Erie Canalway – Day 5 – Rochester Rest Day

David and Dayle are very early risers so David got to work on Dayle‘s bike, and discovered that the derailleur hanger wasn’t broken so he was able to repair the issues himself.

Cindy and I had a swim and then breakfast and there was still plenty of time before we had agreed to meet in the lobby at 9:45 so I asked David if he could take a look at my bike, which had an annoying squeak which we thought he had a addressed a couple days ago, but was back in earnest yesterday. We thought it was the brakes, which he adjusted, but he had trouble getting the cable re-secured, and after many attempts, over about half an hour, we decided it needed to go into the bike shop. We needed to go to the bike shop anyway because David’s cleats were not playing nicely with his clipless pedals and he wanted to replace them.

Yesterday we identified a bike shop only 2.3 km from the hotel so we headed there.

Bert’s Bikes and Fitness were absolutely amazing. The mechanic put my bike up on the rack right away and got to work while others on staff visited with us, asking us about our trip, and telling us about their experiences in Canada. New front brake pads and cable were installed, with no labour charge, only a parts charge, because we are touring. I was flabbergasted and so appreciative. If you’re ever in South Rochester I highly recommend this shop.

We hadn’t yet decided whether we were going to ride a 40 km sightseeing loop that I had planned for Rochester, or take an Uber and do a walking tour. Some of us had dressed for biking for the day and some not, so when we were done at the bike shop, we rode back to the hotel. We decided to give ourselves the rest of the day off the bikes, and ordered an Uber to take us to the George Eastman Museum.

I visited Rochester and the museum in 2014 with Patti. We brought our bikes and did some short rides in the city and out to Pittsford. It was a few months before I started blogging so I only have my Strava and photos to look back on.

Last year I visited with Michael and there was a nice reception area and café addition to the museum since I had last been here. The café serves absolutely delicious food, and since this is such an active trip, we decided to start with lunch. It didn’t disappoint.

Because I was here just last year, and I didn’t mind just sitting and resting and catching up with online stuff, I took a little walk around the gardens looking for a place to sit. But it’s already so hot and humid here that I came back inside to the café and got a coffee and an early start on the blog.

When they were finished, we took a walk through some of the leafy neighbourhoods of beautiful old homes around the Eastman Museum. It was very hot and humid so we were happy to have the shade and took our time.

I saw this on the ground at the children’s Museum.

This could be the slogan for our trip.

We didn’t see a lot of murals in the parts of Rochester we walked, but this one caught my eye.

We hadn’t walked far before we needed a cold drink, and we popped into Burger King. They had no ice in their self-serve drink machine, nor lemonade nor sweetened iced tea. We still found something to drink, and they replenished the ice while we were there, so we were able to take some wth us when we continued walking. I was amused by the sign on the bathroom door.

This area of town has a few cute benches around.

Then I showed the group the Strong Museum of Play and Union Avenue – a complete street – where a highway in a ditch, called the Inner Loop, used to be, before the city decided to remove it. The inner loop east transformation project filled in a 1.1 km long section of highway creating 6 acres for redevelopment. The Strong was able to expand the museum, and a mixed use rental neighbourhood, with some affordable housing, and complete streets with cycling and pedestrian infrastructure at grade, was created on the reclaimed land.

When I was here 11 years ago with Patti I took this picture standing on a bridge over the inner loop.

Standing there today it was very hard to imagine what it used to look like. I used Google Streetview to look at how the streetscape changed since I was last there. Pay attention to the white parking garage on the right to orient yourself as the scene changes.

We walked past this lovely old church, and these buildings connected over the road, which reminded Dayle of Venice and me of New York City, and this lovely old apartment building.

This is Rochester’s liberty pole. There was a long-standing American tradition of political protest and celebration at liberty poles. The first one on this spot was built in 1846. The current one was completed in 1965 and is 190 feet tall and made of stainless steel. Previous ones had been destroyed by storms.

Parcel 5 used to have a department store on it, which went out of business, and was demolished, leaving the land, unused and unattractive for years, but now it is a park.

These pictures are from the old Xerox campus, which, when Xerox no longer needed the space, was turned into residences for tertiary education students and an innovation center.

I turned the wrong direction when looking for Martin Luther King Memorial Park, and we came across this sculpture, which was an homage to the world‘s first photographic film, which was manufactured on this site. It was patented by George Eastman and introduced in August 1889 for Kodak cameras. The top of the building also makes me think of a film strip. I’m not sure if that’s deliberate.

This is Martin Luther King Memorial Park. I love this quotation.

We had been planning to walk across the part of the Inner Loop that hasn’t been removed yet, and over to high Falls to the Genesee Brewhouse for dinner, but David got a blister from his new cycling sandals, so we went to a nearby restaurant which I had also tried last year, and had very good food. Unfortunately, today with the heat and humidity, they had the doors closed.

We ordered Uber to get back to the hotel and had an early night.

Tomorrow is another 30+ degree day with, unfortunately, winds from the east. It will be a 112 km ride. We will be heading off early to try to get some distance in before the day gets too hot.

Click here if you would like to read more about Rochester when Michael and I visited for four days last July.