New York City

Once in a lifetime you should visit New York City. Now it was time for us. The girl managed it to pilot us into Manhattan without paying toll. After returning the rental car we took a taxi to our hotel. We had a room on the 19th floor and the view from our window offered the Empire State Building. Due to the raining weather conditions we spent the half afternoon and the evening at the rooftop bar of the Peninsula Hotel.
Times Square at night is an experience but first we had to do the realy 'important' things. We spent about an hour in the M&M's World. Blue has now a new home! There were lots of seamen in town. Fleet Week! We saw also the starting grid of the Gumball 3000 race across America.
A day for lower Manhattan. We visited the 9/11 memorial, the Wall Street as well as the new One World Trade Center then again the tallest building in New York City. No New York visit without a boat trip. As it was afternoon we decided not to debark at Liberty Island. We've also been scared by the enormous waiting queue. We continued to Ellis Island that was the gateway for millions of immigrants to the United States. The immigration museum is very interesting and worth a trip. For our last day we decided to visit the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum where we walked through the submarine USS Growler and the World War II aircraft carrier USS Interpid. We didn't do the Concorde airplane for an extra fee (I've been in a Concorde in 1989 in England) and the Space Shuttle Enterprise hasn't jet arrived. In the afternoon we did the Bronx tour with the Hop-on Hop-of bus and our last hot spot was the 'Top of the Rocks' observation deck with great views of the Empire State Building and the Central Park. We enjoyed the sights in Manhattan but decided not wishing to live there because there isn't any silence at all.

New Haven, Connecticut

On our way to New York City we did a shurtcut through New Haven to visit the Yale University campus. We enjoyed a coffee and a bagel and walked around in the streets. After a visit to the local Apple store we left the village.

Newport, Rhode Island

Newport is known as a New England summer resort and for the famous Newport Mansions. Beginning in the mid-nineteenth century, wealthy southern planters seeking to escape the heat began to build summer cottages on Bellevue Avenue and by the turn of the 20th century, many of the nation's wealthiest families were summering in Newport. In the evening we had an 'excursion' to the police because of parking violation that blew over and the next day we took some nice pictures of the beautiful mansions.

Providence, Rhode Island

When entering the state of Rhode Island we hit Providence, the state's capital. Rhode Island is the smallest state in area of the 50 U.S. states. As small things tend to have huge signs they did so with the State House in Providence. The dome is the fourth-largest self-supporting marble dome in the world.

Boston, Massachusetts

In Boston one went on stripe. For the 'dumb' tourists they made the Freedom trail. It's a red (mostly brick) path through downtown Boston that leads to siginficant historic sites. But first we decided to visit 'America's most beloved ballpark' the Fenway Park. It serves as the home ballpark of the Boston Red Sox since it opened in 1912 and is the oldest Major League Baseball stadium currently in use. The first stop on the Freedom trail was the Massachusetts State House. After that we followed the trail from one sight to another sight and did also a shortcut to the Hard Rock Cafe. We took an excursion boat through the harbour and went up to Bunker Hill Memorial. The ambience of Boston was excellent but the historic landmarks weren't all the range.

Coastline, Massachusetts

When entering Massachusetts we decided to visit the Cape Ann peninsula, a rocky cape located approximately 30 miles northeast of Boston. When driving around we had the experience of a picturesque sundown.

Coastline, New Hampshire

After a 'short' visit to the Kettery Outlets close to the border of New Hampshire, we followed our way south on the scenic coast.

Coastline, Maine

Portland – Old Orchard Beach The ocean called for us. We entered the beautiful state of Maine and reached the sea at Portland. Just beeing on Mount Washington now at sea level. Our first stops were the scenic Portland Head Light at Cape Elizabeth as well as the Cape Elizabeth Lights and the Crescent Beach State Park late in the evening enjoying the 'silence' of the sea. Our booked accomodation in that region was at Old Orchard Beach. It's a hullabaloo town with a pier lined with souvenier shops and a night club at the end. Nearby there is also a seaside amusement park that dates back to 1902.

Kennebunkport The next day we followed the coast to Kenebunkport, a popular summer colony and seaside tourist destination. It is also the summer home of former U.S. President George H. W. Bush. The Bush compound is on Walkers Point.  

Cape Neddick The last lighthouse we visited in Maine was Cape Neddick Light. It stands on Nubble Island about 90 metres off Cape Neddick Point. The call it a famous American icon and a classic example of a lighthouse.

Mount Washington Auto Road

The most famous peak of the White Mountains is the Mount Washington. It's at 1,917 meter the highest mountain in the Northeastern United States. Going up to the summit is possible via the Mount Washington Auto Road which climbs 1,400 meters. The road was completed and opened in 1861 and therefore America's Oldes Manmade Tourist Attraction. We enjoyed the beautiful landscape as well as the good weather conditions.

White Mountains, New Hampshire

The White Mountains are a Mountain range in New Hampshire. They are considered the most rugged mountains in New England. On our way through we stopped at the Flume Gorge, a natural canyon, for a beautiful two hour hike. We spent the night at the Omni Mount Washington Resort at Bretton Woods. It's a huge building and a Historic Landmark as it is one of the last surviving grand hotels in the White Mountains. The Bretton Woods monetary conference took place here in 1944, establishing the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. That weekend three weddings took place in the hotel. We got a free room upgrade when checking in. In the evening we afforded a great meal in the Dining Room. Cool resort.

Concord, New Hampshire

The city of Concord is the capital of the state of New Hampshire. They have a beautiful State Capitol. The State House is the oldest state capitol in which the legislature meets in its original chambers. Beautiful State House!

Montpelier, Vermont

The next day we visited the State House at Montpelier. Montpelier is, by population, the smallest state capital in the United States. The population is approx. 8,000. Afterwards we stopped to take some breathtaking views of the Quechee Gorge. The focal point of the park is Vermont’s deepest gorge, formed by glacial activity approximately 13,000 years ago.

Green Mountains, Vermont

We continued our journey through the beautiful state of Vermont. We passed the Green Mountains via the Smugglers Notch mountain pass to Stowe. The Notch separates Mount Mansfield, the highest peak of the Green Mountains, from Spruce Peak and the Sterling Range. There are a fistful skiing areas in that area. We spent the night in Stowe at the Green Mountains Inn in a really beautiful room.

Lake Champlain, Vermont

Today we crossed the Lake Champlain by ferry and entered beautiful Vermont. The city of Burlington has a nice waterfront and a gemuetlich center around Church street. The ice cream company Ben & Jerry's is also located in that area. Hmmm!

Lake Placid, New York State

The Village of Lake Placid in the Adirondack Mountains hosted the 1932 and 1980 Winter Olympics. It is embeded in beautiful landscape between the Mirror Lake and the Lake Placid Lake. In the United States, the village is remembered as the site of the so-called Miracle on Ice when a group of American college students and amateurs upset the heavily favored Soviet national ice hockey team 4–3 and two days later won the Olympic gold medal.

In Austria, the nearby Whiteface Mountain is well remembered because of the alpine skiing downhill competition. Brave Leonhard Stock won the gold medal! To everybodys surprise, he came out of nowhere and made the most of the harsh conditions and took first place. Although he couldn't win a World Cup race until almost a decade later, the old saying: "Before Stock is down, we cannot give the crown", says it best.

Albany, New York State

Another day, another capital city. This time we visited Albany – the capital of New York. The State Capitol was constructed between 1867 and 1899 at a cost of $25 million (worth approx. half a billion current dollars). The ground floor was built in the Classical/Romanesque style, the next two floors in a Renaissance Classical style, and the fourth floor and roof work were all finished in Victorian-modified Romanesque. When watching the building it reminded me of Versailles.

Berkshire Mountains

The Berkshire Mountains in Connecticut are well known for their covered bridges. We spent the night at Bob's Bed & Breakfast at the Mount Pleasant Farm and enjoyed perfect New England idyll.

heading North

On our way north we did a stop in Trenton, the capital of New Jersey. They have a nice State House with a golden dome. To reach the Hudson River Valley we dropped into Princeton – well known for its University. Due to the bad weather conditions we didn't see a lot of the Hudson River but we can't change the weather. :-(

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Philadelphia – a popular nickname is Philly – was our next stop. It's been raining there. For breakfast we met a friend of Bine that she was close during her exchange semester in Strasbourg. There are many national historical sites that relate to the founding of the United States. Conveniently most of these historical landmarks are in the Independence National Historical Park at downtown. While raindrops were falling on our heads we watched Independence Hall as well as the Liberty Bell. On our way out of town we passed the boathouse row and the Eastern State Penitentiary.

Lancaster, Pennsylvania

On our way direction Philadelphia we did a detour through Lancaster County, PA that is well-known for a significant Amish population. The Amish are known for simple living, plain dress, and reluctance to adopt many conveniences of modern technology. It was exciting to look for them.

Washington D.C.

Once again America! We took a direct flight to Washington D.C. – the capital of the free world. The next two weeks we will do a big loop through New England. But first we visited the hot spots of the capital city of the United States of America. Capitol, the White House, the Air & Space Museum, the Museum of Natural History, etc. as well ...

... as a lot of memorials (the whole town is full of memorials). Within two sunny days we walked nearly 40 kilometres and visited also the Arlington National Cemetary and Georgetown. At least we picked up a rental car at Reagan Airport and headed north.