David Tours Niagara Falls

I'm not sure why it took me so long to finally take the boat trip to visit the Falls up close. I had crossed the U.S./Canada border on foot at Niagara Falls so many times before.

Maybe what prompted me to take the boat tour was because I've recently realized that I'll be moving along from Montréal sometime sooner than later... now is the right time to stop to sightsee along these routes that I travel along so often but usually breeze right through. Or maybe my motivation came from positive accounts I'd heard from people I know who had taken the boat trip, people whose opinions I trust. Both Nisagul and Professor N. have made the short cruise beneath the Falls in recent months and both came away with good things to say.

NFTA Route 40 to Buffalo

Whatever the case, I decided to spend extra time at Niagara Falls on this crossing to see what the waterfall looked like from down below. The cost of a half-hour excursion from either side was roughly the same. Maid of the Mist sailed from the U.S. side of the Falls; Hornblower sailed from Canada. I chose the Canadian tour just in case any holdup crossing back into the U.S. might make my time moving along more pressed.

Seeing the water cascade down from the river below was a wet but worthwhile experience. The perspective was so different from what I've seen walking across the Rainbow Bridge as well as the views looking down from above both the U.S. and the Canadian sides of Niagara Falls. I'd pause for that boat trip once more if I make the long overland schlep crossing through here again.

After my short sailing I took the city bus all the way into Buffalo. NFTA--the Niagara Falls Transit Authority's bus route 40 brought me right to the art deco city hall skyscraper that is 5-minute walk from Professor N.'s apartment. Even though I didn't arrive until 9:00 P.M. she was still up for going out for a drink. We were in luck. We found that her favorite cafe, Aroma, was open late and had a standing 2-for-1 special on draught beer on Tuesdays.

David and Professor N.

What's up with me and Professor N.? We have been seeing so much of each other, recently: here in Buffalo a few months ago, in Montreal, out near Lake Placid, and in southern Vermont, too. All of these meet-ups in the last six months, alone. Now we're together again for a few days back in Buffalo.

Professor N. teaches only on Thursdays this semester so we took advantage of her free time to tour around the area beyond Buffalo. The small city of Ellicottville an hour south was promoting itself as a drive to see autumn colors. I was up for a drive anywhere, though was more curious about visiting even smaller Leon, N.Y., just a few miles down the road from Ellicottville. The vast majority of Leon's population is Amish.

We took a picnic next to a church at the main intersection in town though found little to see. Crafts, baked goods, and carpentry were offered on signs we saw posted throughout the area but products made using pre-industrial technique weren't in much evidence. The tourist season was clearly over. We drove along to settle on a meal and beer sampler at a brewery in Ellicottville.

Buggy Crossing Sign, Leon, New York

For today--my last in Buffalo--I proposed that we tour the City Hall, together. I'd seen it the first time I came through this city and remember being impressed by the detail. The building is a 28-story skyscraper built in art deco style filled with etchings, murals, gargoyles, and motifs based on traditional patterns of the American Southwest. It's gorgeous. Free hourlong tours meet in the ground floor lobby at noon every weekday. I was surprised that Professor N. had never taken the tour herself after living in Buffalo for over 6 years. I was further surprised that we were the only ones to linger atop the building on its external observation deck.

Professor N. will be on sabbatical next semester so has been contemplating where she might pass her time free from teaching. There is the possibility of a research project or leisure travel on other continents so we've been throwing around hypothetical locations for a rendezvous in the springtime. But, despite that I'm on my way out of Buffalo, we'll surely see each other well before then. She's booked a ticket to fly out around the long Thanksgiving holiday to meet up with me where I'll be traveling on my overland tour one month from now. I'll let the site of our next meetup be revealed when I've written the account of it happening in this weblog.

GO Transit Route 12 to Niagara Falls

Glad to see you again so soon, Professor N.! We'll meet again in the sunshine a month from now...

Now, I'm seated aboard a bus at the main station which is on the block next to Professor N.'s apartment. It's a late departure that will get me into my next destination at the inconvenient hour of 01h30. Thankfully, the friends I'll be calling on will pick me up at the station.

Here are the statistics on ticket prices so far on my current continent-crossing journey:

Ticket Origin and Destination: Hamilton, ON to Buffalo, NY
Carriers: Hamilton Street Railway, GO Transit, Niagara Falls Transit Authority
Length of Journey: 1 hour
Prices: 55¢ CAD, $10.25 CAD (Prestocard Rates), 50¢ CAD (Pedestrian Bridge Toll), $2 USD = $10.70 USD
Total Trip Travel Cost to this Point: $27.24 USD

Next stop: Cleveland