Visiting the Wineries of the Finger Lakes

I had read that Ithaca, New York was a nice place to stop off en route to Niagara Falls. We started the day in Seneca Lake and drove down along the lake heading for Ithaca. As it turned out, I didn’t take to Ithaca but the drive down there was lovely.

We were in winery country, so passed so many cider houses, cheese farms, wineries, etc. We stopped into a lovely winery and sampled their wine which was really different and cool experience. Apparently this region is the same longitude as the Champagne region in France so the grapes are similar.

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American Road Trip

One of the main reasons we chose to do this holiday was the Road Trip element. There’s nothing like a classic American Road Trip.

We saw plenty of cute little towns and gorgeous country houses complete with wooden clapboard decking and fall leaves. 

I ♥ NY

Upon leaving DC we flew back to NYC. Sadly our bags did not. I was pretty distraught to leave the airport without them. Now all my wordly possessions were flying somewhere else, courtesy of Delta. Luckily Delta did return our bags that night, having them delivered to our hotel, but it gave us a scare!

This was our second visit to NYC (read about the first visit here) and we wasted no time in seeing all the sights – Grand Central Station, the UN, Central Park, Chinatown, Little Italy, we saw it all! One of my very favourites was the Empire State Building. The view was spectacular, and we went up just before dusk and stayed up there to watch the sunset and then all the twinkly lights once it got dark. It was beautiful!

Niagara Falls : Lifejacket, please!!

The next day we traveled to Niagara Falls, via several buses and a plane into Buffalo. We were half asleep, but woke up when we saw the TV at Buffalo airport, bearing the headline “Government is debating giving driving licences to illegal immigrants”. Eh?!

We enjoyed Niagara Falls, and saw the spectacular Falls from pretty much every angle – from both river banks, the observation tower, and the  “Maid of the Mist” boat trip.

The Maid of the Mist takes you right up to the Falls

New York, New York!

This was my first time in New York but it felt so familiar, probably due to my proficiency in watching Friends and SATC. We stayed in a hostel not far from Times Square, and I just thought it was wonderful! It was so unlike anything I’d seen before, with the neon lighting and the Naked Cowboy!

The next morning dawned bright and sunny and we decided to make the most of it by walking the length of Manhattan. We soon found that it was a tad further than it looked on the map! However we made it and it was a great way to see all parts of the city.

We wandered south to Ground Zero and then caught the Staten Island Ferry (which, wonderfully, was free!) to see the cityscape