Friday 31 may,
We arrive at Schiphol airport early, but we are not the only ones. Many people heard of the tighter security and arrive about three hours before departure. It takes us shorter than expected to check in and we go on a souvenir hunt. A lovely delftsblue pepper and salt set, a tulip broche, Holland pens for the kids, and all in a short time. Flight SQ24 of Singapore Airlines is completely full and leaves about 30 minutes late. The seven hour flight is over before we know it, a film or a computergame on your own private monitor and we are preparing for landing again.... The New York skyline is looking very different without the WTC towers. We are afraid of the tightened security checks and are expecting long queues at the Newark airport. But customs are really quit easy. After 90 minutes we are in our rental car driving towards Connecticut. We pass Manhattan and over the George Washington bridge ($6 toll) into the Bronx. It is in the middle of the day but it is very busy on the road. And then, suddenly, the concrete ends and the green starts. The I95 enters Connecticut. We collect some brochures and a map at the CT Welcome Centre. Time eat our first real american meal. After the hamburger we drive on and enjoy the beautifull green surroundings. The houses are mostly wood and Victorian style. Small churches with pitoresque graveyards in a green surrounding, it all looks like a fairytale. I am falling in love with it!
We are getting tired from the trip. And in Danburry we find a hotelroom in the Best Inn. A spacy room with two Kingsize beds and a little sitting area. Time to rest a little, take a drink and watch some tv. And then the adventure starts: " Warning: severe thunderstorms and tornado watch! " What? We never have these things at home. And we thought it was nothing to worry about when going to Connecticut. But the weatherman is very serious, and the normal program is interrupted. So there we are sitting in front of the television watching this storm unfold. Outside the wind is getting stronger and stronger as the red centre of the storm comes near to Danburry. We are on the topfloor and hear the wind bashing the roof. Sometimes it sounds like something is getting loose, the trees bend as far as they can and the hotelsign is treathening to fall over. Just at that moment the radar tells us the worst is over. And we go to sleep without any fear.

Saturday 1 june
Because of the jetlag we are awake very early. It is only five in the morning when we turn on the tv. After a short time the tv is making this strange beeping noise, but when turn off the sound, the beep stays. Tom opens the door of our room and all becomes clear, in the corridor orange lights are flashing and the sound is terrible: firealarm. As fast as we can we put on some clothes and go outside. Two firetrucks come to the hotel, but after a short inspection it is clear it is a false alarm. I am happy it is! In the mean time it became 5:30 and breakfast is ready. A sweet roll with coffee does wonders at this early time. After a refreshing shower we go to continue our Connecticut tour.

Our discovery of Connecticut starts in the west where we follow Route 7 up north. The 7 follows the Housatonic River through the green hills. Sometimes we see a small village through the green trees. Gaylordsville is such a village.There is a strange building that caught our attention. Later it will cost us lots of time to find out what it is. The neighboorhood has the story it is built by a german in memory of his daughter who died when fleeing from Germany. Every floor should contain something to remind of her. The historical society of Gaylordsville tell us by email that mister Jon Pol built it in memory of a child that was kidnapped....... (If somebody knows the exact story, we are glad to hear it!)

The next village along the 7 is Bulls Bridge. The graveyard of Bulls Bridge is placed along the Housatonic river, where the goose swim by.



Not much further a covered bridge spans the Housatonic. In the entire state Connecticut are only five orginal covered bridges left. Crossing the bridge you can look out of a īwindowī in the middle of the bridge and see the green trees surrounding the river. At the other side of the bridge is a small park, where you can make a short hike to a dam. Or go the wateredge and do some fishing. Many people go fishing here.



Next stop is Kent. The station caught our attention. The building is in good shape, but looks like it is not used as a station anymore. We make a short walk through the village and admire the wonderfull wooden houses and the lovely wooden church. Above us a few vultures circle around. The bookmarket is not open yet, and we donīt feel like waiting for that. So up north again along Route 7. We have an appointment at one in the last place along this route in Connecticut. Slowly but surely we are heading there.




Another covered bridge is along our route.This one at West Cornwall is much longer than the one at Bulls Bridge. At the other side of the bridge is a pitoresque village. Again a short walk and some pics of the wooden houses we like so much.

Despite of all the stops we made, we are more than an hour early in Canaan. Now we can use the things we got from the internet. The railway station of Canaan is the oldest still working station in the USA..... at least before it was burnt down. Only a small part is still standing, but one can see it must have been a great victorian style building. On to East Canaan. There is an old ironfurnace you can visit. In the last century ironmelting was the industry here. All components needed could be found in this area. The iron ore, the trees to make a fire and water to create an airflow. We are lucky, today is the first day in the season a volunteer of ´friends of Beckleys´ is at the furnace to explain everything. The volunteer is also very pleased when he hears his first guests come all the way from Holland. Although he doesnīt fully understand why we come to see this old meltingoven in Canaan when we live so close to the famous dutch meltingovens: de Hoogovens. Time to go to Mc Donalds, where we should meet Angie. Because the weather is great we settle ourselves in the grass under a shady tree. The peolpe passing do have this strange look in their eyes, but we donīt care we are sitting comfortable. Later Angie told us that she was afraid of not recognising us, but as no real american would ever sit under that tree there was no problem.....
We follow Angie and leave Connecticut to enter Massachusetts. A few mile and we are in Great Barrington. In the middle of the Berkshires, a great area to visit. Here we meet Yvon from Canada. Before we start hiking on Monument Mountain we wait a while to see if others are coming. After twenty minutes we start walking. Only a few hundred yards on our way we hear this screams: Hey Guys! Wait for us!. It are Lucille and her daughter Sarah.
We wait for them and the seven of us start our climb. Sarah (4) canīt stop talking, even though it is a really steep climb. Sometimes she has to be helped because the rocks are just to big for her to climb over. But she isnīt getting tired. We are getting tired ofcourse, but the view
on top is so magnificant that we forget it all soon. After the hike we go to a brewery in Great Barrington where you can also have a bite to eat. Here we meet Debbie and Catherine. It is a nice dinner and the evening passes quickly. Luckely Angie booked a motel in Great Barrington for us, so we can rest after a very tiring but unforgettable day.

Sunday 2 june

After breakfast at Friendlyīs we go to church, just to have a look at the building that is. The church is preparing for a service and we decide not stay.Not much further behind the trees we discover a castle. It is built with old big gray stones, just like many churches in Great Barrington. At least, that is what it looks like from far away. But a little bit closer it all seems a bit more modern. The sign at the entrance tells us the age of the castle, it is built in 1880. The fairytale is over. We do a little bit more siteseeing in Great Barrington and then we leave Massachusetts and drive towards Canaan, Connecticut again. Because we forgot to visit the graveyard yesterday. The graveyard in East Canaan is part of the Freedom Trail, because here lies the first black soldier that fought with the northerns. The Freedom Trail is a trail that stops at some points important in the liberation of the black slaves.
On to Hartford, capital fo Connecticut. An absolute must here is the State Capital. The dome of goldleave can be seen glittering from far away. When you get closer you can also see the beautifull statues. The building is decorated with statues of people that were important in the history of the state, but also pictures of famous and important events. Above one of the doors is the ´charter oak´ . In this famous oak they had hidden an important document to prevent it from falling in the hands of the english. Inside in the hall is a piece of the real oaktree. The building is closed during the weekens, so we canīt visit inside.



Closeby is the Mark Twain house, a house with strange architecture. In this house the famous writer wrote a.o. Huckleberry Fin. The house has 19 rooms and can be visited with a guide.
We leave Hartford and travel east. Through the green forrests we finally reach the coast of Massachusetts. In Plymouth to be precise. Plymouth is, according to the legend, the beginning of New England. It is here the first pelgrims landed. The pelgrims came from Engeland with the Mayflower. In Plymouth everything is reminding of that times. A copy of the Mayflower, de Mayflower II is in the harbour. This ship can be visited and on shore is exhibition about the pelgrims lives. On top of a hill is a pelgrim statue, an enormous statue looking out over the ocean. And ofcourse ther e are a lot of museums and the highpoint isthe rock , a rock with 1620 carved in it. This rock is in an ugly, temple-like monument. This is the exact rock the pelgrims landed at.......
It is clear there are many tourists visiting Plymouth every year. so you can find many hotels and restaurants.

Monday 3 june

The motel serves a free continental breakfast. And that is more than we expected, sweet rolls, all sorts of bread, cookies, jus d´orange, coffee, tea and even a newspaper. After we enjoyed that we follow a scenic route north in the direction of Boston. Now and then we have beautifull views of the ocean. Houses are great in this area. But we didnīt found out what they cost yet ;-) In Scituate is a nice white lighthouse. we stopped for a few pics. Ofcourse there is a sign with a terriffic story about the lighthouse. Daughters of the lighthousekeeper saved Scituate for an invasion by making lots of noise with pots, pans and a flute. If the story is true we will never know,but the white lighthouse sure makes a great picture against the blue sky!
We follow the coast north and reach Hull. From here we can see Boston. A plane is landing in Boston. Could not be Sharrie, because her plane is sceduled in about an hour. Just enough time for us to have a look at the graveyard.


Almost every grave has a little flag next to it. Since 11 september 2001 the heroes of the USA are remembered this way. There are different flags: The american flag for army. Most of the times this flag is in a metal holder with the regiment of the disseased on it. (He could be in the army over 50 years ago, and only died last year!) The red flag is for firemen and the white is coastguard. Some have all these flags as they served in all these couragous jobs. The graveyard of Hull is situated on a hill and there is a great view over the ocean. Maybe that is the reason one can only be burried here if he or she lived in Hull. Nobody else can buy a grave here due to lack of space.
Time to go to the airport of Boston. We should meet Sharris there. Sharrie is from Indonesia and also has a VirtualTourist page. She is now flying in from Toronto and leaving in a few hours for Iceland. But we wait and wait, no Sharrie. Even her flightnumber doesnīt appear on the board.Maybe she is transferred to another flight? or something else happened? anyway we canīt find her. (Later we learned her flight with American Airlines landed at the national terminal because Toronto is not considered international.....)
After one and a half hour we decide to go. We drive south on the I95, the Interstate highway. We take a scenic route, but we are disappointed by it. At the end of the day we reached Mystic, Connecticut. Mystic is a really tourit place and again many hotels. We choose Comfort Inn, and after a great dinner in the grillroom at the other end of the road it is time to sleep.

Tuesday 4 june

After an extensive breakfast at Friendly´s we go to the aquarium. The aquarium in Mystic is famous for its belugas. Belugas are white whales. The whales are in a display called the Artic Sea. They built a piece of the artic here. Between the rocks are big glass plates so you can see the whales under water too. At the other side of are some sealions in this display. There is always someone from the aquarium closeby to answer questions. And when you enter the aquarium there are big bulletinboards that display the feedingtimes. Iside the aquarium displays fish that need warmer water. After the aquarium we go to the other big attraction fo Mystic: the seaport. An old seaport is built here. It is a sort of open airmuseum where besides ships also houses and shops from that time can be visited. In every building there is someone giving a demonstration of some old trade or skill. For instance a blacksmith, a printer, a man carving statues for the ships. And a highlight is the whaler. At certain times a man is demonstrating how they caught a whale from a small boat. There are also some buildings with paintings or other artforms all connecting to the sea. Just to muh to see in one day. But the tickets can also be used the next day!
The entire day in the sun made us thirsty, so we decide to buy some beer. There is a special Mystic Seaport beer, we have to try that ofcourse. We try the dark kind, and its great!

Wednesday 5 june

Our last day in the USA already. When we open the curtains we notice that it is raining. Not a little bit, no it is pooring. So first a long easy breakfast. And when we leave Mystic it is almost dry. We follow the coast of Connecticut to the west. Now and then we stop to make some pictures. Fpor example in Fort Saybrook. There is no fort anymore, that is long gone. But the signs tells us the dutch have a history here too. A dutch tradingparty was the first european party to set foot on Connecticut soil. They followed the Connecticut river to Hartford. They left signposts everywhere stating this land was dutch. but the english simply put the signs down and quickly built a fort to stop the dutch from reclaiming. As they were merchants and no army they just gave up on it. Nowadays there is a monument for the railroads here. A plan of a roundhouse where the trains where turned is serving as a monument now.
When we enter New York State the sun starts shining again. Beautifull views over the Hudson river. We stop at militairy academy Westpoint. But since september 11th you can only visit it when you register with your passport and only with a guided tour! No time to wait for the next tour so on we go. Somewhat more south is a birdsanctuary. It is real hot now, and the birds are all hiding so we donīt see much.
Time to go to Newark, NewJersey. Our flight with Singapore Airlines leaves at nine thirty, but we want to eat something at the airport first. It is all going well, but when we see the queue at checkin we donīt believe in it anymore. Asian people taking everything you can buy in the USA for their families. No one has less then 3 suitcases and most have lots more...... After more than an hour we have our boardingcards and there is some time for us to eat too!
It was a short but great trip to a part of the USA that must have more credit than it has now in Europe. Again a destination we want to go back to. Maybe sometime when the trees are not green but all the other nice autum colors..........