Niagara Falls: Thousand Islands - Pieces of Heaven

12th July 2008

Standing at the bow of the boat, my legs were starting to regain some strength after a rather numbing 6-hour ride. Lady Luck must have been a bit more pleased with me as the basking sun hung overhead, causing blinding reflections off the clear blue surface of the water. Through the lens of my all-too-cool-shades, I scanned the area in front of me, only to see miles and miles of blue water stretched outward with little snippets of green sprinkled atop the vast sheet of blue.

The captain sounded the boat's low, loud horn as an indication of the primer to a peak into the lifestyle of the rich, famous and extravagantly extravagance. The Thousand Islands region was a vast archipelago off the coast of the state of New York that stretched all the way to Canada. Whether or not the region actually lived up to its name was anyone's guess really.

Quietly cruising atop the crystal blue waters, I sighted islands of very varying scales; some so small that they only had enough room for the birds to make their nests, most large enough to at least house a little holiday shack, and some large enough to provide the foundations for summertime-mansions of the rich and the famous.

Summer Shelter

And when I say rich and famous here, I mean the moderately famous, but REALLY rich. People actually rich enough to buy an island off this prime estate, rich enough to build a house / mansion on top of said island, rich enough to buy some form of transportation to get to that island (normally in the form of a jet-ski or speedboat) and on top of that, rich enough to live somewhere else over the other seasons other than summer. People of the calibre of Donald Trump and the owner of Macy's probably, were the people who could actually afford to lay claim to a house on one of the thousand.

A Different Take on the White House

As the boat continued upstream towards the Canadian side of things, I stared in amazement at the numerous islands, and how they actually pieced together to form a little community or town on its own. With each house on each island bearing a house or maybe island number, and the cars and bikes substituted by speedboats and jet-skis. A community with its own little facilities, like a dedicated lighthouse to aid the traffic at night and even a common park on an island. A neighbourhood where the guy living on the next island is probably every bit as much of a millionaire as you are.

Park Life

An elitist community reserved for those who could enjoy the luxury of such exclusivity, while the rest of us hoi polloi look in on their glamorous lives from our boats. I continued to stare out at the islands with a sense of amazement, yet letting go of an uncontrollable sigh as I contemplated upon the level of extravagance that I will never attain.

Through the Looking Glass

The boat turned around as we made our way back while I scouted Heart Island from a distance. Heart Island was one of the bigger and possibly the grandest of the islands, complete with a castle and brown-bricked towers overlooking the waters. Yet, grandeur is not without its price as the island bears one of the most tragic stories in the region.

Visionary

The owner of the island actually meant to build the castle on Heart Island as a gift of love. Yet, in an exceptionally cruel twist of Fate, his wife passed on before the completion of the castle. Heartbroken and dejected, the owner completed the castle and swore never to return to the shores of the island. The opportunistic US government then later bought the island from him for a grand total of .... $1 US dollar, later opening it up to the public and touted it as a tourist attraction.

Kingdom Heart

Today, the fate of the island has been very much transformed, as we spotted a happy couple standing along the shore of the island, fully clothed in their bridal costumes, radiating an almost-disgusting aura of bliss. Children ran around the fields of the island with echoing laughter, as tourists paid homage to the tragic owner of the island by visiting his dedication of love.

The boat took as back to the familiar shores as I stepped off the platform. Making my way back to the bus in preparation for the arduous journey that was to be continued, I turned back to take a final garner of the islands. As I turned back, I believe that I saw a little glimpse of paradise on the water's surface; a Heaven in which salvation is bought solely through the merit of one's wallet.

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