Our Trip: Saturday

Now on to the BIG day.

K and I got up and went to the breakfast buffet in the hotel. It was worth every penny we paid for it: it was free. The food was okay--looking back, much of what went on during our trip was okay, nothing more. We had to find a WalMart so that I could get something for the blister I got on my heel the night before, so that was our first mission of the day. (I got the BandAid blister repair strips--they are FANTASTIC!)

While we were out and about, we decided to find the chapel where the wedding was going to be. It was true, if you blinked for a moment, you missed the thing! (If you turned around in the chapel during the wedding, you got to be REAL good friends with the person next to you.) I have actually seen kids' playhouses that were bigger than this chapel--very cute, though. While we were taking our ride, we watched for the sightseeing, touristy things we wanted to come back to the following day. I just couldn't see driving all that distance and not get the usual pics. We still hadn't gotten a real good look at the Falls--something I said we HAD to do.

We went back to the hotel and started to get ready for the wedding. Thankfully it was a small affair, so we didn't have to do the real dressy, "wedding" type of getting ready. We got to the chapel about 45 minutes early and then we waited.

The first to arrive--other than the tourists--were the new in-laws. This was the first time we ever met, so it was interesting. They were fine enough, but I don't think we really clicked in a "our new best friends" kind of way. WE don't have to love them--or even like them--as we won't see much of each other. And that is fine.

The Pastor and his wife showed up next, so we got a chance to get to know them, also. He was perfect for this chapel--quite small and leprechaunish. A very nice couple.

And then we waited. A and her fiance were 30-45 minutes late--something the mother of the groom wasn't too happy about. The ceremony was over in about 10 minutes. It was a very simple, nice ceremony. The bride and groom told each other how they felt about each other and that left us all crying--very touching and sweet. They did very well. And my baby is now a married woman.

The most interesting and funniest part of the entire wait were the tourists. This chapel seems to be a very popular tourist stop and most of the tourists who stopped there were Asian. Now, we all have seen the sitcoms where they have the Asian tourists with their cameras just going on and on with their picture-taking--this is NO JOKE. They took pictures of the chapel, inside and out, both with and without people in the pics. I believe they even took pics of US! The Pastor kept telling them that this was a private affair, but it made not much of a difference: none of them spoke English! And this just wasn't the occasional person--we're talking BUSLOADS of people stopping by. There was a van load of Asians there when A finally showed up, and the tourists started buzzing about the bride being there--at least that's what I THINK they were saying. They stayed and watched her get out of the car and go into the chapel--taking pictures the whole time. As the door was closed on the chapel, we don't know how long they stayed waiting for us to come out. At least once during the ceremony, someone opened the door to see what was going on. The Pastor's wife was there to keep uninvited guests away--that was her job.

Following the ceremony, we went to eat at a gourmet Italian restaurant. When we got there, the dads and the couple left for a short time to take some pictures with the Falls as a backdrop. K got reprimanded by the cops while they were doing this. I guess he parked where he shouldn't have parked--the signage was ambiguous, at best. The comment the cop gave as he was entering his vehicle: "Hmph! Americans!"

The meal went fine--thankfully, the dads split the check--and then we spent the evening together wandering through the shops at the casino. We couldn't go INTO the casino as the groom's brother was only 16. We sat at the food court and visited for several hours and then parted ways. They went to their hotel observation deck to look at the Falls and K and I went to the casino to donate more money to their economy. And that was the end of the second day.

Two things I really noticed, again, about Niagara Falls: there is NO PLACE to park for free and prices are outrageous! The closet parking to the Falls that we saw, was about two blocks away from them--and you had to pay to park there. There might have been one other place that was just a little more than two blocks from the Falls, but I'm not sure. If you wanted to get to the edge of the Falls, you had to walk, ride shuttles or other forms of public transportation, or take a cab. Before we got there, I wasn't aware of how much walking you have to do to see ANYTHING. And, again, the outrageous prices. We stopped in Starbucks on our way back to the room--I know Starbucks is expensive, anyway--and we paid over $10 (CAN) for a cup of coffee and a cup of tea. Believe me, neither one of the beverages was worth over $5!