You cant see it here but there were lots of seagulls circling and i'm surprised none perched on his long stick.
So the other day I happened to be in Niagara Falls and someone had told me that Nick Walenda decided to go to Canada - on a tightrope, across the falls.
I wangled a VIP ticket, and sat back and read a book (As the whole thing was actually a lot more interesting to see on TV) but anyway, he seemed to be enjoying it and it didn't seem very difficult at all.
Now i'm in Las Vegas...40 degrees of heat, drunk americans in awful clothes, and possibly the most superficial scene in the universe. I must confess, this is the first time i've been here and haven't only focussed on blackjack (or poker) but apart from a lot of good food, and some beautiful hotels, i'm at a total loss as to why anyone who isn't a gambler would ever go here (the $10 beers perhaps?)
Drunk rednecks stumble - through the heat they totter - giving the finger
So this time I spent my Buffalo visit staying a rather pleasant and inexpensive guesthouse called wanderfalls in Niagara Falls, USA, which does private rooms and small dorms (with about 6 people max) for about $25 a night, including pancakes and coffee. I don't know about you, but I much prefer staying in hostels or some kind of similar thing than soulless chain hotels, so i met some great guys to have a beer with, run, and explore the wonderful City of Niagara Falls.
Niagara Falls is of course famous for having the famous waterfall on its doorstep. It's also a working class suburb of Buffalo, which is a surprisingly good looking city (despite an Estonian style climate) If you are visiting Niagara Falls, most people go to the Canadian side, which is much more prosperous and geared up for tourism, with casinos, hotels, big viewing platforms, a much nicer view (of Horseshoe Falls, the bigger falls) and all the cheesy tourist things (you know the 'Ripley believe it or not, the 4d cinema, all that jazz which i've never seen anything interesting about personally)
Another 'what am i doing here' moment
The US side is mostly an industrial town of about 90,000 people, which grew up on the river business, with aluminium works etc. as the main employer. Now a lot of thats gone, the town is based round one large casino hotel, the Seneca, which is actually quite nice, but has sucked the life out of the town itself.
If you're looking for the real 'Niagara' experience, then the main 'life' is on 3rd Street, just off main street between Main Street and the Casino Hotel. Im afraid it's seen better days, but there is a good wine bar restaurant imaginatively named 'Wine on 3rd' some 'fish fry' and pizza places, and a few bars/clubs dotted throughout the street. I'd suggest not walking too far off this street up the street numbers, it's a bit dodgy at night sometimes. This Niagara link tells you more about local eating/drinking options.
So me and one South African guy, no stranger to urban violence, had a few beers in the awful 'Hard Rock Cafe' (there is one of these and also a 'Starbucks' downtown where all the hotels are. Thats about it.) and decided to hit a club ('Ultra Lounge' on 3rd Street) for a taste of life in Niagara Falls. There certainly was a selection of ladies, eager to speak to the 'new kids in town' but hell...talk about wide loads! It's a real shame because some of the girls were very pretty, just when it gets below the waist and....woooop it's like a 35 yr old Spanish woman after 5 kids. I don't know what these girls are eating but it looks like its supersize....
I love the water this colour, was tempting to jump in
Anyway, the bars, I can safely say won't appeal to most except those with a taste for redneck men, or the larger ladies, so my clear recommendation is to walk across the Rainbow Bridge to Canada and there are loads of bars and clubs, it's more like a mini las vegas but at least there are a lot of choices. Otherwise head down to Buffalo and either go to 'Bar Street' (Chippewas St in the downtown) for rednecks, dance clubs, frat girls, under-agers, or the western half of Allen Street, if you crave a more Bohemian/Live music vibe.
About the sex offenders, the owner of the Wanderfalls was nice enough to tell us that Niagara Falls houses the largest number of sex offenders in the region. So maybe not a great place to set up with your young family ;o)
One great saving grace about Niagara is the River. You can run all the way from the falls, along the path, down a few miles to the whirlpool park at the other end of town. The river is majestic. I ran along the path there just after some heavy rain and the anger and danger of the place was tangible.
€25,000 actually gets you a not bad house here (free plug for www.abbotsinchcapital.com )
So what the hell is Buffalo like? Well, if youd asked me a year ago i would say that its the place with the Niagara falls that invented Buffalo wings and has a really crap American Football team (all of which are true) But it seems now i know it better, Buffalo, like Glasgow in the past, has been given a pretty bad rep, usually from people who have never visited the city.
You can see from arriving at the place that Buffalo started growing in the 19th century - Things started moving in the heyday of the Erie Canal, which opened in 1825. The city was located at its western terminus which allowed the then sleepy village to grow into a major shipping hub for the fast growing west. It grew exponentially all through the next hundred years as immigrants, particularly Italians, Poles and Irish, flooded in, and by 1900 the city had produced 2 Presidents (Millard Fillamore and Grover Cleveland), had more millionaires per capita than any city in the USA, and was home to one of the world’s largest transportation hubs. The cheap power from the Niagara Falls attracted steel plants and allowed Buffalo to become one of the largest steel producing locations in the US. And so, like in Glasgow, the wealth from all this industry is reflected in the citys pretty impressinve Architecture.
Buffalo City Hall (1929-1931) in Niagara Square
City Hall, detail
Modern copies, Chippewa St, Buffalo
M&T Bank, Buffalo
Niagara Mohawk Building
The downtown area, makes a great morning walk around (Theres a good hostel there too)– start on Main Street at the Market Arcade (also the tourist visitor centre is there) and walk down Main Street towards the HSBC building (this is HSBC US HQ) You’ll see the M&T bank and the Niagara Mohawk Building (one of my favourites) amongst a whole bunch of renovated smaller buildings on the street itself.
Then head west round to see the various art –deco towers including the 32 storey City Hall ,( one of the tallest in USA) and then up to Chippewa Street, which has some interesting ceramic and Terra-cotta buildings built in 1906. The street was originally the citys red light district, but now has a Starbucks and is one of the citys main bar areas– its more the young and drunk crowd here though, more sophisticated people will move on up to Elmwood. If you walk round here in the morning though, it’s worth grabbing some lunch on this street – ‘the spot’ coffee shop also has some nice food deals and is pretty healthy for USA.
Houses of Artsy Allentown
Elmwood St, Allentown
'The scene' in this wannabee New York neighbourhood
After this, it’s worth walking or taking the bus up nearby Elmwood Street, which runs right through 'Elmwood Village' and Allentown, the citys ‘artsy’ area. At first the area has the usual bohemian shops and houses, the cafes, tattoo parlours and antique shops and galleries that epitomise every ‘Bohem’ area in every US city. As you move north towards the Wright Knox Art Gallery it gets a little more suburban with a whole bunch of decent restaurants from every corner of the world, trendy independant shops and the ubiquitous coffee shops – again ‘the spot’ is the busiest place in town, and it is even possible to see good looking girls here, a rare breed in US (well, for a guy who lives in Estonia at least!) At night this area has a few wine bars and so on, more for the more sophisticated or the SUNY crowd, compared to beers, shots and fat girls in miniskirts in Chippewa St.
Wright Knox Gallery, Delaware Park, Buffalo
The Old Mill (V.Van Gogh 1888)
Unbeleivable crap - this 'painting is called 'the tree' Its a blank canvas. Nice work! I wonder what mug bought it?
The Wright Knox Gallery is at the north end of Elmwood Street, at Delaware Park. It has a pretty eclectic collection of quite strange modern art (some totally useless like that pictured) and some quite interesting pieces like a Van Gogh and some other famous works. The area to the north is also interesting for architecture buffs – there are no less than 5 Frank Lloyd Wright houses in Buffalo (amazing, only beaten in the world by Chicago!) and in the area around Delaware park, among the mansions there sits his ‘Martin House complex’ which is open to the public – you can check this out at www.darwinmartinhouse.org .
Around Buffalo, there are also some interesting sites – the Great Lakes themselves are quite beautiful, and if you drive for ten minutes outside the city for ten minutes north across grand island, you get to the famous Niagara Falls. You can drive across to the Canadian side from here too, although to be honest it looks quite spectacular from the US side too. You can park for free for 20mins (not many people know this!) if you drive into Goat Island and drive PAST the extortionate parking lot, for 200metres. I suppose that is too far for Americans to waddle, so it’s a WIN for Europeans (those who aren’t fat at least) The Canadian side of the falls is pretty developed compared to the (tacky) US side, which for some reason has about 20 Indian restaurants (does anyone know why?!!!) And has 2 big casinos (6 decks blackjack for all you card counters out there, with good penetration too)
