Before meeting up with my best friend for Thanksgiving, I decided to spend some time exploring New York state’s second largest city, Buffalo. While the weather service issued a lake effect snow warning, the weather was never severe enough to keep me inside. The downtown area is packed with an amazing amount of architectural treasures for a city of its size. Start with City Hall, a famous art deco masterpiece with an observation deck at the top. While the outdoor deck was closed due to the inclement weather, it was still possible to see through the windows and get a good view of the city. Nearby notable buildings include the Electric Tower, Rand building, HSBC Center, and the Ellicott Square Building. Don’t forget the Liberty Building, known for its two Statue of Liberty replicas on the roof—the torches serve as aviation beacons at night. Key Bank also occupies a pair of high rises on either side of Fountain Square. This time of year Fountain Square is turned into a skating rink with piped in seasonal music. And for train and trolley enthusiasts, the NFTA’s light rail line goes right through here on Main Street.

Although I’m far from a shopoholic, I do find downtown shopping malls fascinating places to visit. Main Place Mall, however, is the deadest downtown mall I have ever been to. Of over a hundred retail spaces, only 16 stores were currently open (not including the food court). They even tried to hide the embarrassing number of vacancies by walling off the north half of the mall’s upper floor. Online reviews of Main Place include claims that the landlord isn’t even trying to find retail tenants and is grossly overcharging for food court space. Perhaps the only downtown mall which would have looked worse is Rochester’s Midtown Plaza. Sadly, or perhaps mercifully, that place was closed earlier this year and I never had the chance to go inside. What is my favorite downtown mall? It would be a close call between Providence Place in Providence, RI and San Diego ’s Horton Plaza.

To its credit, Buffalo has some nightlife, art, and a hopping theater district. Nice things are shaping up on their waterfront. But the city is also plagued with thousands of vacant houses and has been unable to attract new jobs and businesses to reverse decades of population decline. Like Philadelphia , Buffalo ’s positive attributes are at risk of being negated by widespread crime and poverty. Here is a webpage about Buffalo and their comprehensive plan for the economy: [link]

The time had come for me to make the trek to ’s place. After picking up my suitcase from the hotel, I hauled ass for the Exchange St. train station. Eastbound Amtrak train 64 arrived on time and we were soon blowing through the snow at 79 mph. We made our first stop several miles later at Depew, NY where TSA officers decided to do an inspection of our train. Although we weren’t required to produce ID or proof of citizenship, they did take their sweet time checking everyone and everything out, including the restrooms. After their examination concluded, the train was allowed to proceed though we were now about 30 minutes late and stayed that way until our arrival at Rochester.

After disembarking I was busy looking up and down the platform for my buddy but she was nowhere to be seen. Disappointed but not discouraged, I dragged my suitcase to downtown Rochester ’s Bausch & Lomb Library where they offer out of state guests visitors’ passes for internet access. After sending a few quick notes to each other, I went back to the Liberty Pole to catch a 4:50 bus to Brockport. By 5:58 when the bus still didn’t show, I took another, closer look at RTS’s boarding locations. It turns out my bus now boards a block south on Broad Street. So I went there and caught the 5:15 which was a slower, local bus. About an hour later I finally made it to Blackhellcat’s door, waving so she would see me. To be continued...