2/27 The Butterfly Conservatory
Got up at a reasonable hour and got out fairly early too, after watching the sunrise transform the falls.
Let me know if you'd like to see the other 12 pictures of the sunrise.
Before we even started planning our vacation, Lisa read an article about Niagara's Butterfly conservatory in the botanical gardens. It was the closest thing to an ultimate destination in our itinerary. We nabbed a cab to the conservatory and made him stop at the 7-11 for some yogurt for my granola. Thank God, no Biffy's today. We intended to spend most of the day with the flying flowers, so I planted Lisa in a rolling lazyboy
Honeymoon in Paradise.
The conservatory was like a big terrarium. The pathways were made of and ringed with beautiful stones streaked with quartz and pocked with mica and other minerals. They retained the beds for incredible butterfly and human pleasing plants and flowers, including orchids. Quail ran around in the underbrush and turtles lounged in the ponds. A sign on the entry door apologized for any inconvenience caused by a lack of iguanas today.
Conservatory specimens
Of course, these were not the attractions. The schmaltzy 60's song "The Elusive Butterfly" cruelly flitted through the inside of my head while the real things were not at all elusive, flitting around the outside. We got blisters on our shutter fingers from trying to capture only the most beautiful butterflies. It was a relief when the batteries failed. One of the most striking and elusive species was the Blue Morpho. It's wingspan was about 5 inches of sky blue. They were constantly on the move, constantly causing heads to jerk around following their movement. When they lit, if they lit, the outside of their wings was drab and invisible on tree bark. My favorite, the Small Postman, had about a 3 inch wingspan, but was only about 1/2 inch long, black with red splotches at the end of each wing. It also escaped my inadequate lens.
Lisa's favorite, the Ricepaper
Of course, the ultimate goal was to be graced by the touch of a butterfly. We discovered that the trick is to wear red, but we were graced anyway.
Lisa found one that matched her eyes..
An unexpected treat was Ontario school system's winter break. A little French and/or Indian blood creates children as beautiful as the butterflies. Their parents were rightfully suspicious of cameras pointed at their children. A Julia butterfly found the taste of my sweat or breakfast intoxicating and gave us the opportunity to study it's tongue (proboscis?) swabbing my hand and its bizarre eyes (a large oval pupil in the middle with a group of three smaller ones above and below and a couple more on either side). It also gave us a non-threatening chance to study the kids studying my hand.
Captured!
I didn't think anything could top the train or Montreal, but this may be the best part of the trip.
We reluctantly followed the beautiful stone pathway out. One of us reluctant to leave the conservatory, the other reluctant to enter the gift shop. We bought everything, had butterfly burgers (no, just egg sandwiches) and discovered a free shuttle to take us back to the falls.
We stopped at the hotel bar for Mike's Lemonade, "An Excellent Source of Vodka", and a coffee. Then I made a detour to a cash machine as my colorful bills were depleted. I thought the Minolta tower had one. Then the Japanese gift shop. Then the Skylon (the bigger space needle with the unfortunate name, it sounds like the SkyLenny and Squiggy). Then back to the Falls gift shop. Then Schlock City, the strip of wax museums, anal probing aliens, miniature golf playing dinosaurs, Hard Rock and Hard Times cafes, etc., etc., etc. Apparently the cash demand of the warm weather had overwhelmed the supply. I called Lisa to let her know I hadn't been murdered at the ATM and she told me the temporary crown she got the day before we left, broke off. Trouble in paradise. Could I find some superglue and denture adhesive? Sure, right next to the maple leaf shot glass. The 7-11 didn't have either, or a cash machine. I got back to the hotel and got a $15 cab ride to a real drugstore and a bank in a real part of town. Didn't know there was one.
Putting the touch on the pocketbook.
