Two days ago I took the CAT fast ferry from Toronto to Rochester and arrived well rested after a 2.5 hours boat ride at the Port of Rochester, a scenic Rochester suburb called Charlotte. I was greeted by Patti and Carrie from the Rochester Visitors Association, which helped me with my itinerary and were kind enough to show me around.
It had rained all day and Port Charlotte greeted me with gray skies and low clouds. But the first thing I noticed when we drovetowards downtown Rochester was the amount of green space and parks. We drove through a series of well-kept neighborhoods and Patti showed me some of the amazing parks systems that Rochester has to offer. We drove through Genesee Valley Park, designed by famous landscape architect Frederick Law Olmstead who also designed Central Park in New York City.
We then headed to Highland Park, where every year in May, the city's annual Lilac Festival applies when more than 1,200 of the lilac bushesdifferent varieties and colors flourish. Ride through some beautiful country with large villas and expansive front yards, we on our way to Cobbs Hill Park which is situated on a hill and holds a water reservoir with a fountain. The unique thing about Cobbs Hill Park is that there is a place in this elevated green zone from where you can perfectly see the skyline of Rochester in the distance, past the lush green neighborhoods, the distance from downtown.
AfterSome of the expansive parks, Rochester, and the beautiful Victorian Mount Hope Cemetery, we slowly on our way downtown on East Avenue, a historic street with large houses. One of Rochester's famous home-grown entrepreneurs is George Eastman, founder of the Eastman Kodak Corporation, which has to this day, headquartered in Rochester. Eastman was a great benefactor of the city and donated the bulk of his fortune estimated at 2 billion U.S. dollars todayDollars for a variety of medical, cultural and educational institutions in the city. We are very close to him at home, the Eastman House, an elegant 50-room Colonial Revival mansion surrounded by manicured gardens.
Following the Eastman House, which also went to the International Museum of Photography and Film, we are on University Avenue in the vicinity of art, or also known as the Artwalk. This is a route down University Avenue, the studios, houses,Galleries, art and antiques fair retailers in an environment of post-war apartment buildings, multiple dwelling Victorian mansions and charming cottages.
The award winning Artwalk features sidewalk imprints, artistic benches, tiled floor lamp posts, statues and bus all the way from the George Eastman House in the direction of the impressive neo-Gothic building of the Memorial Art Gallery. Every year in September, this area hosts the Clothesline Art Show.
Artwalk After we went to Main Streetdowntown. I have a look at the Eastman Theater, home of the Eastman School of Music, one of the best music schools in the country. Eastman theater itself is an interesting building, curved and classically styled, it is literally cut off on one side, as a neighbor of George Eastman demanded an exorbitant price for his property, and will not give to these demands, Eastman simply decided to stop the building in the property line.
Our next stop was the Browns Race andHigh Falls Area: one of the newest entertainment districts of the city. Rochester was once grinding as the Flour City for all the wheat that was known along the river. Today, the Brown's Race area is a National Register historic district. The area is located above the Genesee River, adjacent to the thunder of High Falls. The Pont de Rennes Bridge is a pedestrian bridge connects the east and west side of town, and is named after Rochester sister city in France.
Many of the formerIndustrial buildings have been renovated and are now employed by advertising agencies, technology companies and engineering firms. The roads in the district have paved sidewalks and function historically shaped streetlights. There are a number of entertainment places in the area, including the Triphammer Grill, which has a terrace overlooking the waterfalls. In addition to this restaurant is an old water wheel, witness for milling this area's history. It is a very friendly place, and an example of aSuccessful conversion of an old industrial area into a modern entertainment district.
The Kodak headquarters is located not far from the High Falls area and our tour continued past a number of the streets of downtown. As a true architecture buff, I was amazed how many of the historic building has been preserved Rochester. There are entire blocks of an intact street in front of the 19 Century, some with cast-iron architecture. There was no time to explore the architecture in detail, it wouldhave to wait for my second day in the city. But needless to say, I knew I had found a city that received much of its architectural heritage, which would require further exploration, had.
We crossed sent called in the west end of town, and by a famous tavern Nick Tahou's House to move the home to the "garbage plate": a plate of fries hamburgers, fries, and a variety of other heart-attack delicacies. This route took us past a beautiful modern townhouse development, which surprisinglyenough to keep newly-built housing. Then we made our way to Susan B. Anthony 's house. Anthony was a daring social activist who insisted on voting rights for women and was arrested in 1872 for voting in the presidential elections, against the rule of law. Her house was a community activist for many of her friends, including the famous suffragettes Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott. Rochester's track record includes another famous activist, the abolitionist Frederick Douglass,and both Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass are sculptures featured in a small park just down the road from the Susan B. Anthony House.
We then took in the Corn Hill neighborhood, an area tidy with historic houses, as the host of the Corn Hill Arts Festival every year in July. The next stop on our trip was the strong museum, on top of the museums of the top 10 children in the United States. It holds the National Toy Hall of Fame and many world renowned collections of toys, miniatures,Doll and the world's largest collection of dolls. The entrance is an authentic 1950s dinner still in operation and an antique carousel.
Crossing the city again in the eastern end of last-lined avenues with attractive homes, we headed out of town known as a scenic Rochester suburb of Fairport, on the Erie Canal. On the way we passed through the wealthy suburb of Pittsford, is the location of the Oak Hill Country Club, where the 2003 PGAChampionships took place. On our way to Fairport we drove past St. John Fisher College is the place where the training of Buffalo Bill's camp. Fairport itself is a beautiful little village with beautiful windows, a river walk and public docking facilities. We caught a glimpse of the Colonial Belle, a 2-deck sightseeing boat that cruises the Erie Canal.
Fairport we went back to Pittsford, its picturesque historic center is also directly on the Erie Canal. Pittsfordhas a number of shops and restaurants built around an old sawmill, and it is the home of Sam Patch, an excursion and charter boat that is a replica of an old canal packet boat. Both Fairport Pittsford, and reminded me of the Niagara-on-the-Lake with beautifully restored architecture, colorful flowers overflowing bins, and a variety of shopping and dining opportunities.
Now go, after this comprehensive sightseeing program, it was time for dinner. We drove upcompared to the Lake Ontario shore and into beautiful Irondequoit Bay. The name for this large bay of water from the Iroquois Nation and means "meeting where the two waters." The Indians used to this bay and the incoming Irondequoit Creek for canoe trips into the high falls on the Genesee River to avoid. At the southern end of the bay is a large attractively styled new restaurant called Bazil's casual, Italian cuisine.
The restaurant is fairly new, the placewas absolutely packed, and the first thing we noticed was the chandelier in the front entrance, the full bottles of wine. We waited about 15 minutes and then had a delicious dinner in the bay-side dining area. I enjoyed the food, which was closed by the largest and most delicious funnel cake I've ever seen.
After this long day in the city of Patti and left me by Carrie at the Holiday Inn Express, where I earned night's rest since another roundSightseeing would await me in a few hours. My first day in Rochester had left me with a series of impressions:
- The large expanses of green spaces in the city
- Carefully manicured neighborhood with beautifully kept homes
- Several counties entertainment district, including the historic High Falls area
- One of my favorite places: the outdoor art experience of ArtWalk
- The historic buildings of the downtown core
- And the beautifulbayside meal in Basil's.
I admit, I did not know much about Rochester before I there, but the scenic quality of the suburbs and downtown neighborhoods, in any case, I noticed. With easy access to water sports on the Erie Canal and Lake Ontario combined, and a wide variety of sporting activities including golf, hiking, biking and skiing ust minutes from the downtown core, I realized why Rochester slogan "Made is for Living ".
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