Niagara

"Brian and Susie Burns, an Australian couple who had previously spent some time in Cambridge, offered us a lift in their car to Niagara. Our sudden first sighting of the Falls after the tedious drive through the endless, sulphurous suburbs of the city of Buffalo took our breath away. The might of the immense volume of dark water constantly on the move, relentlessly tumbling over the edge of the precipice, transformed into a mass of white foam and rainbow filaments of cooling spray, was as mesmerizing as the thundering roar was deafening. Our senses numbed, we stumbled across the bridge to the Canadian side to get a better view and stood hypnotized until it was time for us to take the short flight back to Ithaca. Against athreatening sky, we boarded the small plane and took off amid thunder and lightning. For the first time in my life, I was afraid of flying."