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June 2007 ArchiveWednesday, June 13, 2007The Buffalo ReportFriday I took the #24 bus downtown to the hostel. I had I been a quicker draw with my camera, I would have gotten pictures of the loads of handpainted signs and lettering along Genesee. Here's one:  On the other side was a sign saying how many pounds of deer meat was donated to the food bank. Donnie greeted me at Hostelling International's Buffalo outpost. She's a gem! Full of great info. She let me know that the Albright-Know Gallery was free Friday night. I was having my afternoon slump, so I swung by Starbucks. The barista and I had this turbo fast exchange: Me: Is the chocolate chip cookie chewy or crisp? Barista: Crisp? Me: The peanut butter cookie? Barista: Chewy. Me: I'll take that one. With that and an iced coffee, I was on my way up Elmwood. Buffalo is called The City of Good Neighbors for it's friendliness. Many friendly folks. I was at an intersection, wuite smitten with my cookie and not paying attention. A woman was at the intersection in her car. I look away from my cookie and she's smiling at me, because I missed my walk signal. She said I could go ahead, but I waved her through since it was her light. The Thursday night Chicago thunderstorm was now moving into Buffalo. I watched the sky get darker and darker. I asked a young, hip woman at another intersection how far the Albright-Knox? She says 10 blocks. I walk with her a bit, chatting. It starts to rain and she heads off to her dinner. I ask about how much farther. She says, "Oh, about seven blocks." I don't know how they count blocks in Buffalo... It was 22 blocks. Elmwood looks like a charming street. If life takes me back there, I'll get myself over there during shop hours. I got pretty soaked:  Okay, maybe I don't look soaked. The museum was just fine. It was the free Friday with activities for kids and adults. Okay, that's cool. What's soooooo not cool is a 20-something woman eating in a gallery. Or parents letting their toddler grope the Rauschenberg. The guard was great, but really had a thankless, really hard job. Apparently Buffalonians (?) need classes in Museum Visiting 101. A hot shower and some sweet and sour chicken and I was rest. Saturday Today, I decided to trek to Niagara Falls. I got my weekend pass and got on the #40 bus. Got off at the Daredevil Museum. A gift shop with walls lined with photos and artifacts of daredevils/whackos who went over the falls in barrels. I totally recommend it. It's free. It's charming. You can get yourself a candybar for the ride home. Here's the entrance to a very clausterphobic barrel:  I think the Daredevil Museum bathroom has had security issues:  The Official Tourist Office kinda blows. Two women just selling tours. The woman "helping" me was sizing me up and asked where I was going and tried to sell a tour. I politely declined and said I was going to explore on foot. She said snidely with a wide smile, "Oh, all 25 miles?" [shaking it off] I headed towards the park. Picked up some fish and chips:  I ate my lunch in the park and talked to a seagull.  Filled with fried food, I went to see the Falls.  Wow, eh? Okay, the pic doesn't do it justice. Seriously, if you go to Niagara Falls you have to spring the $12.50 for the Maid of the Mist tour. You'll get a snappy blue poncho and will look like one of these human ants:  Donned in blue, we get on the boat:  We motor past the American Falls and Bridal Veil. Okay cool. The speaker spouts out some basic info in English and then French. Then we approach Horseshoe Falls. There is mucho mist:  We get closer to Horseshoe Falls and we're just starting to get misted. And then mistier. And then mistier still. Then totally misted. Andwe all take on this completely wonderful giddiness as we all start to fathom the power of the falls. It's f-ing enourmous. It's huge amount of water flying down! Mungo, LOTS, boatloads. At this point we're parked at the center of Horseshoe Falls, as close as we can get. Look to your left - water. Look to your right - water. A bajillion gallons! Then as we're all completely captivated by the falls, the speaker simply states, "This is Niagara Falls." The Maid of the Mist tour is a must because it takes the Falls from pretty but abstract to reality. Here's an arty pic through my poncho:   Hee! Hee! Hee! After seeing dozens (hundred?) of people in blue ponchos or yellow ponchos, it was charming to see Buddhist monks in their saffron robes in the gift shop:  I wonder exactly what kind of greenish color their robes become under the blue poncho. And then, And then, I walked to Canada. I got the border guard stamp my passport. I totally got overwhlemed with all the shiny, touristy, tackiness. Holy Crow. But I did get DQ a cherry Mr. Misty Freeze. Uh, now they're called Arctic Rushes. Whatevs. I was done in. I headed back to the US. As my friend Jen says, "my feet were hard." Got my candybar from the Daredevil Museum, took some ibuprofen and waited for the bus. Buffalo/Niagara Falls has a pretty good transit system. Dude. I got to Niagara Falls for a few bucks. Just be prepared to wait. The system covers a lot, but given the population of the community, it runs less frequently. Bring a magazine or good music and think about the money you're saving. I got back to the hostel. Ate the rest of my Chinese food and talked to the lovely Roberta from Queens and Anne? from the UK. Then I indulged myself and went to see Ocean's 13. Certainly better than 12. I love the characters so much, that I'd probably shell out my money for Ocean's 27. Sunday Today the plan was Lake Erie waterfront, Allentown Art Fair, then checking into my work hotel. Okay, here's the deal with Buffalo. Before going, I asked folks for their advice. One person waved it off, "It's a dead city." Buffalo has seen better days. Sure. But it's full of lovely folks still holding on to their civic pride. Here's the deal - if you know where you are going, that something's there, Buffalo is friendly and lovely. If you just want to wander, you may be a bit saddened by the lack of Buffalo in Buffalo.     The Allentown Art Fair was an art fair. Some good stuff. Some very good stuff. Some crap. Plenty of fried food. I was delighted to find a great pysanky egg crafter. Her work was exquisite. I bought a gorgeous egg box with a lovely scene of Moscow and lined in egg yolk yellow velvet. I'll try to post a pic, the artist's name and her link soonish. I took the 1.5 block walk from the hostel to the Hyatt. In ways the hostel won out, like the kindness and sincerity of Donnie and Michael at the hostel - oh, and free wifi. In the Hyatt, things were just a little off. And $10/day wifi... But the event went very well. It was a community event, and I was heartened to see the civic pride and congeniality between the participants. I've got my list of what to see next time that life brings me to Buffalo. Like the botanical gardens and the Pan-Am building of the Historical Society. Tuesday I got my Buffalo wings at the airport, with sweet potato fries as a picnic at an empty gate at the Buffalo-Niagara airport waiting for my delayed flight:  Buffalo didn't want me to leave her. My flight was cancelled. Sure it was a good trip, but after 2.5 seeing sites and 2 days working, I just wanted to be home. One more night there, flipping around cable channels in the limbo of a hotel room. Now I'm back home after a good visit to Buffalo. posted on 6/13/2007 07:20:00 PM Friday, June 08, 2007The Queen CityI'm sitting on a couch in a hostel in Buffalo, NY. Monday and Tuesday I'll be working. Until then, I'm seeing Buffalo. I asked around for recommendations, and lots of folks squawked, "Buffalo is a dead city." I've had a pleaseant and cheap bus ride from the airport. The ride down Genesee Street was lined with all sorts of great handpainted signed for businesses. One house was simply scrawled with "I LOVE YOU KIM." The staff at the hostel and very knowledgable and friendly. Turns out the Albright-Knox Gallery is free tonight. I can see the touring Francis Bacon show for nada. I think tonight I'll do that and walk Elmwood Avenue. Tomorrow I should brave the tourists and see Niagara Falls. That will give me Sunday to stick close downtown, walk and then rest before work. So far, so good. Hello, Buffalo. posted on 6/08/2007 03:42:00 PM Saturday, June 02, 2007The Adventures of Jen, Josh and BrandyJen & Josh picked me up at 8:00 am. We had great breakfast at M. Henry in Andersonville. We then walked 2 hours around the Edgewater neighborhood garage sale. Folks coordinate to sell on the same day, making it a very efficient sale-ing day. I found a nice, old metal tool box and a cushioned bleacher seat. We were tired, or as Jen says, "her feet were hard." We moseyed to Metropolis for coffee. I ordered Jen and Josh to buy the last vanilla Southport Grocery cupcake in the case. B: Get that vanilla cupcake. J&J: What? B: Buy that cupcake. J&J: What cupcake? B: [Pointing] You WANT THAT cupcake. Fifteen minutes later they were negotiating over the last bite of tasty, tasty vanilla frosting. Then someone said Ikea. And we all agreed. Then we realized that we'd get Swedish meatballs for lunch! Could this day get better? Since I know not highways, we took the long way to Ikea. But we were in good company and I got to see plenty of Chicago I hadn't before. In the Ikea parking lot Josh snapped Jen and my unintentional matchingness:  After meatballs and about 4 hours of shopping in the Ikea vortex, we were all laughing and crying at once. Okay, I was. While Jen was away make a purchase decision, Josh and I started putting baskets on our heads:  Jen reports that he looked over, saw us in the distance, she thought, "WHAT are those people doing?" Then she saw me raise my camera and take a picture. She then thought, "I KNOW those people." She took this pic:  Josh and I take our basket wearing very seriously. My Ikea haul was all so damn asthestic lined up on the conveyor belt:  Not sure the picture captures it. We rehydrated and then dined at a Thai place in my 'hood. Quite a lovely, lovely day. posted on 6/02/2007 10:57:00 PM |
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