Fall migration-Boston/Syracuse/Buffalo/Niagara/Toronto/Boston-September 10th to September 18th

In retrospect, a cheap plane flight between Ireland and Boston shouldn't come as a surprise.  There is a  large Irish population in Boston and surrounding areas.  The flight itself was uneventful and spent watching silly movies (I'll put in a shameless plug for the movie "Up" which I thoroughly enjoyed en-route...).  Upon hitting the ground, I was met by Soren.  Together we jumped directly into a car and aimed it for Niagara falls and Toronto.  I'll return to Boston briefly later, but for now we hit the road.  This was my first time back in the United States since 2008 and the first time in seven years in which I could seriously contemplate spending more than a couple of weeks on the continent.  What discoveries await this new immigrant to the U.S.A.?

Syracuse and Buffalo were somewhat strange friends by which to be greeted after so long an absence. It was also strange to drink an American beer.  While not bad, they are certainly different than a German one which is required to adhere to the Rheinheitsgebote and dictates the allowed ingredients.  This makes it either much higher quality or much more boring depending on what you are looking for.   At least my first beer in the U.S. wasn't Miller Lite.  My memories of Syracuse consist only of cruising a mall looking for post cards and realizing that Syracuse is definitely not a tourist destination.  Post cards? Why would you want a post card from Syracuse?  I have no good answer to this question, but we were pleasantly surprised by a little football (North American style) fan shop that showed us their hidden post-card stash with great gusto.  Completing our post-card adventure in Syracuse, we put the petal to the metal heading for Buffalo, New York and Niagara falls.

Upstate New York isn't as famous as New York City to most people in Europe.  Nevertheless, upstate has something to offer.  There is the finger lakes region sporting great wines.  There are vast areas covered with forest that change color brilliantly every fall.  There are buffalo wings.  These spicy chicken wings are a food traditionally eaten with blue cheese sauce during any american style football match.  These wings were supposedly "invented" at the Anchor bar in Buffalo and that was our next port of call.  Satisfied and with red, burning lips we drove the back roads of Buffalo again looking for a post card.  Once again, when asking shop owners where to buy one, we got the answer: "Post cards?" Why would you want one from Buffalo?  The city has certainly seen better days and one had the feeling of walking through a modern ghost town when strolling the downtown area.  Economic downturn?  It has been happening here for years and it shows.  Having eventually found a post card, we filled it out in front of a barber shop blaring rap music, dropped the cards into a mailbox and hit the road for Canada, eh.

According to many, Niagara falls is best viewed from the Canadian side.  Having seen it from both, I can only conclude that it is impressive no matter where you view it from.  What is certainly impressive to me is the casinos and high rise hotels on the Canadian side.  We U.S. people always get a bad rap for making things into a circus, but in this case I think the Canadians took it one step higher...

Thanks to Soren for the pictures (I had used up all my disposable cameras in Ireland and was biding my time and looking at new digital cameras at this point...)

Let's drive!

The Anchor Bar in Buffalo...hot pastrami sandwich...another American special.  Soren had the wings!

A small portion of Niagara falls...

The bigger portion of the falls and the mist rising up to soak me from a hundred meters below.  That is a LOT of water!


Having had our fill of the falls, we hit the road and drove the last hundred or so kilometers over to Toronto.  For me this city was a really pleasant surprise.  With a few excellent tips, we were able in a few days to see a remarkable amount of this city. The architecture is flashy with an older city seemingly lost among the new.  There were a lot of crazy little corners like Kensington Market and the Distillery and China Town.  There is a University of Toronto and the Canadian financial sector and everything else you can imagine.  A great place to visit with a friend...you wont get bored!

 The CN tower in toronto.  This is REALLY big!

Looking down through the glass floor at the top.  We got to watch a baseball game from here.  Really cool!

Great picture Soren!  Contrast of modern and old architecture downtown.

Cool art building!

Thanks to Soren for holding the building up while I was being photographed...

Toronto ocean front?  No, this is a fresh water lake, silly!  Lake Ontario.

Eat poutine, eh, you hoser!  This was shot at Poutini's House of Poutine...cheese curd on french fries covered in gravy with root beer to wash it down!  European nightmare, North American dream.

Attacked by modern art at the distillery.

Watch the light show in the evening as the clouds roll in.  Well worth the time!

All good things come to an end and we had to abandon Toronto so Soren could return to work in Boston.  My time there was spent searching for cameras, shopping for cell phones, sending in letters of Kundigung, and setting up the next steps of my journey.  Aside from this humdrum work, we took some time off in Boston as well.  Highlights included a real lobster dinner, Harvard Square and burrito with Patrick and Robin, wandering the financial zone, Quincy market, trying to see a baseball game in Fenway Park...the list goes on but unfortunately the pictures dont.  That is, until I finally purchased a camera and moved on down the road to New York City!