Day 20 : Touring Toronto and Navigating Niagara... You will get wet

We only had this morning to do our exploring of Toronto and what a day to pick... Wed 8 October was the first day of the National Hockey League season and Toronto was going off. They were to host Montreal in a local derby that night and so Yonge Street was closed off, a huge sound stage erected at one end and kiosks and displays were set up all the way down the street. One of the funniest things we saw was a Tim Horton stand, a mini Ice Hockey rink, set up right outside the Starbuck that is on Yonge street. Tim Hortons is a Coffee and Donut chain that is huge in Toronto and would be a direct rival to Starbucks and so we wondered how much that product placement would cost! Combine that with some serious construction and roadworks in the area and it was a recipe for total chaos.  Still we wandered around, had a look in the big Eaton Centre shopping mall, but none of the shops were open because it wasn't 10am yet. Then we decided to catch a trolley car to somewhere to get a bit of a look at the city. We were going to head down to the Old Town district, but it appeared as though a trolley car would be ages coming that way and as some were coming in the opposite direction we got brave and off we went. 

We caught the trolley about a mile downtown to Spadina and then transferred USA style onto another trolley car that would take us down to the waterfront. Seemed like a good idea to go for a stroll on the shores of Lake Ontario on such a lovely day. Well in theory yes! In practice, no! There is some serious road renovation and freeway renovation happening down on the waterfront as Toronto gets ready to host the Pan American Games next year.  Even finding a way across to the parklands was a challenge, and while it was pretty it was most disconcerting to hear all the chaos and noise. SO we walked a bit, stopped for a coffee and then tried, almost unsuccessfully, to find our way back up town through the maze of construction. At one stage we were walking under a very old freeway , along a bicycle track and this CAT digger came tearing along behind us and zoomed past. We even had to enlist the help of Toronto's finest constabulary who were supervising the safety of part of the road project in order to try and even find the bus stop! But along came the bus, which met the tram and then we transferred again in Chinatown to get a trolley back to the hotel to get ready for our Niagara excursion, via Denny's for a quick soup and sandwich. 

Right on cue we were picked up by tour guide Grant and boarded the bus which we assumed would take us back to the depot to join the other passengers and transfer buses as there were only 9 of us on the bus at this point. But, while we did return to the depot, we did not change buses, that was our bus and a tiny touring party of only 9. Grant explained a lot of things about Toronto as we exited the city. He was even saying that the trolley car line along the waterfront was to be finished this weekend. We were highly doubtful. As we drove we got a good sense of how big the greater Toronto area is and how flat it is as it hugs the shoreline of Lake Ontario. We went over a very tall bridge and could see the lock system that allows vessels to travel up the 57metre height difference between Lake Ontario and Lake Erie. Unfortunately today there was not any ships in the locks, but the mechanism is pretty amazing. Our first stop was the Pifferletti winery where we stopped for a wine tasting. Not much good to me, but their non alcoholic sparking grape juice was pretty nice. This winery is one of the specialist wineries in ICEWINE. Picked when the temperature gets to 17 degrees Fahrenheit ( or bloody cold) the grapes are particularly sweet and good for this expensive dessert wine that takes at least four times the number of grapes that a standard bottle of wine to make. Interesting, and then back on the bus for a drive through Niagara on the Lake, a beautiful quaint little town where I would have loved to have spent some time but we were very short for time because we were in the afternoon evening tour.

While one of our group braved the fairly significant winds to take a helicopter flight over the falls, we went to a lookout point for our first glimpse at the whirl pooling that takes place upstream of the the falls.  Even at this small whirlpool the rush of the water was so impressive in the sound that it made. We even saw some fall foliage too. Then it was back on the bus and down to the falls, first seeing the American side falls and then the Canadian side horseshoe falls which are larger and more impressive. Parking the bus we walked along the pathway, in awe of the spectacle and getting a tad wet as the flume of spray rose from the Horseshoe Falls and Bridal Veil Falls and was carried on the wind. But that was not wet! The trip on the Hornblower Catamaran right into the falls... now THAT was wet. Wet and utterly spectacular. Overwhelmed by the majesty of nature I stood at the front of the boat, somewhat Titanic style as the spray splashed at my face, feeling dwarfed by the spectacle. It was truly one of the most amazing things that I have ever done. Chris and I were soaking, in spite of the ponchos, jeans and sleeves were soaking, but it was so worth it, and we were heading up to the Sheraton, to the Fallsview Restaurant on the 13th Floor for a warm buffet dinner overlooking the falls so we figured we would dry, and we did. The New Zealand couple from Christchurch were good fun to sit with at dinner and the french-speaking family from Madagascar were also a lot of fun, even though there was a language barrier. 

After dinner we grouped for a trip back down to the walkway to see the falls illuminated, bathed in stripes of colour on both the American and Canadian falls. We wandered along, trying to get some good spots to take a shot or two and trying to get the camera on the setting that we wanted it. Photos taken, we were wandering back nearer to the bus and were just standing at the railing when Grant came back along, asked  if we knew where the rest of the group were, and when we couldn't see them, he asked us did we want to see something really neat. Of course we did and so we followed him at a cracking pace, across the road and up a hill behind a reservoir building to a door that had warning signs and no entry plastered on the outside. He had to knock a few times, and then we were ushered in to the building by Peter, the light keeper for Illuminations of the Niagara Falls.  There we were, inside the room that controls this amazing light show. Liz was then invited to light up the falls by choosing the colours for the light show. It was simply a case of touching a box for each light on a computer touch screen and ... viola! we did have light! Red light, blue light, purple light and amber light.  At one stage Liz had the entire Canadian falls bathed in royal purple.  And as we did it we ducked outside and had a look at the handiwork. It was so amazing to have been given the privilege of this back-of-house experience. Then Peter gave both of us a Certificate the sad "I lit up the falls" and a Niagara pin and a history of the illuminations as a keepsake. We both felt so special. Back to the bus, and some very jealous fellow travellers as we recounted the tale of illuminating the falls and were were off, back to Toronto. On the way back, Grant showed us some photos that he had taken back in March at the falls. The entire river on which we sailed was frozen over, the mist from the falls had frozen into a million little ice crystals on the trees and and there were stalactites of ice hanging from many surfaces.. a winter wonderland, but I cannot imagine how cold it must have been. 

We made it back to the hotel in good time, seeing some of the disappointed Toronto Ice Hockey supporters leaving the venue after their defeat by Montreal. We bade farewell to the group and headed up to pack. What a way for us to spend our last night of our holiday. We have had a spectacular three weeks and this was a spectacular finish. We are blessed. 

Day 19: Bye Bye Boston.... on the road again.

All good things come to an end and today is the last day of our Fall Foliage tour. So with bags packed and breakfast with a view of the million dollar marina done, it was time to board the bus for the last time, Boston bound. Felt quite bittersweet going into Boston because it was like returning to an old friend, one that you would like a little more time to see. Still we were having a city tour this morning hosted by local guide Robyn and that would give us a chance to see a few more things that we didn't fit in last week. 

We met the guide at the beautiful Trinity Church, and while there was not time for a visit, it was lovely to see Copley Square again and to learn that the tortoise and hare statue there, that I had my pic taken on last week, is actually the symbol of the Boston Marathon, the world's oldest marathon competition. We then headed off for a turn around Boston Common and Boston gardens, past Cheers and the Massachusetts State House and into the historical district, or the Freedom Trail. 

Our destination was the Old North Church, the one made famous on the night of Paul Revere's famous ride. The patriots had wanted to circumvent an English raid on gunpowder stores that would prevent their counterattack. To get word to those at Concord where the stores were and Lexington where the Patriot leaders Samuel Adams and John Hancock were in hiding, there was to be a signal lit on the steeple of the old North Church. One light meant that the English would go via land where there was only a path or two lights meant that they would go by boat across the river and the quicker route to Lexington and Concord.  Two lights it was and the rest is history as the events of that night - including the English getting bogged in the Back Bay - and a prepared patriot force was the catalyst for the revolutionary war to start where shots were fired in anger by the Brits. The church is large and airy and the box pews are the same as in the Kings Church that we had seen last week,  but its fame is certainly for more than "religious reasons." In the square below is a statue of Paul Revere on horseback on Brown Beauty... a fine artwork. We left the church via the "front" side and were fortunate enough to tour the old Copp's Hill cemetery. Graves in this cemetery date back to the mid 1600's and the slate headstones still bear clear images of skulls with wings, ghostly type figures and weeping style angels, all on Puritan gravestones... all terribly Halloweenish, and left us wondering if the Puritans were in some way responsible for the hugeness of Halloween here in the USA. Either way it was  really interesting walk and the cemetery has its own resident local black cat called Prince who made an appearance right on cue.

Back at the bus it was a short drive to our last Boston stop: Quincy Market. This is a more ordered version of the Chelsea market where there are literally hundreds of eateries and small stalls. It is a very intriguing place and a good spot to bid farewell to Boston. When we regathered after lunch our destination was Boston Logan airport and a lengthy wait for our flight to Toronto which ended up being more lengthy due to the late arrival of the plane. 

But fly we did... and having cleared Canadian customs it was out into a short taxi queue and into downtown Toronto. And waiting at our Doubletree Hilton hotel was the lovely Tess Franze. It was so so good to be able to catch up with Tess, however briefly, in her own home town. We went to the coffee bar in the hotel and had a latte and a long chat about good times and Bethany peeps. It was so lovely that our delay did not prevent us meeting. Thanks for coming Tess... so good to see you. A holiday highlight.

Day 18: A day with the rich and famous

This was a day in Newport and we were off to see how the rich and famous summer holidayed!! So first off a bit more of a drive around Newport: we drove out past the former Bouviere mansion where JFK and Jackie had their wedding reception. We saw dozens of other mansions on our way out to Fort Adams which affords a great view back to the port of Newport. Then we followed a coastal drive out to Brenton Point State Park where the views to the Atlantic are uninterrupted in all directions. On the point there is an interesting monument to the Portuguese explorers and early settlers. It looks a little like a modern Stonehenge and is apparently a symbolic representation of the cardinal points. It had been closed for some time because the material that it had been made from was starting to weather in the extreme weather on the Atlantic coast. 

Then it was on to The Breakers. This is a summer house that was built by Cornelius Vanderbilt Jnr in 1893 on the site of a previous wooden summer house that shared the same name... but this is NO wooden house but is part of the gilt society finery of the late 19th century. The house is huge. Ballroom, sitting rooms, dining, library, conservatory,music rooms downstairs and bedrooms, each with their own ensuites on the second level for the family. The two upper levels contain servants quarters for the in excess of 40 full time serving staff that maintained the house at the height of its opulence. There are hidden walkways for the staff to move around without being seen as they performed their duties. Walking into it was a bit like walking into Schloss Nymphenburg in Munich... totally over the top in French and Italian art style. One of the bedrooms even had a 6 foot tall fully functional carved marble fire place that was suspended above the fire grill. The kitchen downstairs had a 20 foot long cast iron stove where the entire top heated like a griddle plate so as to eliminate the risk of fire from open flame. And then there were the grounds which were just enormous. We wandered for a bit and then were surprised how quickly we got back into Newport. 

Mike offered the opportunity to get off the bus at the top of the hill to go sight seeing but we missed the holler out, given that we were in the back seat today. But the first available stop was near Panera. So we hopped off, grabbed a sandwich before it got to be too busy. Great lunch. Thanks Sarah for the recommendation, or should that be Panera obsession... Lunch over it was off in search of the oldest Jewish synagogue in the United States ... yep right here in Newport. We found the Edward Loebb Centre, the information centre where we were able to get our tickets and we just got there in time for the last tour of the day at 1.30pm. We saw the introductory film and then went for a wander around the centre to learn a little about early life in Newport. Then it was time for the tour and so we went up to the actual synagogue building, an unassuming weatherboard building that fitted in quite well with the general architecture in Newport. Judith conducted our tour and she was a member of the community and she was a wealth of information. 

It turns out that there had been Jews in Newport since the mid 1600's and they would have gathered together for prayer in homes. Many of the Jews who came to Newport were either Jews fleeing the Puritan oppression of Philadelphia or alternatively Jewish families and merchants who had moved form Spain and Portugal to escape the Inquisition. As Portuguese colonial expansion was now extending into the West  Indies, religious freedom was not guaranteed and so merchants looked to this place in Rhode Island where religious freedom was enshrined and so they settled in Newport. With the growing community, there was a need for both a rabbi and a synagogue. A young Portuguese rabbinic student Isaac Turo came from Portugal to lead the community and got local Christian merchant Harrison who had an interest in architecture to design the synagogue, even though in reality he had never been inside one. It is elegant and simple inside, very reminiscent of the colonial style, originally painted in rich red to suggest rosewood it was repainted in the more pastel French inspired shades by the turn of the 1800's and those colours were chosen by the current congregation to return to when renovations took place about 10 years ago. 

More amazing stories were told... of the loss of the congregation during the revolutionary war when the port of Newport was blockaded by the British and many of the Jewish merchants left, leaving Rabbi Turo without a congregation. The British garrison during occupation sacked many of the buildings in Newport to burn then for firewood because without trade in the port there was not enough timber. Rabbi Turo was shrewd and encouraged the use of the synagogue as a military hospital and this meant that it escaped an awful fate. Another famous moment in the life of the synagogue was when, following the revolutionary war when Washington was made first president of the United States, he came to Newport and wrote to the congregation some inspiring words about religious freedom.

"It is now no more that toleration is spoken of as if it were the indulgence of one class of people that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights, for, happily, the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens in giving it on all occasions their effectual support."

Fairly powerful words in any age, but rather pertinent for our present situation. Powerful stuff. 

During the 1800s Jews started to arrive in the US via Ellis Island from persecution in Eastern Europe and they settled in Newport. Today the congregation numbers about 100 families and it sounds like a very involved and dynamic place to worship. Tour over we were very grateful to the guide and went back to the information centre to collect our coffee and then were given an info map of the Jewish cemetery area at the top of the hill. What an interesting place. 

Then it was more walking around the narrow streets, looking at the beautiful opulence of the Viking hotel and several of the houses and other buildings. We came across the library and went in search of St Mary's Catholic Church where Kennedy and Jackie were married, but being Catholic and a Monday it was unwelcoming and bolted closed. Not impressed. Then back to the hotel via a bit more shop mooching for a rest before our farewell dinner.

Dinner was at a restaurant on the pier just a short walk along from the hotel. We sat with Howard and Christine from York area England, Richard and Shirley from Prospect Sydney, Anne and Joe from Southern Texas and Dennis and Pat from Wisconsin. The meal and the company were both lovely and a great last night to the tour.. but then it was back to the hotel to rationalise the baggage and pack for out flight to Toronto tomorrow. 

Day 17: A journey through 3 states and 300 years of history

Almost impossible to believe after the teaming rain of last night that today could dawn blue skied and beautiful. Checked out of the Marriott Springfield and hit the road to Sturbridge Village, but on the coach on the way, that much expected game of bingo. And so bingo began... and of course, being run by Mike, the rules changed all the time. Bingo was not won in 7 people calls and so the "trip to Hawaii" was not won. It took 25 name calls for someone to get bingo and Chris was one of those someones, along with Colleen and Vanessa. So having checked the bingo cards, Mike pulled out one to do the "walk of name" and Colleen was the lucky one. Her consolation prize for naming the people on her bingo... a stuffed moose, in Mike's words, "the closest thing to a moose you will see on this tour." There was much hilarity during the game and a lot of moose comments. Quite a bit of fun and before long we had arrived at Sturbridge Village.

Sturbridge Village is an outdoor museum which recreates life in New England from the end of the 18th century to the beginning of the 19th century. It is made up of about 40 original buildings that are operational and that have been moved to the site from nearby areas. It is a huge property and on this sunny day we got to wander around and really enjoy the olden days in New England. We started off at the Village Green where we went through the Towne House, home of Salem Towne Jnr and his family, a wealthy family and which was the home of one of the wealthy locals and the house dates to 1790. We then wandered further up the property, visiting blacksmiths, coopers, the dairy and the saw mill which was operational. This mill would have cut hundreds of thousands of yards of timber, all powered by water , with two small wheels and gears operating in the stream under the mill. We saw carding and spinning and weaving taking place as well. There was a lovely covered bridge called the Dummerston Bridge as that was where it came from, and the lake that surrounded it held the reflection of surrounding trees. It was just so pretty. 

This weekend was apple weekend at Sturbridge and so there were extra displays: we saw how they cider the apples for apple cider and we participated in an apple tasting of heirloom apples dating back to the origins of the farm. Some of them were really lovely, some of them were a little tart. We also spent a good bit of time wandering the Village Green before it was time to go back to the bus. All agreed it had been a really interesting experience. 

Our next stop was another outdoor Museum called Mystic Seaport, otherwise known as the Museum of America and the Sea. This is another recreation of a real seaport from the 1700's and 1800's. The Mystic River has been a shipbuilding area since some time in the 1600's and , while metal replaced wood as the ship building material of choice and the thriving port area declined in the early 20th century, it is still a thriving community and the museum seeks to restore ships and to faithfully recreate life and sea going experiences of days gone by.

The thing we were struck by as we exited the information centre was just how incredibly beautiful the houses on the other side of the river are... people live on this gorgeous water way in very well to do looking homes.  We wandered through the ship building area; unfortunately not much was happening because it was Sunday, but we could see a vessel in dry dock that they are currently working to restore. Around the docks as we walked around were a range of ships: some old and restored, others newer and still sea worthy and obviously privately owned: they were very impressive.  We wandered through several of the buildings, from Chapels to the Baptist Church which was the original 1850's Greenmanville Baptist Church, and houses and other buildings. There was a very interesting display of carved figures from the front of sailing ships and another display of the history of whaling, as one of their prize restored centrepieces is the Charles W. Morgan whaling ship. It is a very impressive vessel that we got to board, although I could not imagine being on it for years at a time and stinking of whale blubber. Still it was very interesting and they have created a record of names of as many of the crew of the ship over a period of almost 100 years and they had a big reunion of descendants of the crews... We checked the register and there were no Aldertons or Cherrys present. The grounds of Mystic Seaport are really beautiful and it was an interesting insight into  the obsession with sailing that this part of the world has. A great experience.

Back on the bus again, and to our destination of Newport, Rhode Island. What a phenomenal place. We had a quick orientation cruise around on the bus this afternoon and saw the church where JFK married Jackie. The real estate is expensive... the real-estate on the water blows your mind. We are staying at the Newport Hotel Inn on Amercia's Cup Avenue... like wow! So, given that I love a sunset over water we went out in search of one this evening. We nearly got blown away in the process but the view out to the Atlantic is pretty impressive. Pics taken, it was off to Buskers Irish Pub for Fish and Chips for dinner... and a shared piece of Pumpkin Cheesecake for dessert. Yummm. The wind was blowing cold tonight and so back to the hotel to blog in the warmth. And so ends another fabulous day... we started the day in Massachusetts, travelled through Connecticut for a while and are now in Rhode Island which completes out collection of the six states of New England. Mission almost accomplished.

Day 16: Moose Patrol in the Fall Fog

We woke this morning to the sad reality that the good weather that we have enjoyed for so long had finally left us. We were IN the clouds, literally at the bottom of the ski run at the bottom of Mt Okemo. On the way to breakfast we managed to find our way down the fire escape stairs and across the property rather than going the hiking route from our room to the Roundhouse for breakfast. This meant that we could see the resort more clearly and we discovered that there is even a bobsleigh run at this resort... that is some serious winter to be had. We asked Michael when they would be expecting the snows to start falling and he told us that sometimes they fall as early as Columbus weekend, which is next weekend. That is a fairly sobering thought,although there is certainly a chill in the air that had not been there yesterday.

On the bus rotation, we were in the front seat today and so we were on moose spotting detail, but were not feeling very confident because we feel that the Vermont Moose have been warned of our arrival and had no intention of showing themselves.  Still, on this very overcast fog bound day, it was great to be in the front seat looking at all the beautiful scenery as we headed down to our first stop of the day, The Apple Barn at  Bennington. This is a quaint roadside business that specialises in all things apple and maple. They have everything from apple cider doughnuts to 3 different grades of maple syrup, all available for tasting. Out the front of the store they had the biggest display of pumpkins that we had ever seen, all for sale of course and in amongst them, a blue painted moose, reminiscent of the painted rhinos and elephants that we had seen in England. I guess it was an omen... chances of seeing a moose? Once in a Blue Moose??? It was a fun stop and we would have loved to have taken home some of the apple produce if only we could have got the chutneys and jams home and through quarantine.

Next stop today was the Norman Rockwell Museum, not far out of Stockbridge. Now not being an art connoisseur, Norman Rockwell had not been on the radar. It appears however that he is a very much celebrated American artist who illustrated the front of the The Saturday Post from the early 1900's until his last issue, the memorial issue in 1963 that covered the assassination of John F Kennedy. This gallery is amazing. The illustrative nature of the work was amazing, the details on the facial expression of the characters, especially the children were just phenomenal.  The "Four Freedoms" were beautiful works as was the Main Street painting and many others. The lower level of the gallery shows every original cover of every Saturday Post that Rockwell illustrated. Very interesting to see the change in the style of cover, but very much the maintenance of Rockwell's style.  It was a pity that the weather was so wet while we were at the museum because the grounds were amazing and they had set up a replica studio exactly the way that Rockwell had them. One thing we certainly did see was the impact that the rain had on the fall leaves. When we arrived at the Museum it was only lightly sprinkling and the tree nearest to our drop off was resplendent in red foliage. By the time we got back 75 mins later about a third of the foliage was on the ground. Nature's fragility in action.

After Rockwell we went into the town of Stockbridge for a lunch break. Such a cute little town. Rockwell's Main Street featured some of the stores in the Main Street of Stockbridge: the general store is actually the one with the Christmas trees in the window and the original Alice's Restaurant was just around the corner. We spent some time in the St Paul's Episcopalian Church which again had fabulous examples of Tiffany stained glass in an otherwise very dark church building. Outside the lawn screamed of Fall as it was covered in a golden carpet of leaves. We mooched around a bit, had Butternut Maple Squash soup for lunch in a little cafe called Once Upon a Time and went for a walk and saw the hugest pumpkin imaginable at the Red Lion Inn, before the call of the bus came again and we responded, heading this time towards our accommodation at the Marriott in Springfield Massachusetts.

Dinner tonight was to be held at a place called the Salem Cross Inn at Bickerford, about a 40 minute ride from the hotel. We felt very sorry for Kevin as the weather conditions by this time had become atrocious and the driving was seriously hazardous, and not a fabulous spectator sport from the front seat of the bus. But we arrived there safely in time to see our dinner, a Prime Rib Roast roasting on an open fire in this restored 18th century farmhouse. It turns out that the farm had been owned by one family from its inception in 1703 until it was bought by the Salem family in 1950. Original designs had been to turn it into a golfing country club, but with a bit of help from a restorer who worked at the nearby Sturbridge Village, the farmhouse and surrounding buildings were converted to a restaurant specialising in old fashioned foods, hence the Prime Rib Roast. The food was lovely especially the apple pie for desert, but of great interest was the irony of the name of the inn. As I said it was bought by the Salem family, but they changed the name of the property to Salem Cross during the renovation process when a restoration historian told them about the special marking on the front door: The Salem Cross. During the Massachusetts witch hunts there was some significant hysteria around about the risk of being possessed or named as a witch. The Salem Cross, a triple lined marking crossed with an X was a sign of faithfulness intended to protect the inhabitants from witchcraft and was a declaration that no witches lived there. Given that Salem Massachusetts was one of the key places for the witch trials, the name of the owning family fitted very nicely with the significance of the newly discovered symbol. Meal over it was back on the bus and a trip home in somewhat improved weather. Here's hoping for tomorrow. End of a great day, regrettably no moose found, but all is well.

Day 15: Falling into Fall

Today's journey would take us far into the Appalachian Mountains as we made our journey from North Conway to Ludlow. While we would spend most of the day in New Hampshire today, by day's end we would add another state, ending up in Vermont. We had been warned again to layer the clothing as we would be going up and down the mountains and that we did...

Leaving the hotel, we went up Sugar Hill Road. On this less busy mountain road we made several stops to look across at the Presidential ranges from the other direction, and again Mt Washington could be seen all the way to the top.

There were a couple of lovely spots here as we stopped by the side of the road. We went to a place called "the Flume" and while we were not allowed to walk all the way up because there was not time on the tour, we did get to wander around near the visitor centre seeing more lovely colour. Our final stop in this area was at a bridge, named for one of the revolutionary generals. Here we got another lovely look at some colour and Liz decided to play in the fall leaves. The photos are not so good, but the idea was fun!

Michael had told us that today we would be grazing, and that there was no set lunch and morning tea stops. So that meant that when we arrived in Bath New Hampshire, a tiny little town, it was time to buy a sandwich to graze on as it would be our last opportunity for a while. So we went into the America's oldest continuously operated General Store, which has existed since the late 1700's. They had organised sandwiches for purchase outside so that the bus people could get their sandwiches more easily... having said that, as there were three other buses also in Bath at one stage, I don't think that there were actually any non-bus tourists. Still, it was a lovely little place, and with sandwiches and drinks in hand we headed down to the river to the Covered Bridge. Chris is really taken with these. We rode under one in the mini bus on our day in the Amish country, but this one was something else. It had a dedicated part for pedestrians to walk on and only one car was allowed across the bridge at at time. We saw several cross in the time we were there. Next we went up to the Congregational Church. Now that was an experience. Some of our fellow tourists were there playing the pump organ!! It is a beautiful old wooden church with pressed metal walls and pressed metal ceilings. They had a little women's stall at the front and we bought a piece of Pumpkin Pie which became the envy of many on the bus. The little old lady at the church said that they had had a Turkey Dinner at the Church the previous night and the Pumpkin Pie and Apple Pie that they had cut into segments and packaged, were the left overs from the previous night. I think that is about as authentic as you get. 

Back on the bus and time for a little nap as we wound our way down the Connecticut River valley, New Hampshire side on our way to Hanover for a stop in the Ivy League town that is home to Dartmouth University. Michael reckons that the fees at Dartmouth are "cheap" as Ivy League colleges go, starting at about $45,000 per annum! Ouch! At any rate, Hanover is a pretty little town, it is really a College town, and you can tell that the demographic is young. It would be a lovely place to go to uni in though I think. The buildings are beautiful and the village green is very pretty.

Another bus ride took us across the Connecticut River and into another US state, this time the Green mountain state of Vermont. It appears as though for a time Vermont was actually an independent country rather than a part of the Union, because the New Yorkers were hostile to the fact that the Vermont people would not pay them tax on the land after the American Revolution. All was eventually forgiven in the 1790's but it shows the lack of unity in the United States in those early days. Our afternoon  stop was at the Billings Farm which is a working recreation of an 1890's farm started by the Billings and Rockefeller families... There is that name again. We toured the farmhouse which was actually the home of the farm manager. On its lower level it had a state of the art butter churn that could make about 50 pounds of butter at a time and it was powered by water. Amazing for all those years ago. But what was even more surprising than that was that in the bathroom there was an indoor toilet and a heated bath! Guess it is a good example of money being able to buy an awful lot. We then went through a display of farming techniques and a display of every imaginable type of pumpkin.

The town of Woodstock  was only a short walk from the farm and so, rather than wait for the bus, quite a few of the party walked down into the town, past beautiful gift shops, to discover another covered bridge and then to sit in the autumn sun in the park and really experience FALL.. all around us the autumn leaves were literally drifting slowly to the ground. In a few days this magical display of colour will be gone for another year.  We even saw acorns up close, falling to the ground and Shirley showed us a photo she had taken of a chipmunk eating an acorn.... Chip and Dale eat your heart out. 

WE climbed higher into the mountains after Woodstock before descending just a little to Ludlow. Just out of Ludlow is out accommodation for the night , the Jackson Gore Inn's Okemo Mountain Resort. Now when I say mountain resort, I MEAN mountain resort. There is a ski lift almost right outside our room and it is a massive hotel which obviously does exceptionally well in the ski season. A little like staying in Perisher on steroids.  Tonight we shared a buffet dinner with our travelling companions before heading back up here to finish off the blog. So hopefully tonight good readers, you are reading today's news as we have finally caught up.