Hill is a respectable (although aesthetically somewhat shocking) side show for the great natural attraction nearby. Just a few blocks long, the area absolutely glistens and sparkles with neon and flashing lights, beckoning visitors into wax museums, arcades, restaurants, nightclubs, and fun houses. Nearly all are associated with well-known brand names. Ripley's Believe It or Not (which we visited), Ripley's Moving Theatre, Louis Tussaud's, Rock Legends, and Movieland wax museums, the Guiness World of Records museum, the House of Frankenstein horror-fun house (with built-in Burger King), Castle Dracula, and the Haunted House are all within a block or two of each other. So is Planet Hollywood and the Hard Rock Cafe. And of course a tourist-town amusement area wouldn't be complete without a miniature golf emporium. This one features a twenty-foot-tall Tyrannosaurus Rex with lots and lots of teeth, presiding over several other dinosaurs.

Is there Ski-Ball and Whack-a-Mole, you ask?  

Are you looking at a computer monitor right now?

The whole place looks like Las Vegas for children and teenagers. But for a REAL Las Vegas-type attraction, you need only walk to the base of Clifton Hill and turn right. There is Casino Niagara, one of the largest in North America (their claim). Although Mary and Linda joked about spending the whole vacation here, and Lou was interested, too, tonight we spend only a few minutes playing the slots. Actually, the ladies spend only a few minutes; Lou and I sit outside with Liz in the warm summer evening. After awhile, I go inside to drag them (kicking and screaming... well, no, but almost) and Lou never even sees the inside tonight.

By this time, we'd walked until everyone's feet were so sore we couldn't walk any longer. That's no fooling. We decide not to even wait for the next shuttlebus; Lou hails a cab and we take it to our hotel door. If we could have arranged for a bellhop to carry us from there up to our rooms I really think we might have considered it.

Story and original photography copyright ©1999 by John Lipman. All rights reserved.