Someone’s been threatening to burst into song all day. If you’re not familiar with the song from 42nd Street, then perhaps you won’t guess that we are now in Buffalo.
We drove along one of the Finger Lakes this morning from Ithaca, heading towards Rochester. Thankfully, it was warm and sunny and the rain of the last few days appears to have moved on.
The landscape here is of rich farmlands dotted with a farm here and there, the buildings frequently dwarfed by several large silos.
The Amish farms are easy to recognise, because there are no electricity cables connecting them to the grid.
Of course, the large number of black buggies parked outside the large barn on this Sunday morning also gave the game away. Perhaps the whole village was there inside, attending a service?
Throughout the last few days, we have come across the Erie Canal (cue another song) and here, it was wide and rather fuller than I imagined. The couple in the motor boat were travelling at a rather faster speed than would have been permitted on a British canal, that’s for sure!
Soon, we were approaching Rochester and the lush green fields gave way to broad avenues and busy streets.
Whilst stopped at traffic lights, we spotted the neon sign in this sandwich shop. I think it could have been phrased better, don’t you?
Our destination was here: Susan B Anthony’s house. We’d already “met” her yesterday in Seneca Falls, but here her story was the focus and our guide, Linda, was a storyteller of the first degree. She added a few additional details to the story we heard yesterday and did so in such a way that we were all captivated by her every word.
We continued a little further down the street to view the statue of Miss Anthony chatting to Frederick Douglass over a cup of tea. The bright sunshine made photography difficult, but I wasn’t complaining! Frederick Douglass was another figure in the story we’ve come to know better: An escaped slave, he made his way north by means of the Underground Railroad and perhaps we’ll encounter him again when we find out more about that?
Whilst in Rochester, we wanted to take a look downtown too. The distinctive skyscraper bears the name of the Eastman Kodak company, no longer the major employer it was, sadly.
We were heading for the Rennes Bridge, to view the High Falls.
Quite a landmark in the city centre, the falls were surrounded by a rather scruffy collection of former warehouses and factories. But on a lovely Sunday afternoon, that didn’t matter to us, especially when the sound of a railroad whistle caught our attention as it chugged over the bridge above the falls, completing the scene nicely!
From Rochester, it was just a couple of hours drive to Buffalo, our stop for a couple of nights. No sooner had we arrived than we were out looking at the wonderful architecture.
So many fine views of contrasting styles and materials.
Interesting modern details, such as the US Constitution written on the windows of the Courthouse. Yes, of course we searched out the 19th Amendment following our theme of the last couple of days and sure enough, there it was, repeated several times over the course of the windows.
The Liberty building had distinctive figures up there on both rooftops.
I liked the expression here
and when we remembered to look up, the reward was clear to see.
Buffalo is a surprisingly monumental city and we are delighted we included it in our plans. We’re going to head out and visit America’s oldest State Park tomorrow, taking our passports with us “just in case”.
Fingers crossed, the sun will still be shining.
