Buffalo Wings Don't Fly Over Niagara Falls

A number of unidentified persons, including myself, had a weekend roadtrip to Buffalo and Niagara Falls.

This is the sight pretty much all the way there.

After all, Buffalo is <4 hours from Pittsburgh, so why not to go?

When I'm taking such pictures, other drivers
think that I'm drunk or fell asleep.

On the way to Buffalo there is a huge lake Erie, which one may mistake for a sea at first glance.

Not a swimming weather.

The dryness of my shoes is at stake.

Buffalo

It's a relatively poor city, a bit smaller than Pittsburgh; it has the typical East Coast looks. It sits on a coast of lake Erie, separated from Canada by some mile of water.

Entering the city. Clouds vibrate.

• Buffalo features a downtown, a street with plentiful shops, and lots of other things. 
• Buffalo has a radial structure, which resembles Moscow. 
• Buffalo has a river mouth, just like Pittsburgh.
• I don't know why I'm writing this.

The star marks the hotel where I stayed

Buffalo downtown is, well, a bunch of large buildings for all sorts of business: courts, theaters, offices, ...

The most impressive building -- the City Hall.
It has nice lights at night.

Buckingham Palace? Probably not.

Every city in US has a Wean Hall.

Nice try, Buffalo.

Of course, Buffalo is well-known for its chicken wings. Served with hot and sour sauce (called Buffalo sauce outside the city), blue cheese sauce, and celery, fried chicken wings is one of distinguished foods in American cuisine (Note: Indians call it no cuisine).

Archor Bar, where chicken wings were served
for the first time in the miserable history of humanity.

I didn't miss my chances. In fact I was pretty much eating only wings for two days. And a cheesecake. It felt like I gained 5 lbs after this weekend.

Wings and stuff.

Oh yes, a banana cheesecake with fudge!

 Buffalo is also famous for -- surprise! -- its Forest Lawn Cemetery. It's very large and has very old graves, starting in 18xx. This cemetery is fully Americanized: you can drive there in a car. That was a blast!

Larger gravestones represent families.
Most graves are grouped this way.

I love cemeteries. Perhaps because I start chilling out there a lot at some point?

A section for WWI military.
The flag accompanies Americans
even after their life ends.

What else is in Buffalo? Does a zoo count?

The most interesting shot from the zoo:
a giraffe bends the neck to steal food over the fence.

A pigeon closeup.
Having lived in Moscow for many years,
I would never have thought that pigeons could be showcased at a zoo.

Also we saw a howling monkey. Before I saw this nasty creature, I had guesses about construction works as origins of this sound.

Looks like it wants to throw up, but it's more of a mating ritual.

Niagara Falls

Oh, this is a lot of water falling down, 24/7. Even now while you're reading this. Not very cool to read about, but impressive if you see it yourself.

Niagara Falls is not only the three famous waterfalls, but also a small American town 15 miles from Buffalo, named after the falls. We looked at Falls only from the American side, since citizens of third-world countries are not admitted to Canada without beforehand scrutiny.

The Horseshoe -- the widest waterfall in the world, viewed from the top.

Not the best spot to look at it, but still very nice.

The other side of the Horseshoe, behind the mist.

174 ft (53 m) high.

One of the smaller falls.

This is Canada. I expected it to be more red, white, and maple.

Check out these videos to better get this feeling of huge waters moving.

The area near Niagara Falls is occupied by overfed, bold squirrels. You can feed them from hands. If you're agile, you can get yourself a fur coat in one night.

They own this lawn.

Not even a scent of fear in its eyes.

I am, sadly, a lousy squirrel hunter. Hence I left Buffalo without a fur coat.

Here's an anti-tutorial on catching squirrels.

Step 1: lure a squirrel with several nuts on your palm.

Step 2: let the squirrel make sure that you're not going to kill it instantly.

Step 3: start moving your palm slowly toward the animal.
Lean forward a little.

Step 4: rush forward and grab the squirrel.
I wasn't fast enough :(

--

That's it. Stay white and hunt black squirrels.

UPDATE: BREAKING NEWS FROM PITTSBURGH!

On December 21, to the pleasure of all kids and santas, the streets of Pittsburgh were covered with snow.

Melwood Ave.

Christmas is coming!