You know all that you hear about how gorgeous autumn is in New England? It's not just hype. The leaves were just hitting their peak and it really is stunning how vibrant the colors are. It is just a very beautiful region, with the mountainous landscape, rolling farm fields, saltbox clapboard houses, and great colors. That whole aesthetic Martha Stewart's always on about...that is totally embodied here. We both found that food seems much nicer here than in the midwest. Even basic sandwiches or pizzas have a healthy or gourmet spin on them, and everything really tastes fresh and delicious. We flew out of Chicago into Boston the Monday after the wedding and rented a car from Hertz. They upgraded us to a fat-cat Caddie DeVille, which was nice of them. We were both kind of giggling about driving this old fuddy car around New England, but it was a very comfortable ride, which was good, since we were on a driving holiday. We took off from Boston to head up to Vermont on route 2. Our first stop was in Concord, VT. We made our way after lunch toward Manchester, VT, where we had reservations at a luxe historical hotel (established 1769) called The Equinox. We magically got upgraded to a deluxe room here as well. We stayed here for 2 nights, did some hiking up Mount Equinox, ate some delicious grub (Marsh Tavern, The Village Fare, Cristos', The Lion's Share), did some crazy shopping at their ritzy designer outlet stores. We wound our way up the state and spent the night in a nice Comfort Inn in St. Johnsbury, which had a sleepy, small-town feel to it. For some reason or other, they also gave us a complimentary upgrade to a deluxe suite, which was nice. We set out to see more of Vermont the next day and drove up through Stowe, where we visited the Von Trapp Lodge, shopped around town, had one of the best burgers ever at Gracie's and then stopped for a bit of ice cream (we skipped the big tour) at Ben and Jerry's factory. We then made our way to the state capitol, Montpelier, which was EXCELLENT! One of Giao's favorite cities in Vermont, because she was truly astounded by the big city vibe in this town of 8,700 people. We made for Burlington, which must be university central, as there were colleges at every turn. We stayed in a bed and breakfast called the Willard Street Inn. This was a beautiful old mansion/manor house which was really nicely refurbished. We stayed in the Woodhouse Suite with a woodburning stove and a kickass bathroom. Despite the total renovation, Giao still got a vague vibe of creepiness and didn't get to sleep very much the night we stayed there. Dinner was nice, though, at the NECI Commons, a bistro-type of place that is an outlay of the New England Culinary Institute. After Burlington we worked our way downstate and eastward. We stopped to have a few walks through some points in the White Mountains. We then made it to Concord, New Hampshire, where we had a delicious lunch at an Italian Restaurant called Angelina's. Our very nice waiter at Angelina's recommended we visit Portsmouth, New Hamphsire when we asked where there was shopping to be done. We both loved Portsmouth, which has a great old city boutique kind of feel. We stayed at the Sheraton Harborside (we got the last available room that afternoon!), shopped the gorgeous boutiques downtown, and had dinner at a nice (though crowded!) resto called Bella Luna. Very Chicago kind of feel in its trendiness/crowd/food. The following day we headed for Massachusetts, where we had planned to stop in at Salem (famed site of the witch massacres), but must have misplanned the route, as we ended up in our final NE destination, Boston, in less than an hour's time. We stayed at two very nice, very different from one another, hotels right in the financial district: Nine Zero (a "boutique" hotel) and the Omni Parker House (which was elegant in an old world kind of way). Boston was a great city to walk, eat in, shop from. So many places we'd hit, too numerous to mention at this writing. Bottom line was, we loved it. We flew out from Boston to Chicago Monday morning, as we were due to catch a flight Monday night from O'hare to Heathrow, for the second leg of our honeymoon adventure. |
NEW ENGLAND October 14 through October 21, 2002 |
You know all that you hear about how gorgeous autumn is in New England? It's not just hype. The leaves were just hitting their peak and it really is stunning how vibrant the colors are. It is just a very beautiful region, with the mountainous landscape, rolling farm fields, saltbox clapboard houses, and great colors. That whole aesthetic Martha Stewart's always on about...that is totally embodied here. We both found that food seems much nicer here than in the midwest. Even basic sandwiches or pizzas have a healthy or gourmet spin on them, and everything really tastes fresh and delicious. We flew out of Chicago into Boston the Monday after the wedding and rented a car from Hertz. They upgraded us to a fat-cat Caddie DeVille, which was nice of them. We were both kind of giggling about driving this old fuddy car around New England, but it was a very comfortable ride, which was good, since we were on a driving holiday. We took off from Boston to head up to Vermont on route 2. Our first stop was in Concord, VT. We made our way after lunch toward Manchester, VT, where we had reservations at a luxe historical hotel (established 1769) called The Equinox. We magically got upgraded to a deluxe room here as well. We stayed here for 2 nights, did some hiking up Mount Equinox, ate some delicious grub (Marsh Tavern, The Village Fare, Cristos', The Lion's Share), did some crazy shopping at their ritzy designer outlet stores. We wound our way up the state and spent the night in a nice Comfort Inn in St. Johnsbury, which had a sleepy, small-town feel to it. For some reason or other, they also gave us a complimentary upgrade to a deluxe suite, which was nice. We set out to see more of Vermont the next day and drove up through Stowe, where we visited the Von Trapp Lodge, shopped around town, had one of the best burgers ever at Gracie's and then stopped for a bit of ice cream (we skipped the big tour) at Ben and Jerry's factory. We then made our way to the state capitol, Montpelier, which was EXCELLENT! One of Giao's favorite cities in Vermont, because she was truly astounded by the big city vibe in this town of 8,700 people. We made for Burlington, which must be university central, as there were colleges at every turn. We stayed in a bed and breakfast called the Willard Street Inn. This was a beautiful old mansion/manor house which was really nicely refurbished. We stayed in the Woodhouse Suite with a woodburning stove and a kickass bathroom. Despite the total renovation, Giao still got a vague vibe of creepiness and didn't get to sleep very much the night we stayed there. Dinner was nice, though, at the NECI Commons, a bistro-type of place that is an outlay of the New England Culinary Institute. After Burlington we worked our way downstate and eastward. We stopped to have a few walks through some points in the White Mountains. We then made it to Concord, New Hampshire, where we had a delicious lunch at an Italian Restaurant called Angelina's. Our very nice waiter at Angelina's recommended we visit Portsmouth, New Hamphsire when we asked where there was shopping to be done. We both loved Portsmouth, which has a great old city boutique kind of feel. We stayed at the Sheraton Harborside (we got the last available room that afternoon!), shopped the gorgeous boutiques downtown, and had dinner at a nice (though crowded!) resto called Bella Luna. Very Chicago kind of feel in its trendiness/crowd/food. The following day we headed for Massachusetts, where we had planned to stop in at Salem (famed site of the witch massacres), but must have misplanned the route, as we ended up in our final NE destination, Boston, in less than an hour's time. We stayed at two very nice, very different from one another, hotels right in the financial district: Nine Zero (a "boutique" hotel) and the Omni Parker House (which was elegant in an old world kind of way). Boston was a great city to walk, eat in, shop from. So many places we'd hit, too numerous to mention at this writing. Bottom line was, we loved it. We flew out from Boston to Chicago Monday morning, as we were due to catch a flight Monday night from O'hare to Heathrow, for the second leg of our honeymoon adventure. |
