Low Bridge, Everybody Down

Low bridge, everybody down!
Low bridge, for we're comin' through a town!
And you'll always know your neighbor,
You'll always know your pal,
If you've ever navigated on the Erie Canal.

Larry and I were trying to remember the Erie Canal song while we watched a tour boat go through two Erie Canal locks. This is just the chorus. I found the whole song on the internet but I don't remember the verses. Truthfully, I only remember the first two lines of the chorus. How about you?

The last time we came through these parts, we saw some locks in Canada but I wanted to see the Erie Canal. Not surprisingly, the modern Erie Canal is not the same as the historic one. It's been rebuilt twice, making fewer but larger and deeper locks along it's length.

It would take too much to post the series of photos so I put them on "My Photo Album" on line. Go to http://travelingturtles.myphotoalbum.com to see them.

While in the area we decided to revisit Niagara Falls. Here's a couple photos from there. The Canadian side is a lot more commercialized. The tall buildings you see in the background are in Canada. They have built a beautiful park with formal gardens along the falls which are very pretty. Perhaps I should add those to "myphotoalbum"as well.

Last, but not least, we visited QRS Music in Buffalo. This is where player piano rolls are made. What a fascinating tour! The majority of the process is old fashioned and dare I say, out of date. But then, piano rolls are not exactly a modern commodity. There are two methods of creating the punches in the rolls - both slow and very manual. When I say manual, I mean a person sitting there with an exacto knife cutting the little holes in the master copy (for one method). Back in the 80's they began to use computers for some parts of the process. Get this, they're still using 1980's Apple II computers! The machines they do incorporate are about 200 years old. We got to get right up close and personal to each step along the way.