The Clueless Abroad - Ingo's first trip to the US (Northeast) - Trip Report
Nov 13th, 2007, 12:57 PM
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Thank you, Inga, for your great, interesting and in-depth report and looking forward to more! We will be in NYC next June and the info is very informative! The Riverside Tower Hotel - goodness - how awful! But it could've been worse - have you seen the Hotel Clinton?? (http://www.tripadvisor.com/LocationP..._New_York.html)
We were booked into the Radio City Apartments and, sometimes, there are reviews about those, complaining about roaches and very hard beds. After seeing the Hotel Clinton pictures, I got worried and booked us into the Affinia Dumont (too pricey, but I don't want accommodation to spoil our stay!)
BA's 747's all have little (generally working!) screens, but their food is awful and the legroom even worse!
I like what you wrote about how you felt in the USA ("Most of the time we didn't feel like tourists, more like guests.") Although we haven't stayed with friends in the US, we have felt like guests in the country - I've lost count of the number of people who have chatted to us as though they've known us all their lives! Of course, there are some miserable, grumpy people - but that's the same everywhere!
We were booked into the Radio City Apartments and, sometimes, there are reviews about those, complaining about roaches and very hard beds. After seeing the Hotel Clinton pictures, I got worried and booked us into the Affinia Dumont (too pricey, but I don't want accommodation to spoil our stay!)
BA's 747's all have little (generally working!) screens, but their food is awful and the legroom even worse!
I like what you wrote about how you felt in the USA ("Most of the time we didn't feel like tourists, more like guests.") Although we haven't stayed with friends in the US, we have felt like guests in the country - I've lost count of the number of people who have chatted to us as though they've known us all their lives! Of course, there are some miserable, grumpy people - but that's the same everywhere!
Nov 13th, 2007, 01:02 PM
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Ingo, I am so glad to see (and read) your report. I love all the details. I have not been to many of the places you are describing. And I loved 'corn on the crop' 
It was so nice to meet you at the GTG and I'm glad you had such a good trip. Looking forward to more!
It was so nice to meet you at the GTG and I'm glad you had such a good trip. Looking forward to more!
Nov 13th, 2007, 02:28 PM
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eating corn on the cob is one of the greatest things about living in America! August and September in the northeast are the greatest for that very reason!
My understanding is that corn is mainly used as animal feed in other countries; not sure if I'm correct.
Also, the Litchfield Hills and the Berkshires are two of my favorite places! Glad you got to have these great American experiences.
As far as the foliage goes, this fall was not the greatest, so you didn't miss too much.
My understanding is that corn is mainly used as animal feed in other countries; not sure if I'm correct.
Also, the Litchfield Hills and the Berkshires are two of my favorite places! Glad you got to have these great American experiences.
As far as the foliage goes, this fall was not the greatest, so you didn't miss too much.
Nov 13th, 2007, 02:36 PM
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Hola, Ingo! [or do I have the wrong country?]
Great report so far. It's always fun to see one's own country through an outsider's eyes.
So, is Continental about as much fun as Interflug?
Enjoyed chatting with you in Boston - cheers,
Great report so far. It's always fun to see one's own country through an outsider's eyes.
So, is Continental about as much fun as Interflug?
Enjoyed chatting with you in Boston - cheers,
Nov 13th, 2007, 03:02 PM
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Well, I could have told you about SIM cards (and dumps), if you just had asked here ;-), and I'm German too. More than 5ct per minute to call home from your mobile shouldn't be needed at all. Get your SIM before you leave. And no fights with "idiotic" sales people. . Dumps at ridiculous prices are everywhere, but many can be avoided. I'd never go there without a car from the first to the last day.
. Dumps at ridiculous prices are everywhere, but many can be avoided. I'd never go there without a car from the first to the last day.
Nov 13th, 2007, 03:26 PM
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Ingo: I love all the details about how your friends made you breakfast etc. It is lovely to read and hear about.
How old were you when you began to learn English as a second language? You write very well.
Did you do laundy on your trip? Why so much luggage?
Sandy
How old were you when you began to learn English as a second language? You write very well.
Did you do laundy on your trip? Why so much luggage?
Sandy
Nov 14th, 2007, 10:28 AM
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Ok, folks, you've had your fun with 'corn on the crop' and I am so ashamed that I want to hide under the desk. At least you got a good laugh out of it! And I learned my lesson. (That is: you can eat something you don't know, but not write about it!)
Mimi - I am so glad I met the famous cigalechanta gal. You surely didn't disappoint either. Hugs and kisses back! ;-)
gomiki - enjoyed to meet you too! Was fun to chat with you.
wildblueyonder - glad you like the report. Ask if you have questions or need more details. Had a look at that other hotel; yikes, what a horrible etablissement. Not so sure the Riverside Tower Hotel is better. I probably didn't stay long enough in the room to see any roaches. The bathroom and the walls of the other rooms looked exactly the same. The beds were even worse!
skatedancer - you are right about corn. In Germany it is mostly used for feeding animals. In Hungary, however, where my father was born, they use(d) to eat it in a similar style prepared like corn on the COB. LOL
We were lucky with foliage in VT and NH, but let's get to that later ...
Heho rizzuto! Enjoyed to chat with you at the GTG. Very interesting! Yeah, Continental is fun as long as they take me safely to where I want to go. And that's what they did.
logos, my dear fellow German ... I *did* post a thread with questions about dumps! I didn't learn from the responses, though ... and yes, I should have asked about the SIM cards. To tell the truth, first I didn't think I would need one. I was told by the locals that service is rare in the mountains in VT and NH and I thought I would have telephone in the hotels and of course I did at our friends' home. Problem was that the apartment in Port Washington didn't have a landline (anymore) and we needed to call a taxi every time we wanted to go to the train station. Soooo ... I thought what the hell, let's get a SIM card.
Car rental was well planned; if we *had* stayed in Manhattan as planned we would have been insane to have a rental car. But we managed, eh?
SandyBrit - I started learning English in 7th grade in High School. Didn't need it much for some years, though.
We did laundry once or twice on the trip. We had so much luggage because we went to many different places that required very different clothes. We thought we needed to dress up for opera in NYC (wrong). We did some hiking in the mountains. We had no idea what the weather would be - it turned out to be a sort of heatwave, but we needed to bring warm clothes in case the mountains in NH would get snow. And we brought some gifts for our friends - and received gifts plus did shopping, so believe it or not, we even had FIVE bags and three backpacks when we went back, LOL
Bob - glad you like it. I can still taste the lobster ... oh yes, we made 'Karen's Brownies' - they were perfect - the recipe worked great, thanks!
Mimi - I am so glad I met the famous cigalechanta gal. You surely didn't disappoint either. Hugs and kisses back! ;-)
gomiki - enjoyed to meet you too! Was fun to chat with you.
wildblueyonder - glad you like the report. Ask if you have questions or need more details. Had a look at that other hotel; yikes, what a horrible etablissement. Not so sure the Riverside Tower Hotel is better. I probably didn't stay long enough in the room to see any roaches. The bathroom and the walls of the other rooms looked exactly the same. The beds were even worse!
skatedancer - you are right about corn. In Germany it is mostly used for feeding animals. In Hungary, however, where my father was born, they use(d) to eat it in a similar style prepared like corn on the COB. LOL
We were lucky with foliage in VT and NH, but let's get to that later ...
Heho rizzuto! Enjoyed to chat with you at the GTG. Very interesting! Yeah, Continental is fun as long as they take me safely to where I want to go. And that's what they did.
logos, my dear fellow German ... I *did* post a thread with questions about dumps! I didn't learn from the responses, though ... and yes, I should have asked about the SIM cards. To tell the truth, first I didn't think I would need one. I was told by the locals that service is rare in the mountains in VT and NH and I thought I would have telephone in the hotels and of course I did at our friends' home. Problem was that the apartment in Port Washington didn't have a landline (anymore) and we needed to call a taxi every time we wanted to go to the train station. Soooo ... I thought what the hell, let's get a SIM card.
Car rental was well planned; if we *had* stayed in Manhattan as planned we would have been insane to have a rental car. But we managed, eh?
SandyBrit - I started learning English in 7th grade in High School. Didn't need it much for some years, though.
We did laundry once or twice on the trip. We had so much luggage because we went to many different places that required very different clothes. We thought we needed to dress up for opera in NYC (wrong). We did some hiking in the mountains. We had no idea what the weather would be - it turned out to be a sort of heatwave, but we needed to bring warm clothes in case the mountains in NH would get snow. And we brought some gifts for our friends - and received gifts plus did shopping, so believe it or not, we even had FIVE bags and three backpacks when we went back, LOL
Bob - glad you like it. I can still taste the lobster ... oh yes, we made 'Karen's Brownies' - they were perfect - the recipe worked great, thanks!
Nov 14th, 2007, 10:29 AM
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Oops, forgot to post another chapter of the report.
Monday, 1 Oct
This day was reserved for exploring CT's capital, Hartford. We started with touring the State Capitol. It is a magnificent building, set in a nice park that I liked a lot - with beautiful views of downtown. The tour was VERY interesting. We learned about Connecticut's history, a bit about the architecture of the State Capitol, a lot about the political system and we saw the rooms where the legislative meets (Two chambers actually - and we discussed with the tour guide why TWO chambers are necessary.) We were amazed about how close to the people the senators/representatives are. We even walked into the Governor's office and signed the guestbook. Too bad she wasn't there at that moment.
On to Mark Twain's house. We joined a tour (too bad no photography was allowed) which was very interesting. The guide was a guy with an English accent I thought who made a lot of jokes. I love such old, originally preserved houses where famous folks had lived. Good for my parents was that they had written information in German.
Unfortunately we were too late for the Harriet Beecher-Stowe house - on the other hand it would probably have been information overload to tour both in one afternoon. So we saw it from outside - enough for the first visit
Our friends then showed us places where they had worked/work, then we headed for the Italian restaurant "First and Last" in Hartford. The drive there was again interesting and scenic - we crossed Connecticut river by an old car-ferry, drove backroads to the restaurant. The food was very good. We shared a salad, then I had spaghetti with mussels/seafood, the others had pasta with meatballs/sausages in tomato sauce. The service was la-la, but the ambience was nice - rustic, lively, many old photographs on the walls.
Monday, 1 Oct
This day was reserved for exploring CT's capital, Hartford. We started with touring the State Capitol. It is a magnificent building, set in a nice park that I liked a lot - with beautiful views of downtown. The tour was VERY interesting. We learned about Connecticut's history, a bit about the architecture of the State Capitol, a lot about the political system and we saw the rooms where the legislative meets (Two chambers actually - and we discussed with the tour guide why TWO chambers are necessary.) We were amazed about how close to the people the senators/representatives are. We even walked into the Governor's office and signed the guestbook. Too bad she wasn't there at that moment.
On to Mark Twain's house. We joined a tour (too bad no photography was allowed) which was very interesting. The guide was a guy with an English accent I thought who made a lot of jokes. I love such old, originally preserved houses where famous folks had lived. Good for my parents was that they had written information in German.
Unfortunately we were too late for the Harriet Beecher-Stowe house - on the other hand it would probably have been information overload to tour both in one afternoon. So we saw it from outside - enough for the first visit
Our friends then showed us places where they had worked/work, then we headed for the Italian restaurant "First and Last" in Hartford. The drive there was again interesting and scenic - we crossed Connecticut river by an old car-ferry, drove backroads to the restaurant. The food was very good. We shared a salad, then I had spaghetti with mussels/seafood, the others had pasta with meatballs/sausages in tomato sauce. The service was la-la, but the ambience was nice - rustic, lively, many old photographs on the walls.
Nov 14th, 2007, 10:31 AM
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Tuesday, 2 Oct
Time to say goodbye and start the real road trip through New England - returning to our friends' home the day prior to the flight back to Germany. We drove I-91 from Hartford through Massachusetts into Vermont, stopped at the Welcome Center shortly after passing the state border for a bathroom stop and to grab information material. It was a pleasant drive through a rural landscape with rolling hills. We left I-91at exit 9 and drove S-12 via Hartland and US-4 via Woodstock to our B&B, the Deer Brook Inn 4 miles west of the town.
I highly recommend this place. David and George, the innkeepers, are fantastic hosts. George had all the information on restaurants and sights, even had made restaurant reservations for us in advance. David prepared delicious breakfast, different each morning. We had a suite - real living room with a sofa bed, bedroom with a four-poster canopy bed, bathroom. The rooms are beautifully decorated and spotless clean. I will post pictures later. There is also a large, beautiful salon with an open fireplace where the guests can meet and chat. Adjoining is the breakfast room, again tastefully decorated. The Inn has only five rooms and thus has a very familiar atmosphere. Parking right next to the house, a terrace with chairs/table is available too. www.deerbrookinn.com
There was enough time left that we could drive back to Woodstock and wander around the beautiful town. It was not crowded at all. We loved the window shopping, peeking into galleries, saw the covered bridge, churches and the court house, ended at the Woodstock Inn. Wow! That's a great hotel! It was fun to sit in their lobby and the library room and watch people,
After sunset we drove back to our Inn and ate the leftovers of the lunch that our Connecticut friends had provided plus some stuff we had bought in Woodstock. Restaurant reservation was cancelled because we were too tired.
Time to say goodbye and start the real road trip through New England - returning to our friends' home the day prior to the flight back to Germany. We drove I-91 from Hartford through Massachusetts into Vermont, stopped at the Welcome Center shortly after passing the state border for a bathroom stop and to grab information material. It was a pleasant drive through a rural landscape with rolling hills. We left I-91at exit 9 and drove S-12 via Hartland and US-4 via Woodstock to our B&B, the Deer Brook Inn 4 miles west of the town.
I highly recommend this place. David and George, the innkeepers, are fantastic hosts. George had all the information on restaurants and sights, even had made restaurant reservations for us in advance. David prepared delicious breakfast, different each morning. We had a suite - real living room with a sofa bed, bedroom with a four-poster canopy bed, bathroom. The rooms are beautifully decorated and spotless clean. I will post pictures later. There is also a large, beautiful salon with an open fireplace where the guests can meet and chat. Adjoining is the breakfast room, again tastefully decorated. The Inn has only five rooms and thus has a very familiar atmosphere. Parking right next to the house, a terrace with chairs/table is available too. www.deerbrookinn.com
There was enough time left that we could drive back to Woodstock and wander around the beautiful town. It was not crowded at all. We loved the window shopping, peeking into galleries, saw the covered bridge, churches and the court house, ended at the Woodstock Inn. Wow! That's a great hotel! It was fun to sit in their lobby and the library room and watch people,
After sunset we drove back to our Inn and ate the leftovers of the lunch that our Connecticut friends had provided plus some stuff we had bought in Woodstock. Restaurant reservation was cancelled because we were too tired.
Nov 14th, 2007, 07:55 PM
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Ingo,
I am so sorry I was not able to rescue you from your bad hotel experience in NYC. Next time you must come to Texas where I have more influence.
Your trip report is fantastic. Looking forward to the rest of it!
I am so sorry I was not able to rescue you from your bad hotel experience in NYC. Next time you must come to Texas where I have more influence.
Your trip report is fantastic. Looking forward to the rest of it!
Nov 14th, 2007, 08:06 PM
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you really got to see quite a bit...i must in fairness add that hartford is really a dumb, although they are trying to improve it....i have never been to the capitol building which i am sure is nice, but the rest of town leaves lots to be desired....imho
Nov 14th, 2007, 08:24 PM
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Ingo I'm loving reading about our country through a fellow German's eyes. (I came here from Austria when I was 5 years old). Your appreciation of opera and museums and your attention to detail is typical of my experience with all our German visitors. It sounds as if you planned your trip very well.
Don't feel bad about the language mix-up. I have embarrassed myself many times with my German. I remember asking our guests who had just been to Niagara Falls, "Hatt euch die Fallen gefellen?" instead of "Fellen gefallen"? They laugh about it to this day. Your command of the English language is admirable! If you're ever in our neck of the woods (Michigan) be sure to look us up. [email protected]
Don't feel bad about the language mix-up. I have embarrassed myself many times with my German. I remember asking our guests who had just been to Niagara Falls, "Hatt euch die Fallen gefellen?" instead of "Fellen gefallen"? They laugh about it to this day. Your command of the English language is admirable! If you're ever in our neck of the woods (Michigan) be sure to look us up. [email protected]
Nov 14th, 2007, 08:28 PM
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Your report is excellent. I am just back from my umpteenth trip to NYC and I still haven't managed to visit half the places you've been.
Also, I am having deja vu: I flew in and out of Hartford, went to Pittsfield, Stockbridge and Lenox when my sister got married in Western Massachusetts last year. I even stayed at the Red Lion Inn in Stockbridge! A shame you missed Herman Melville's house in Pittsfield; I prfeferred it to the Shaker Village, but then I did have a hangover there. We too spent too much time at the Twain house and missed Stowe's.
This is eerie.
Also, I am having deja vu: I flew in and out of Hartford, went to Pittsfield, Stockbridge and Lenox when my sister got married in Western Massachusetts last year. I even stayed at the Red Lion Inn in Stockbridge! A shame you missed Herman Melville's house in Pittsfield; I prfeferred it to the Shaker Village, but then I did have a hangover there. We too spent too much time at the Twain house and missed Stowe's.
This is eerie.
Nov 15th, 2007, 09:07 AM
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apseals: Thanks for trying anyways! ;-) But as you know it worked out fine. TX is indeed on my list.
Bob, I didn't see much else of Hartford to be honest. But I liked the area around the Capitol and also the Mark Twain house.
Maggie, thanks, your email address is saved. Yeah, German is much harder to speak than English (for non-native speakers).
Leely, that's spooky! Or at least a funny coincidence. Melville's house is on the list for the next visit In any case, this is a beautiful region and worth to go back.
Bob, I didn't see much else of Hartford to be honest. But I liked the area around the Capitol and also the Mark Twain house.
Maggie, thanks, your email address is saved. Yeah, German is much harder to speak than English (for non-native speakers).
Leely, that's spooky! Or at least a funny coincidence. Melville's house is on the list for the next visit
In any case, this is a beautiful region and worth to go back.
Nov 15th, 2007, 10:37 AM
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Wednesday, 3 Oct
After a delicious breakfast (as mentioned above) we drove to the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historic Park. We purchased a combination ticket for the Farm and the Rockefeller Mansion. We toured the Mansion first. Very beautiful and interesting. Unbelievable that everything is preserved like when Mr. Rockefeller walked out of the house. We loved the pictures of the Hudson-River-School. The guide was a young woman from Oregon, very nice and knowledgeable. I could tell she liked her job a lot and she also tried to 'entertain' the visitors with some funny stories - but unfortunately most folks in our group were a bit lame and uninterested.
Then we toured the house of the farm manager (again beautiful interior) and chatted with a guy who actually spoke decent German. My parents were sooo happy! We walked around the barns and the grounds - beautiful rural landscape, nice views with rolling hills, fields etc.
Afterwards we drove backroads, partially unpaved, through pretty scenery to Quechee. We stopped at Simon Pearce. Had lunch (lamb burger) in their restaurant overlooking the waterfall and the covered bridge. It was a bit on the pricey side ($53 for the three of us), but delicious. We also saw the glass and pottery manufacture. We have seen better examples of both before. And we thought the products were *way* overpriced.
Anyway, on to Quechee Gorge. My first thought was 'Where is the gorge?'. A real tourist trap. Quite good was the Vermont products store nearby. We bought delicious chocolate and cheese ... then drove back to Woodstock, parked the car and paid another visit to the Woodstock Inn. Please don't tell, but they have a computer with internet access in the library room that I shamelessly used w/o being guest there.
Dinner that night was in the Lauren Inn. I had very good salmon fillet, my parents had chicken breast, as side dishes we order roasted potatoes and green beans. For dessert we had chocolate cake. My father had a beer (he still prefers the German beer) and my mother and I had each a glass of Italian rosé wine (Chiaretto). The meal was fabulous, the service excellent. Ambience was somehow formal, tasteful old style furniture, a bit stucco on the ceiling, hardwood floors, but then again the lack of any carpets or curtains was reason that it seemed noisy, although it was not crowded.
After a delicious breakfast (as mentioned above) we drove to the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historic Park. We purchased a combination ticket for the Farm and the Rockefeller Mansion. We toured the Mansion first. Very beautiful and interesting. Unbelievable that everything is preserved like when Mr. Rockefeller walked out of the house. We loved the pictures of the Hudson-River-School. The guide was a young woman from Oregon, very nice and knowledgeable. I could tell she liked her job a lot and she also tried to 'entertain' the visitors with some funny stories - but unfortunately most folks in our group were a bit lame and uninterested.
Then we toured the house of the farm manager (again beautiful interior) and chatted with a guy who actually spoke decent German. My parents were sooo happy! We walked around the barns and the grounds - beautiful rural landscape, nice views with rolling hills, fields etc.
Afterwards we drove backroads, partially unpaved, through pretty scenery to Quechee. We stopped at Simon Pearce. Had lunch (lamb burger) in their restaurant overlooking the waterfall and the covered bridge. It was a bit on the pricey side ($53 for the three of us), but delicious. We also saw the glass and pottery manufacture. We have seen better examples of both before. And we thought the products were *way* overpriced.
Anyway, on to Quechee Gorge. My first thought was 'Where is the gorge?'. A real tourist trap. Quite good was the Vermont products store nearby. We bought delicious chocolate and cheese ... then drove back to Woodstock, parked the car and paid another visit to the Woodstock Inn. Please don't tell, but they have a computer with internet access in the library room that I shamelessly used w/o being guest there.
Dinner that night was in the Lauren Inn. I had very good salmon fillet, my parents had chicken breast, as side dishes we order roasted potatoes and green beans. For dessert we had chocolate cake. My father had a beer (he still prefers the German beer) and my mother and I had each a glass of Italian rosé wine (Chiaretto). The meal was fabulous, the service excellent. Ambience was somehow formal, tasteful old style furniture, a bit stucco on the ceiling, hardwood floors, but then again the lack of any carpets or curtains was reason that it seemed noisy, although it was not crowded.
Nov 15th, 2007, 11:24 AM
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Thursday, 4 Oct
David prepared and George served again a wonderful breakfast. Time to say goodbye for us. Funny coincidence was that our rental car had a Texas license plate and the other guests in the B&B were from Texas, but had rented a car that had a MA license plate.
First stop on the way to the White Mountains was Hanover, NH. What a beautiful small town! Absolutely charming, definitely a place to fall in love with. We parked the car on the green and walked around, marvelling at the old buildings of Dartmouth College. Gorgeous weather again. We visited Rollins chapel where we saw a piece of art that impressed us - a cast iron work depicting Noah's Ark. Next we entered one of the College buildings north of the Green where we headed up to the stunning Sanborn House Library. Beautiful! Ornate woodwork, leather chairs, books lining the walls floor to ceiling (two levels). Did I mention I love old libraries? What a peaceful place - only a few students with their laptops reminded us that we live in the 21st century. What surprised us was that there were no security checks, no admission control.
It was about noon when we left the library and we could watch the Green getting occupied by the students enjoying the sun, relaxing on the grass. It made me a bit sentimental remembering my own time as a student and regretting not to have studied a semester abroad.
However, we headed to the Hood Museum of Art just south of the Green. Admission was free, so we had a look inside. Very nice picture gallery with some interesting American Native Art and even some Assyrian pieces from BC.
Time to hit the road. We took I-91 to exit 15 (Fairlee/Orford) and from there 25A to Wentworth, 25 to Warren, 118 to North Woodstock/Lincoln. Quite a scenic drive and we noticed more foliage the further north we drove. Then we took 112, known as Kancamagus Highway east of Lincoln - and the scenery got even better. Foliage was in full swing here and it probably also helped that we had fantastic weather. We stopped at several view points and had a picnic for lunch at Hancock overlook. We won't start comparing the White Mountains to the Rockies or the Alps, but these mountains *are* very beautiful. Some of you know that I am a mountain person and can imagine how much I enjoyed these views. We continued on the Kancamagus Highway and took Bear Notch Road to Bartlett. Much less traffic and more views there (although not as spectacular). We passed Attitash and shortly after saw the sign for our accomodation for the next four nights: The Seasons. www.seasonsnh.com
We found this with help of our Boston friends. Their neighbours own a large apartment there and we rented from them. Highly recommended! Nicely furnished, equipped with everything you need it has a large bedroom w/bathroom, balcony, another bathroom, huge living room with sofa(bed) + sitting area, dining area, perfect kitchen and a gallery upstairs with even another sitting area and some bunk beds. The owners also provide a lot of information/brochures as well as games for entertainment. Our only disappointment was that we didn't see a bear during our stay
http://www.cyberrentals.com/USA/New-...tt/p118979.htm
About 100 m away was the clubhouse. I had internet access there for a small fee, use of indoor pool, jacuzzi and sauna was free, towels were available for a deposit. They also had billard tables and some one-armed bandits Oh, not to forget a large TV in fron of which folks gathered to see the Red Sox or the NY Yankees.
We drove the five minutes to Glen where the next shops/stores were and found a very nice and small, probably family run grocery there. We bought tons of stuff since we planned to make use of the apartment's kitchen. Unpacking, supper, relaxing, watching TV, off to bed.
David prepared and George served again a wonderful breakfast. Time to say goodbye for us. Funny coincidence was that our rental car had a Texas license plate and the other guests in the B&B were from Texas, but had rented a car that had a MA license plate.
First stop on the way to the White Mountains was Hanover, NH. What a beautiful small town! Absolutely charming, definitely a place to fall in love with. We parked the car on the green and walked around, marvelling at the old buildings of Dartmouth College. Gorgeous weather again. We visited Rollins chapel where we saw a piece of art that impressed us - a cast iron work depicting Noah's Ark. Next we entered one of the College buildings north of the Green where we headed up to the stunning Sanborn House Library. Beautiful! Ornate woodwork, leather chairs, books lining the walls floor to ceiling (two levels). Did I mention I love old libraries? What a peaceful place - only a few students with their laptops reminded us that we live in the 21st century. What surprised us was that there were no security checks, no admission control.
It was about noon when we left the library and we could watch the Green getting occupied by the students enjoying the sun, relaxing on the grass. It made me a bit sentimental remembering my own time as a student and regretting not to have studied a semester abroad.
However, we headed to the Hood Museum of Art just south of the Green. Admission was free, so we had a look inside. Very nice picture gallery with some interesting American Native Art and even some Assyrian pieces from BC.
Time to hit the road. We took I-91 to exit 15 (Fairlee/Orford) and from there 25A to Wentworth, 25 to Warren, 118 to North Woodstock/Lincoln. Quite a scenic drive and we noticed more foliage the further north we drove. Then we took 112, known as Kancamagus Highway east of Lincoln - and the scenery got even better. Foliage was in full swing here and it probably also helped that we had fantastic weather. We stopped at several view points and had a picnic for lunch at Hancock overlook. We won't start comparing the White Mountains to the Rockies or the Alps, but these mountains *are* very beautiful. Some of you know that I am a mountain person and can imagine how much I enjoyed these views. We continued on the Kancamagus Highway and took Bear Notch Road to Bartlett. Much less traffic and more views there (although not as spectacular). We passed Attitash and shortly after saw the sign for our accomodation for the next four nights: The Seasons. www.seasonsnh.com
We found this with help of our Boston friends. Their neighbours own a large apartment there and we rented from them. Highly recommended! Nicely furnished, equipped with everything you need it has a large bedroom w/bathroom, balcony, another bathroom, huge living room with sofa(bed) + sitting area, dining area, perfect kitchen and a gallery upstairs with even another sitting area and some bunk beds. The owners also provide a lot of information/brochures as well as games for entertainment. Our only disappointment was that we didn't see a bear during our stay
http://www.cyberrentals.com/USA/New-...tt/p118979.htm
About 100 m away was the clubhouse. I had internet access there for a small fee, use of indoor pool, jacuzzi and sauna was free, towels were available for a deposit. They also had billard tables and some one-armed bandits
Oh, not to forget a large TV in fron of which folks gathered to see the Red Sox or the NY Yankees.We drove the five minutes to Glen where the next shops/stores were and found a very nice and small, probably family run grocery there. We bought tons of stuff since we planned to make use of the apartment's kitchen. Unpacking, supper, relaxing, watching TV, off to bed.
Nov 15th, 2007, 01:31 PM
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Great report Ingo. You did so much the same as me -probably because we both did our research here at Fodors.
I'm so envious that you had good weather in New Hampshire. The foliage I saw was certainly appreciated - and I didn't really even see the mountains though both foliage and mountains are novelties for me. I drive the Kancamagus twice and didn't see anything at all because of mist but I am reisting the temptation to type in green text.
I'm so envious that you had good weather in New Hampshire. The foliage I saw was certainly appreciated - and I didn't really even see the mountains though both foliage and mountains are novelties for me. I drive the Kancamagus twice and didn't see anything at all because of mist but I am reisting the temptation to type in green text.
