Downtown Buffalo, Part One

Soon after my arrival, I decided to visit downtown Buffalo. It’s a few miles from where I live but it’s actually pretty easy to get to by taking the free Collegiate Village shuttle to University Station, on University of Buffalo South Campus, the northernmost terminus of the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority  (NFTA for short) Metro Rail.  All you have to do is to buy a ticket and ride the train all the way downtown (a day pass costs 5 USD, and if you stay on above-the-ground part of the metro rail system, it’s free of charge (Free Fare Zone). 

It’s only one line, but it’s no different from Helsinki metro in that respect. The difference is that as far as I could tell, a lot more people use the metro in Helsinki! It was pretty quiet -- of course, it was middle of the day. The metro line is by far the best way to get to First Niagara Center (e.g. to Sabres games or concerts – no parking problems!) 

There was a country farmers’ market day (on Thursdays). I bought some pretty nice peppers – long banana peppers, the small sweet ones are called yum yums.  I used them later in Greek salad.  By the way, Greek cheese is mostly sold crumbled, not cubed, like they do back home, to be used in salads etc.

A detail of Liberty Building

The architecture is spectacular, turn of the century high rises and arcades – the 1901 World Fair – known as Pan-American Exposition – was held in Buffalo.  

Lafayette Square, Soldiers and Sailors Monument.

Liberty Building has two small- scale Statues of Liberty decorating the roof, facing east and west.  

Buffalo City Hall

Like many industrial cities in the U.S., downtown Buffalo too was hit by a decades long downturn in steel industry, among other things, that left the cityscape dotted with empty lots and rundown businesses in the outlying areas. It’s only now that reconstruction and renovation has begun in earnest – some areas were really big construction sites.  

City Hall is pure Art Deco. In September sunlight, it resembled a huge retro-futuristic fortress floating in air. But more about it and great architects that have left their mark on Buffalo -- including Frank Lloyd Wright -- in my next post.