THE DETAILS

we wokeup crack at dawn and headed for the airport
flew into bufallo (after 8hrs) and straight into a screw up with the car bookings
i was in a corner lost to the world (possesed by love and other demons)
when i suddenly realised the boys seemed to be taking forever to 'sort out things'
getting up to investigate, i discovered the reason ... BOMB at the Desk!
anyway 'things having been sorted' we headed off to the fall, or the falls
by the time we found our way there, the predicted 1.5 hr journey had turned out to be 3 or 4 hours but we got there and met up with yet more boys, friends of the original boys
by then Im Dying to get there and quite beat with tiredness
landed up on the observatory ... it took my breath away
i knew the thing was huge but i never dreamt it could be of such giant proportions
stretched out in front was the niagra river, across which u could see the canada border and some brightly lit streets
and falling into the river those massive water falls ...
u could only see two from there ... the main falls and the maid of the mist
it was misty indeed
looked like a a fine white fog hung over the whole thing
and the water rushed down with mad force, hurtling into the river below
for some obscure reason, it reminded me of charlies chocolate factory

it was almost closing time that day, so we went of for a meal
and came back at 9 for a spectacular fire work and light show courtsey the 4th of July
they had lit of the falls in red and blue lights in different parts
and teh fireworks went off from both sides with great pomp
lasted quite a while
but by the end of it i was too exhausted to be enjoying much

we hadnt booked our hotel rooms in advance so it was a insanely expensive when we did find a place
the boys shared but I had to shell out 100 bucks (and then tax) for a lousy non ac room
but who cares, I just plonked dead on the sheets and was off to noddy land

next day we went back to the falls early in the morning
or as early as the boys could wake up after their midnight boose fiesta :)
fisrt thing we went for was the cruise ... a boat ride which takes you flying on the mist, along the main falls and what felt like straight into the guts of the second one, the maid of the mist.
they gave us huge BLUE plastic macs to keep us as dry as possible, given the circumstances
as we started of, we were standing at the helm of the boat, we went past the main falls pretty close by and we could see ant like figures which seemed to be climbing up the hills right next to the main falls in YELLOW macs. Soon the visibilty was almost down to zero and the sound o water roaring was like thunder in our ears. before we knew it we were almost in the middle of the horseshoe shaped giant. The spray of the falling water was so strong that it felt like standing in pouring rain (or a hi tech shower ;). after a while the boat turned and we came back to the shore, still a little dazed by the experience.

Or next event was the cave of the wind. After waiting in a endlessly weaving line (once more full of desis) we were taken up by a elevator and given the YELLOW macs and some rubber shoes. Thus kitted and set up ... we went into the cave of the winds. No cave this. But a string of steps along a ramp like structure built around the main water fall, another giant, ending in a ledge that jutted right into the water fall. felt like a raj kapoor movie, standing there soaking in the water spray and the atmosphere.

After this we were suppose to go for a ballon ride, but it was cancelled bcz of high winds so we got back to the car and headed to new jersey. Drove for 8 hrs and got there around 10. On the way, we passed thru Syracuse where my mom went to college. It was a Big moment for me. Id heard of this place like a legend all my life. "aamra jokhun Syracuse e chhilaam ..." began so many stories. Felt like a fairy tale actually being there.

In New Jersey we woke up a punju shop guy and ate some nice indian food. then we went to sujits place and bedded down for the night. Next day we headed off for New York. We drove to the station and took a train into the city. Once there, our first stop was the Empire State. It felt for the first time that I was actually here in 'AMERICA'. Feeling like a totally excited gaonwalla, I climbed to the roof top observatory and did the round with my audio guide. It was quite an experience. The audio guide spun off stories and history & geaography and pointed out famous bdgs and I gazed star struck making associations with the settings of all the books and movies I had ever seen.

After Empire State we went for a 3 hour cruise around manhatten. It also took us "face 2 face" with 'Lady Liberty' the tpur guides words, not mine. There was a tour guide there too, telling us about the buildings again some history and who lived where. I furiously took snaps of everything, but I must confess, now looking at the snaps I cant tell Katherine Hepburns house from Tom Smiths!

Next we went to the Central Park. Everyone was tired as hell and I had a tough time convincing them we had to see CP too. But I made it and we went & I saw 2 guys making out on a park bench and the fence from devils advocate. Looked much smaller tho :)

By the time they dragged me away from there we were dead tired and faced the 8 hrs drive back. We were all wishing we had had the fore thot to get our return tkts from ny and cud have stayed there the night thus chking out times sqr in all its glory ... but spilt milk and all that ...

Drove back. Almost got lost courtsey yahoo maps. But finally made it back and loaded our weary bodies into the plane back home. This was 1 of the hi lites of the trip. The plane was almost toy sized and u cudnt hv stud up strt in it. And it was a rather bumpy ride back home. Besides that un eventful ...

Got back. Went off to sleep. Bunked office and then back to routine again :(
Planning for Grand Canyon chaalu ho jaaye!