October 3, 2012, Wednesday Part 3

The Rainbow Illumination Tour Part 2

6pm we are headed to the Niagara Spanish Areo Car and Whirlpool Rapids.

This is the Whirlpool Rapids Canadian view, on Thursday we will be viewing this from the American side.



"The Aero car was designed by a Spanish engineer, Leonardo Torres Quevedo and has been in operation since 1916. The cable car is suspended from six sturdy cables and offers a wonderful view of the Niagara Whirlpool which is formed at the end of the rapids where the gorge turns abruptly counterclockwise and the river escapes through the narrowest channel in the gorge."

 

 

 

Then we head to the Flower Clock, it is starting to get dark.  I snap a few pictures before it gets too dark.

 "The planted face is maintained by Niagara Parks horticulture staff, while the mechanism is kept in working order by Ontario Hydro, the organization that originally built the clock. The intricate designs on the face of the timepiece are created with up to 16,000 carpet bedding plants. The floral design is changed twice each year."



 "The hands of the clock are stainless steel tubing: the hour hand is 14.5 ft, the minute hand 17.5 ft and the second hand 21 ft long. Their combined weight is 1,250 pounds. An ivy-clad, louvered stone tower stands 24 feet tall and contains speakers that every quarter hour broadcast Westminster chimes. Under the clock, accessed by a door at the rear of the tower, the concrete foundation includes three small rooms – one for the clock mechanism and its driving motor, one contains switches to supply the electrical power, and one stores the tools required for maintaining the floral face. The clock mechanism runs in a bath of oil. The mechanical workings are driven by a 5 HP DC motor supplied from a DC drive. A tachometer is mounted on the motor shaft and provides feedback to the drive to control its accuracy.'\"

 So now we are off to the Skylon Tower, we will be riding elevator 3 to the top. If you are afraid of high places, I honestly don't know if Niagara Falls is a good place for you to visit. Personally, I found that the perception of height was some how minimised by the scenic beauty. I'm not exactly really fond of high places but I had no problem here at all.

The time it takes the elevators to get to the top is 52 seconds.

To take these photos, I had to stick the lens of the camera out side of the large safety diamond mesh wires and then stick my arm out and around to steady the camera.  I'm glad the mesh was strong. 

There were many changes of color of the falls, but the camera has difficulty deciding to focus on the mist or the falls.  I did the best I could and I think I did okay.  You can see in this photo where the colored lights come from.  We also walked by that on Thursday afternoon and I got photos of the illumination site.

 Now back to the hotel to snack and watch the Presidential debate on TV and then to sleep to rest up for the Rainbow Tour tomorrow on the US side.