Double Hike: Connecticut

From Connecticut

Continuing my exploration of Connecticut, today I drove down to Southford Falls in Oxford, CT.  It's a nice park although the "falls" were not much more that a trickle - I've seen brooks with more action.  I had a nice walk/hike on the trails that loop around the park and saw lots of chipmunks.

I think I heard a bear up near the watchtower, and later I saw what appeared to be bear poop, too.  Not really loving the idea that I might have been near a bear.

I had planned to have lunch in Litchfield and then take back roads home.  On the way, I SWEAR I saw signs for a Garlic and Harvest festival, and followed the following signs to a vineyard where there was no garlic, so I left.  I am not a huge wine person and was pretty hungry at this point.

I got to Litchfield and ate at Aspen Garden and I had a delicious cup of chilled apple and butternut squash soup, and an OK greek salad with spanikopita.  I poked around the shops in the cute little downtown area and then took off for my slow drive home.

When I got to Simsbury, I saw what looked like a monestary on a mountain and I immediately thought, a la Liz Lemon, "I want to go to there."  So, I kind of just drove toward it.

From Connecticut

I found Talcott State Park and Heublein Tower (it's not a monestary).  I hiked my butt again up to the tower, took in the 360 degree view from the observation deck and hiked my tired butt back down.

I heard a woman who was on her way up with some kids say "It's so much easier on the way down!"  LIAR!!!  She should have her kids taken away for lying to them like that.  I jest.  Mostly.  I was tired.

I continued on back roads home until I drove by a southern/cajun joint in a plaza and picked up some dinner:  ribs, cornbread, corn, rice and candied yams.  OK, at this point I had food so I hopped on the highway for the rest of the trip home.

My feet are tired, but it was a great day and I'm going to sleep well!  I burned a lot of calories today and enjoyed the fresh air.

I'll think of it as prep for my trip to San Francisco with Jose which is coming up!

Trying out the local stuff

From Connecticut

So I've lived in Connecticut for 8 years and I hardly know it.  I've been to somewhat unusual locations throughout the world, but I have not seen much of the US, so I've been using my weekends to explore the area around me.

I made some half-hearted attempts to find a traveling companion but decided to go it alone like I often do when traveling abroad while Jose's rehearsing.

I had heard from a friend of mine who was CEO of a tourism board in CT that Essex was a nice, quaint town, so I drove down and checked it out.

It was nice, but really small.  The one main street had some little shops and galleries and a lot of expensive cars parked along the road.

I did, however, book a cruise on the Connecticut river on the Mary E. which is based from the Connecticut River Museum.  I grabbed a quick lunch at Olive Oyl's - crab cake and a shrimp thai pasta salad.  Then I had perfect weather on my side and me and a boatload of older folks had a nice, relaxing time on the river.

Lots of really expensive houses, an island for sale ($1 million with a house), osprey nests... one bird of prey we couldn't quite identify.  A biplane flew over us... People on the river in speedboats, though, are not very considerate.  I saw one little boat almost get bowled over by the wake of a speedboat.

From Connecticut

Someone on the boat mentioned Gillette Castle, so I decided to head over to there after my sail.

The castle itself is a little weird looking - very craggy - and I didn't pay to go inside, but had a nice walk around the grounds (there are trails) and down to the river near the ferry.

When in Rome...

... do as Romans do.  So what does that mean?  In my opinion, from three days:

• Eat massively delicious food and somehow keep from becoming morbidly obese.  I haven't figured out quite how they manage.  
• Drive like MANIACS.  Holy crap.  On a road with two car lanes and one for buses, they drive 5 cars wide, and that's not including the motorcycles driving between the cars.  We're talking like an inch or two from their handlebars and the cars' mirrors.  Eeep.
• Live totally casually among ancient (ANCIENT) ruins and beautiful architecture.
• Spray graffiti on anything modern.
• Drink Acqua Panna.  Yummmmm.
• Learn how to "Ciao bella" at women if you're a guy and learn how to deal with it if you're the bella.  No one said "Ciao bello" to me.  :-P
• Wear tight pants.

I loved Rome... no way I could drive though.  I'd never get anywhere because I am no good at forcing my way through traffic.  That's why Jose's always good for driving when leaving big events like concerts.  And there's only two metro lines downtown because of the multiple levels of ancient ruins under the city.  

Rome II

From France and Italy 2010

Our second full day in Rome had us taking the bus to the Vatican (no students - they were probably all hung over).  The line to get into the basilica was INSANE.  Perhaps even a mile long.  We took some photos and browsed some cheesy tourist shops around St. Peter's square (there was even a calendar of hot priests!).

We walked around the wall of the Vatican to the other side where we got into the Vatican Museum with no line... but there were old people tours everywhere and at one point it was really bad - packed like the bus was!  We forced our way through and pretty much ran through the museum to the Sistine Chapel, pausing ever so slightly in the hall of maps, which was probably my favorite room.

The chapel was pretty awesome - lots of people, some occasionally taking a photo and getting yelled at, and guards shhhhing people.

We found a little pizzeria and had some pizza and some crab things I love so much.

We did some shopping and I got a bunch of great shirts from a store called David Saddler... really great stuff - contrasting inner cuffs you can flip out, cuffs that have both buttons and holes for cuff links... they took a lot of my money but the woman who helped me, Andressa, was really sweet and from Sao Paulo so we talked in Portuguese.

The Castle of Angels and the Piazza del Popolo were next and by then my feet were ready to fall off.  Home and then dinner at Pomodoro which had good food but Jose and I agreed our favorite restaurant was the one we went to on our first night... Mmmmmm that carbonara.

Rome I

Patty, Jose and I got up and went to a whole bunch of places around Rome today.  We had lunch in the Piazza de Campo del Fiore and I had a really great fettucini with truffles - first time having those and they were so good!  We walked around some more - the places are generally documented in my photos.  Then we came back here for a little to take showers (it was kind of warm today) and rest up before going to this concert of famous opera arias that Patty got tickets to at the Pantheon.

From France and Italy 2010

We rushed to get there in time, taking a bus and a train (there are only two metro lines in Rome because of the archaelogical sites), and the concert was very... entertaining.  The singers were generally only OK and the orchestra was crazy.  The violinist tuned to the harp and I knew at that point that it was going to be weird.  Then he was waving his bow around whie they were playing like he was conducting but he was just following them, I think.  He would wave it at the singers like he was tapping them on the head.  It was crazy.

For dinner we ate at this place that used to be the studio of a famous sculptor and they had original plaster "tryouts" all over the restaruant.  I had linguini with lobster which was very good.  We got rushed out because they were closing fifteen minutes after we got there.  It was tasty stuff though.

We walked and did some window shopping and then took a bus home.  A whole bunch of college-aged kids came on to the bus and packed it solid.  And while we were moving, this drunk kid sitting directly across from me started to throw up - thankfully he didn't have anything to eat.... it was just liquid and spit.  Patty and I jumped onto our seats in time and road on the backs until they all got off.  They were, of course, American.

Quick note from Rome

From France and Italy 2010

Hidy ho from Rome - just a quick note because I'm not using my computer while here, I probably won't post much more until I get back home.  Rome is crazy though - it's amazing how the old and the new are so integrated. 

Jose, Patty and I have gone a WHOLE bunch of places, so far mostly in the southern part of the center (I guess) - tomorrow there is a parade for their equivalent of the 4th of July in that area so we did that today and tomorrow we'll be hanging out in the general area of the Vatican.

Tonight we're going to see a show where they'll be performing famous arias.

The food here is incredible.  I'm glad I'm only here for a short while, otherwise I'd gain 500 pounds.

From France and Italy 2010

In Gray Paris

We're in Paris!  It's kind of gray here... and cooler than Spain.  Last night I didn't get to the hotel until about 8:30 I think - there was a lot of traffic from the airport.  I arrived at the hotel at the same time as a few others from the opera.

The hotel is cool - contemporary with LED mood lighting, both in the rooms and hallways.  It's just a couple blocks from the Arc de Triomphe which is a very nice location except the metro line we're on is having troubles.

From France and Italy 2010

Last night we had to rush rush to meet Florencia for dinner because kitchens close around 10 pm here - as opposed to Spain when that's when a lot of people are just heading out for dinner!  Our train stopped halfway there (and dumped us right at Moulin Rouge) so we took a cab the rest of the way and made it just in time to have a simple but delicious roasted chicken dinner with these AWESOME round, flat french fry type things that had garlic on them, salad and we all got dessert.  I got a creme brulee, Florencia got a coconut cake and Jose got this thing I can't remember the name of - it's like meringue in a pool of creme and caramel.

We walked around for a little bit - Flo and I are going to hang out for some before the opera while Jose rehearses and then she'll go see it - I'll probably walk around somewhere or go to a museum that she suggested.