Corning Glass Museum

July 28

Having spent the entire day in Chautauqua yesterday I tried last night to get my same site in the KOA campground and was told another solo woman in a Roadtrek was in my spot. My traveling twin, I had to meet her. She was sitting out reading and having a glass of wine. So we sat and talked until it got dark.  Carol is also a widow and goes in her RV to visit her kids several states away at least once a year. She reminded me why we do this kind of travel, to forget and to remember.

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I must insert the Erie Canal here. I made a stop there after Buffalo and cannot leave it out or the song will be running thru my head forever:
 "Had an old mule and her name was Sal,
                                                                 Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal..."

The area of the Erie Canal is now called Canalside and when I was there on a Sunday it was full of  strollers and musicians and people just hanging out.  I thought there was an event and asked someone what it was. She said the event was "Sunday".

The Erie Canal moved people and things for 363 miles from Lake Erie to the Hudson River thru 83 stone locks. Ten years after it opened New York City was the leading Atlantic port and the populations of Syracuse, Rochelle and Buffalo had increased by 300%.

After I was on the road again I realized I had intended to find the towpath on the Erie Canal and walk a short span just for fun. But my mind was already on my next destination.  Must slow down and plan things more carefully. I have an entire year after all.

Drove into Corning

 in southwestern New York thru the Allegeny Mountains which surprised me by being little more than what we would refer to as foothills in California. Very beautiful and green but lacking in height to be real mountains.

The Corning Glass Museum completely overwhelmed me with the beautiful displays of glass of all kinds.

These flying glass "birds" were wonderfully whimsical.

A retro 50's style coffee table made entirely of glass.

These are  some of the earliest pieces of glass from around

3500 BC found in Mesopotamia and Egypt.

4th or 5th century amphora from Persia

paperweights

One of the functions of art is to make a statement like the following two pieces.

And of course the gift shop was even more fabulous than an ordinary gift shop!

Spent 4 hours wandering thru beautiful displays of glass of all kinds from early Egyptian to today's art glass from all the styles and areas of the world.  Took 140 pictures and will probably delete only a few.  Hope I can put all of them into a folder and send to Bobbie and Lisa who have both done some art glass.

Back at the RV Park my phone had no connection which I needed to plan where to stay tomorrow night.  So spent an hour at the office on their cell phone with the Verizon people who got it working but back at my RV, no connection.  Technology is wonderful but it also drives me crazy.  Will go back into Corning to the Verizon store tomorrow morning.

Chautauqua, New York

July 27

Had planned to visit the village of Chautauqua, New York then on to Corning, but I never left Chautauqua. I have always heard of the Chautauqua Institute, an educational retreat offering classes and speakers  on everything from arts, education, religion and recreation. It's all in a unique little village of 275 acres where residents share their homes with those attending the workshops and classes.

A Victorian village since 1874, it is a summer community and a National Historic Landmark.

The only negative is it is a closed gated community and the only way in if you are not taking a class is to purchase a ticket for a tram ride.  $5 later I was on the guided tour for 1 1/2 hours  soaking up the history of the place.  Afterward I wandered around on foot immersing myself in the culture of this beautiful historic little village and pretending, if only for a few hours, that I belonged here.

 Picking up a copy of the catalogue, classes run from $20 to around $100 for a few hours to a week and don't include housing. Classes are on everything from gardening to history to yoga to kite building.

Relaxing near the Bocce courts.

 Back in the day Bocce was for men only and it was Lawn Bowling, the more genteel form of Bocce.

If not rooming at one of the 19th century cottages, you can stay here at the historic Athaneum Hotel overlooking Chautauqua Lake.

It was the nation's first fully electrified hotel because Thomas Edison's wife's family lived in the village.

Cars are seldom seen on the streets with most people biking or on foot.

Most of the guest houses have wide porches where summer socialization takes place. They rock and they read and they write, and they talk in low voices so as not to disturb the music from the neighboring porch.

Scattered throughout the cottages are the great halls where classes and concerts and live entertainment takes place during the nine-week summer session.  Bill Clinton was the last president to take up residence here while he was preparing for his inauguration speech.

For those more physical than cerebral, there is huge Chautauqua Lake and a golf course.
The lake freezes 3 to 5 ft deep in the winter and back in the day huge chunks were cut out to provide ice for the hotel.



Teddy Roosevelt visited five times and called Chautauqua "the most American place in America"

Niagra Falls

July 25

Drove to Niagra, Ont. to stay in my first KOA. Opened the laptop to put finishing touches on the Toronto blog and discovered it was gone, disappeared! Maddening! Apparently the save feature wasn't working. So started all over.
 Several hours later, finished with the blog, it began to sprinkle. I had planned to see the Falls but thought it would be redundant standing there in the rain looking at the Falls. Went anyway on the campground shuttle and sun came out enroute.

It takes your breath away seeing that cavernous drop of water, like seeing the Grand Canyon for the first time.

There are two falls, the American, on the US side, which is this one, and the Horseshoe Falls which are on the Canadian side. 

Took too many photos again.

A regular carnival atmosphere exists in the adjoining area which includes a bowling alley, wax museum and nearly anything else you can imagine. 

Who would go to Niagra Falls to go bowling?!

Maybe honeymooners who need to give it a rest.

  

Sitting on the lawn having a lunch of Sushi, I realized I had forgotten Bob's ashes. He would have loved this, so I will return tomorrow and we can see the Falls together.

Sunday morning at KOA campgrounds always include a pancake breakfast for the residents. Sat and visited with a Connecticut couple who gave me lots of ideas for how to see New York City.

Traveling alone makes me ready to talk to people at RV Parks, restaurants, or where ever. If I had a dog with me to talk to that wouldn't happen so much.

Driving myself to the Falls, I decided to a try another perspective so took the Skylon Tower for some photos from the top.

Drove the short distance to Buffalo where I had lunch at a DDD diner, The Lake Effect, on Main Street.

If a diner is busy in a small town you know it's good. It was busy in this very big town so it must be very good. It was also friendly and cheap. Perfect!

Had a $9 breakfast of Italian omelette. Yummy!

Harold and Maude do Toronto

July 22

Stopped at Canadian Customs to show my passport, declare I had no firearms and was not bringing anything into the country for anyone else.   Wait, I thought, does that count the two bottles of California wine I'm bringing for Rob in Toronto?  No, decided the wine was for me. Purpose of my trip?  Passing thru....

 

I had been hearing about Bobbie's friend, Rob, who lives in Toronto since they were pen pals in high school. They visited each other but we were in Arizona at the time and never met Rob.

"If you're anywhere near Toronto, you must call Rob.  He will give you a great tour of the city."

He's this hip young (47) guy in the entertainment industry who writes for TV and radio and does research for documentary film makers.

I could just imagine he would be thrilled to have a grey haired old lady drive up in a camper van and give him a big hug in front of his friends. So of course, I headed directly to Toronto!

Turns out he is a sweetheart of a guy who insisted on coming out to pick me up at the RV park (thereby ruining my surprise).

My first time in a FIAT with a real Italian driver.

Rob's passion is pop culture and movies so he had a laugh when I told him that I would name this blog Harold and Maude do Toronto after the classic movie starring Ruth Gordon.

We started at a park near the shoreline of Lake Ontario...

Queen Anne's Lace wildflower

The Toronto streetcar system is the largest in the western world in ridership, length of track and number of cars.

It's 2.6 million residents depend on it.

Toured thru historic neighborhoods with Rob narrating local culture and politics.

The Italian neighborhood is his turf.

Bought bread at a great little bakery, Tre Mari.
Three Seas

Having  lunch at his favorite pizza place, he kept slipping in and out of Robert DeNiro.

He also does a great Walter Matthau and Peter Lorrie.

Toronto has the largest population of Italians outside of Italy. When Italy hosted the World Cup in 2006 (Tyler and I were there), St. Clair Street transformed into one big party. Viva Italia!

Highlight of the tour was Rob's twin Victorian on the right, which he bought in 1999 and has been restoring. 

It's in a wonderful Willow Glen like neighborhood with a canopy of trees over the streets.

Inside has a great period kitchen with a Kelvinator refrigerator.

How many people do you know who have a picture of the Pope on their fridge?!

Family photos line the walls. 

His roots are here and I envy him that. His Dad was a barber and Rob spent happy days with him here in the neighborhood as a kid.

After the mostly white bread cities of the midwest it was refreshing to find the diversity of Toronto with so many ethnic neighborhoods. Almost 50% of the population are immigrants.

Felt like being home again in California.

The city is doing its best to keep up with housing in many areas of high density towers.

Toronto is the largest city in Canada and the 4th largest in North America, behind Mexico City, NYC, and LA.

China town

Huge indoor market downtown where I bought veggies to stir fry with my last onion.

Liquor  Control Board of Ontario

An important stop

Only the Brits would name a gin "Boodles".  Can you seriously tie one on with this?!

old City Hall

To drive Toronto is to go thru two centuries of architecture.

This flatiron building up against skyscrapers reminded me of the Coppola building in North Beach, San Francisco.

Bobbie refers to Toronto as a "clean San Francisco" which reminded me of what was missing...homeless people downtown.
Rob says they are here but more visible out in the burbs.

The St. Lawrence Market downtown was a great place to load up on veggies. It's a former gaol (jail), but not in Rob's lifetime.

So that's it, my day in the big city with my new best friend!

      Molte grazie, Rob, for a day not soon forgotten......