Category: New York and New England

I think today will end up being the most spectacular of the whole trip. Foliage fully in colour, beautiful day, and the White Mountains of New Hampshire are more spectacular than Vermont. Oh, and it is forecast to pour with rain for most of tomorrow and then get significantly colder by the weekend. So here goes – the place names are just to remind us where we were – everyone else should simply enjoy the colours and the scenery.

Cannon

Basin

Kancamagus Highway

Other

And finished with probably the best meal out we’ve ever had in the US – in Bethlehem!

Yesterday it was 9(48) degrees and cloudy. Today it was 28(82) and sunny – indeed on occasions it got too hot but who’s complaining!

Smugglers’ Notch

Potash from Canada was the first illicit trade if you’re interested.

Waterbury (near Stowe)

Had a walk and stopped for lunch – view in front:

View behind:

White Mountains

Then to our next stop in New Hampshire and the White Mountains. View from our deck:

And a couple of random pics nearby:

Still waiting …. drove over to Smugglers’ Notch and Stowe. Very similar to yesterday – peak foliage but cold and damp. So here is a brief selection, with a lot of promise for tomorrow.

And St Albans Bay.

Not a heading I ever thought I would write, but we now understand the components of New England in the Fall.

1. Foliage. See later, but we saw something resembling “peak foliage” today.

2. Weather. See later, but it became clear that autumnal sun and blue skies are important.

There are then the further components required to be able to share the experience, being a decent camera (which we don’t have) and someone reasonably competent operating it (make up your own mind here).

That is probably a giveaway to today.

We learned in passing that northern Vermont is really geared to winter sports – especially cross country snowmobiling, and leaf peeping seems to be a little aside at this time of year. Hence the mist above – we’re up in the Green Mountains.

Came down a bit and stopped for a couple of walks:

And didn’t see a sunset.

Early morning walk. Found a friend who wasn’t quite as fierce as a mountain lion!

Then a longish drive north. Not especially far, but although the roads are good the speed limits are absurdly low – 45mph on a long straight single carriageway is not unusual. Anyway, got to Burlington which describes itself as a city. It is the largest in Vermont but that’s not saying much.

After the colours of yesterday, here is the black/white/grey of today.

Bit of a mooch around town:

before heading further north to St Albans (really). We’re only about 60 miles from Montreal now.

House and a friend:

and a walk by the lake:

So all a bit humdrum today. Bob (the owner) has told us though that it’s peak foliage about half an hour east of here, so with a bit of sun forecast hopes are high!

Lots and lots of pictures today, but firstly found a few friends when we were having our morning coffee ….

And at the end of the day, when we arrived at our new place in Manchester we were given a piece of advice we’ve never had at home, namely “if you’re out walking in the early morning, keep a watch out for mountain lions – and bears”. Might stick to the main roads then ……

Anyway, here goes. The garden of one of our (wealthy?) neighbours.

A two hour drive north got us to Bennington. Believe it or not, this is the highest structure in Vermont:

These are the views from the top:

The church:

And the town:

The colours are coming.

Then the final hour to Mount Equinox, where we stay for the night. It’s 3,840 feet, and being the USA you drive to the summit. Fantastic.

Not a bad day! Saint Albans tomorrow.

The heading probably sums up the whole holiday – some serious leaf-peeping.

Coffee on the veranda:

Watching the chipmunks doing their autumnal stuff. Then a day of relatively gentle sightseeing and walking.

Then Litchfield – beginning to get the New England white clapperboard look:

And waterfalls near Kent.

Afternoon “tea” comprising ice-cream covered in an espresso, a breve coffee which I hadn’t come across before – latte but mainly cream – and a small slice of pumpkin and cream cheese cheesecake. Yummy!

And finally a couple of “arty” shots from Eileen:

Colours are coming. Those coming down from the north say they’re on their way, and we’re heading that way tomorrow. Meanwhile, one of the abiding memories of Connecticut is the vivid green of the lawns!

Leaving today for New England. Collected the hire car from a few blocks away, loaded up the suitcases and said goodbye to Sarah and Floyd. It has been a wonderful stay in their house, and Eileen said she had loved NYC. I must admit the sightseeing is absolutely full on and there were a couple of times when we were on our knees, but like all good New Yorkers we bounced back.

Hmmm – getting a bit poetic there. Anyway, I came up with a really good idea. That is likely to be the only time in my lifetime that I am in possession of a car in Manhattan, so let’s drive downtown. Brilliant and loved it. Got as far south as 52nd and drove back up Madison Avenue and then back through Central Park. Managed to hit a run of 13 green lights at one stage, which wasn’t bad for a first attempt.

Driving was easier than London – pushy but not aggressive. But so much building going on – makes London look like a quiet backwater. And the delivery vans causing holdups was amazing.

First stop Connecticut and what a difference. Stopped for lunch:

and then in a little town called Cornwall with its covered bridge.

Bit of a walk and grocery shopping – organic farmers’ delicatessen in Sharon, CT is also mind-bogglingly expensive but really good.

And our house for the next couple of days.

Connecticut is gentile, stunningly gorgeous and looks to be fabulously wealthy. More to come in the next few days.

A great and tiring morning, so what next? A little more sedate (although lots more walking). Another hour or so in the Met Museum (different “stuff” but same terrace) followed by a walk down the Upper East Side and tea in a posh cafe:

A walk back across Central Park to the Lincoln Center – fabulous.

And to finish off, how about selfies and food.

The former isn’t going well:

That’s Wall Street not in the background. Then ESBNYC is fine but you can’t really see me!

And I don’t normally make a habit of posting food, but the Coney Island Pizza was fantastic.

Yup. The really is frankfurter and fries on a pizza. Bring on the carbs ……

Two parts for today, as it was full-on sightseeing on our last day in New York.

Here’s the clue to much of the morning. One slight advantage of jet lag is that we’re still waking up a bit early. It meant that we got to the Empire State Building before 9.00 and so no crowds or queues.

Many photos were taken, so only a small selection here:

Others say there are better viewing places, but I like the ESBNYC because I’ve done it before, you get a great view of uptown and downtown, but most of all because you get a great view of the Chrysler Building.

South to Wall Street:

North to Central Park:

East and West:

And us:

One of us went shopping (Banana Republic if you must know) so I tried a few street shots:

Lunch at Blooms on Lexington Avenue:

And a quick look into the Chrysler Foyer which is fantastic:

Needed a rest after all that, but before we headed back (only about 15 minutes on the subway) we had a quick peek into the Reading Room in the Public Library.