Bonjour!

Bonjour nos amis! ... even John has got into the spirit of Montreal! We arrived here last night, sad to leave the USA, where we've had a wonderful time, but keen to experience Canada ... and looking forward to heading home in two weeks, too!

The train journey from Albany NY, where we left the car (we'd driven 1600 miles - 2500 km on our New England odyssey) was unexpectedly wonderful. We travelled along the New York-Vermont border most of the way, firstly along the Champlain Canal, and then beside Lake Champlain, and Lake Placid ... and we mean BESIDE! The train lines were within a few metres of cliff edges and/or the lake edge for much of the way, the sun shone, there were still golden leaves, the fields were green - it was a glorious trip! The only thing which spoilt our joy was the Canadian Customs people - they were fine to us (we have fair skin, white hair, blue eyes) but they were truly abominable to those who were coloured, especially Dan, a Canadian citizen, formerly from the Ivory Coast, who sat opposite us. He was carrying a huge new book on computer science that he had written with two Harvard professors, but the "thugs" complained that he hadn't listed it on the gifts & purchases he was taking into Canada, and gave him a hell of a time, on and off the train, while we waited for 35 minute. We'd seen racist treatment like this last time we caught a train to Canada - apparently things are no better, and possibly worse!

Fortunately, we had decided to stay above the station, at the wonderful Fairmont Queen Elizabeth, so we had immediate comfort when we disembarked - we'd paid basement rates from Australia for "Montreal's best hotel" . Today we travelled all round town on the local bus, and we plan to spend the afternoon underground ... most of the shops are underground, linked by tunnels, so that business doesn't stop in the long snowy months. First, though, we plan to EAT - everything is so wonderfully French that we just can't help ourselves. Our bodies are in Montreal, at the moment our hearts, like those of a lot of Canadians, are in Paris. Au revoir!

11/11 ... 49 .... 50

We've done it! Yesterday we braved Veterans Day holiday traffic to drive through Rhode Island into Connecticut, our 5oth US state!

To make the day even more special, we travelled from Hingham, just south of Boston, along the Atlantic coast (huge waves, some splashing almost to the top of a tall lighthouse!) to Plymouth, remembering veterans of all wars (not just the US) as we drove. We viewed the Plymouth Rock and the reproduction of the Mayflower ... and the most kitsch souvenir shop we have EVER seen, anywhere in the world! (Just wait until you see the photograph of John in a plush Thanksgiving Turkey shaped hat!!!)


Leaving the coast we drove past cranberry bogs to northern Rhode Island, which was notable for two features ... (A) we travelled 33 miles (55 km) in total from one side to the other of Rhode Island ... (B) we decided to have a "weiner" for lunch - picture a skinless frankfurter in a roll, covered with mustard, raw onion pieces, and chewy 'sloppy joe' style minced steak - NOT a culinary delight to be repeated!

Connecticut was a pleasure to arrive in - better roads, much more scenic, less crowded - and the sun shone for the first day in a week. We arrived at our ATC hosts', Pete and Ann's, house at East Hampton just as the sun was beginning to set over Lake Potosauc, directly across the narrow country road in front of the house, and it was a beautiful sight - awakening to the sight through our bedroom window of the sun shining on the lake this morning was equally beautiful. John spent the day talking with Peter, reading the papers, raking leaves while Frances went to a Ladies' lunch at which Ann & Peter's daughter, Sue, was the guest speaker - and she was brilliant. Tomorrow we move on, but we feel 'complete', having achieved our goal in such a pleasant fashion, and (almost) ready to move on to Canada by train on Sunday.

Busy in Boston

This morning we're on the verge of completing our aim of visiting 50 states - later today we plan to drive through #49, Rhode Island, on our way to #50, Connecticut.

In the meantime, however, we are enjoying wonderful Massachusets! We're staying with Affordable Travel Club members Bob and Carol at Hingham, a delightful town on a bay near Boston, and yesterday it was Boston that we went to see ... and did we ever see it! The weather was extremely cold - 40F (about 5C) - and windy, but the misty rain of the last few days had stopped, so we hung onto our hats and headed for the ferry, for the 30 minute journey to Boston - a great way to miss the traffic.

Once there we bought tickets for the Old Town Trolley and set off around the town for nearly two hours, looking at the sights from the trolley. Once we had an overview, however, we then began to use the trolley's on-off facility ... we started with King's Chapel, the oldest Episcopalian (Anglican) church in the New World, because we'd seen a sign announcing a half-hour midday service - beautiful music and an interesting talk by a blind black minister, accompanied by his dog. Over the next hour and a half we visited the King's graveyard (resting place of the first woman to set foot on the country with the pilgrims) and the Granary graveyard, where we saw the markers for Paul Revere, Samuel Adams, Benjamin Franklin's parents ... and Mother Goose! ... and had "Mac'n cheese" for lunch ... and John used the Ladies rest rooms at the prestigious Parker House hotel! (The mens facilities were locked, so we sneaked him in). We wandered through the old town, visited the old State House museum, where we saw some tea rescued from the boots of one of the Boston Tea Party perpetrators on the day of the incident, and the balcony where Queen Elizabeth finally accepted the Declaration of Independence ... in 1976, not 1776.

Another stop was in the Boston Gardens, near the Boston Common, but more formal, with a central pool and beautiful trees, where first we saw the wonderful bronze sculptures of Robert Mcloskey's ducklings (from the book 'Make Way for Ducklings"), then met Mr Devlin, an old man who was feeding squirrels nuts, with whom we had a great conversation.

We loved Boston! This is a city that we would enjoy returning to. State #48 has been a delight.

From the sublime to the ridiculous!

If things were always wonderful, would life become boring? Well, we don't know, because there's enough variation in our trip to keep us well and truly on our toes. We left Maine, having followed our wonderful times at the Manor Inn at Castine and the Bar Harbor Inn with a delightful night with ATC hosts Fred and Cheryl and their huge labradoodle, Beamer, and headed back into New Hampshire, anticipating another delightful night at the Crotched Mountain Resort at Francestown NH (wonder why we chose to go there?) Almost every school in SE Maine was closed, due to huge winds and rain, but we paddled along country roads inland with no problems at all, and spent some delightful hours at the Shaker village outside of Concord NH, arriving at the resort just on dark ... which is now 4.30 pm because daylight saving ended at the weekend!

As we waited for the inefficient girl on the desk to finish several phone calls before booking us in, we saw a notice on the counter about an e-coli problem at the resort, only to be told that it was nothing to worry about. You can imagine our horror when we got to our condo to find a 5-page document from the EPA, telling us, among other things, to boil all water for 2 minutes before drinking, NOT to shower, NOT to clean our teeth, NOT to wash our hands after going to the toilet, NOT to use plates, cups, cutlery etc until it had been soaked in a bleach solution for 30 minutes!!! These fussy Aussies immediately rang the desk to be told "Oh, just don't worry about it"!! However, we persisted, insisted on speaking with the manager, and there were great back-downs all round ... with the result that we left the resort (thankfully!) and proceeded some 20 miles (30 km) through the darkness, wind and rain, to the Jack Daniels Inn at Peterborough NH, where our accommodation was pre-paid by the resort (we'd booked, and paid previously, from Australia). What a welcome they gave us!

We now have had our faith restored, feel that we have at least a fair-to-middling chance of continuing to travel healthily, and are heading for Boston. Wish us luck!

PS On the television news this morning (worth watching now that the mid-term election is over, and the ghastly political ads gone) there was news that the Carnival Splendor, the wonderful new ship we spent 7 weeks on in 2009, around South America, has had a fire in the engine-room, and is floating helplessly off Mexico with 4,500 passengers and crew on board. They are VERY much in our thoughts!

It's becoming a habit!

It was with some regret that we left the Manor Inn at Carstine, ME, and headed for Bar Harbor ... this should have only been a journey of 55 miles, but we did more than 100 miles (160 km) as we meandered back through Penobscot and down the peninsula to Deer Island and Stonington, following places where Robert McCloskey had lived, and written his books. We bought fresh goats cheese flavoured with orange zest and cranberries outside a local hall, and grabbed a late bowl of chili at a food co-op as we travelled - we needed something to warm ourselves up as it was a grey, damp, foggy day ... we could see quite some distance, but as soon as we drove up a hill we were back in the fog again - it was quite eerie, with patches of colour gleaming faintly through the mist from the remaining Fall trees, and mossy rocks beside the road glowing emerald beneath the pines.

It was nearly 4pm when we got to Bar Harbor, and already getting dark. We hadn't booked anywhere, as this is a very important seaside resort, and there are dozens and dozens of motels and hotels ... the only problem was that they were nearly all "Closed for the Season"!! We drove around and around, and were starting to despair, when we came to the Bar Harbor Inn, sited right on the water, at the end of the main street. This is one of THE places - last year Fodor (the rich American's answer to Lonely Planet) named it as one of its "Top Establishments in the World" (there's a small plaque inside, saying this!). Oh well, we thought, we're getting really short on choices, and it IS off-season, so maybe we'd give it a try ... and here we are! We have a large room (no, nowhere near as large as the Manor Inn, but very large for our standards) with two chintz-covered Queen beds, a mahogany table and two armchairs, with a ground-level balcony overlooking the lawns and garden beds which are between us and the sea - all of 20 metres away - and all for the same price as the Manor Inn! No, we're NOT eating in the dining room, thank you (there's hardly a dish under US$40), but the breakfast is free, and we ate so much this morning before we set off for Acadia National Park that we went without lunch.

As you can imagine, we were ready for dinner tonight, which we ate at a local bar called the "Whistling Whale". John, with his seafood allergy, dined on mushroom soup and fish and chips, which he pronounce 'excellent'. I ate the BEST clam chowder I've ever tasted, and a roll filled with juicy Maine lobster - a meal doesn't have to be fancy to be truly memorable. I've been avoiding chowder following an unfortunate lunch when we were on the ferry to Vancouver Island - and an even more unfortunate 'parting of the ways' with that same bowl of chowder in our host's car an hour later (Thank Heavens I had a secure plastic bag, but it was SO embarrassing!)

Now I'll spend the rest of my life trying to make a chowder as good as the one in Bar Harbor - it was brilliant! We'll be sorry to leave this part of Maine.

A Time of Wonder!

Having driven more than 300 kilometres (200 miles) from New Hampshire into Maine, on damp roads, needing the windscreen wipers, but with very little rain, we were relieved to reach the Atlantic Coast at Penobscot Bay. Why did we head there? ... Well, when Frances first started training as a teacher-librarian in 1971, she fell in love with a picture book titled 'A time of wonder' by Robert McLoskey, which was set on Penobscot Bay. So, with little knowledge of the area, we drove to Penobscot, only to find that it had about 20 houses, and no accommodation - and the non-existent sun was preparing to set, and we had no clue as to where to go next.

One road looked good, so we followed it along the edge of the bay, and through the country, and came to a remarkable little town called Carstine. Established by the French about 1613, it was taken over by the English, and at one brief stage by the Dutch, and then the Americans. It now boasts a large Marine Academy which trains merchant seamen, and the academy sits in the middle of dozens of wooden "cottages" - large holiday homes built by the rich in the late 1800s and early 1900s. We asked at the local bookshop as to whether there might be any accommodation available - this is now "off season", and most places are closed for the winter - and were directed to the Manor Inn, a long double-storied building surrounded by several acres of grounds, overlooking the bay and the township. It was pouring rain when we arrived, and nearly dark, but in we went, and were welcomed heartily - the only guests for the night, but assured that there would be other locals present in the bar and dining room by dinner time.

We paid our US$135 and were directed to our room ... and talk about a time of wonder! It wasn't a room, it was a suite - and it was huge! The main room was 9 metres (28 feet) long and 6 metres wide (20 feet) and held a huge four poster bed, while at the other end was a large fireplace, furnished with a good supply of logs. There was a large couch, two large armchairs and two small, a writing desk and several antique cabinets - and there was still enough room to have held a party! To one side was the bathroom with a beautiful claw-foot bath, a large walk-in shower and modern toilet (commode for the Americans) and a black-marble topped vanity basin set into an antique bow-fronted cabinet. But there was yet more! At the far end of our bedroom, beside the fireplace, was a door, which led to a sunroom furnished with a full-size daybed, two chairs, and pots of plants, which had windows on 3 sides, overlooking the bay and the forest behind. Wow! This suite, it seems, had been the haven of a lady who had survived the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco and the fire which burnt the Fairmont Hotel where she was staying ... and who had, with her sister, also survived the sinking of the Titanic. How lucky can you be?

Suitably polished-up, we went down to the bar for a gin and tonic, and thus began the most fantastic evening with the locals. Sally and Fred, who have a farm in New Jersey and a holiday home at Carstine, adopted us, and we spent the evening with them, their young estate-agent friend Hank and Susie and Jess, who were both connected with libraries. We dined on a wonderful fish-and-tomato based chowder (no seafood for John!), crab cakes for Frances, chicken for John, and scrumptious desserts, while we all talked and laughed, and had a wonderful time, spinning yarns and enjoying one another's company. Everyone had something different to tell - Sally was an actress, Fred grew corn, Hank's father had been in the foreign service, Jess's parents were Jews from Poland and Romania, and Suzie told of how her she and her sister, tired of listening to a choir on the lawn of Kennedy's White House, went inside to look for 'Uncle Jack', her sister's god-father, and set off a security panic!

All this - and we had still to go up the stairs to our wonderful bed, to lie under the canopy and look at the flames in the fireplace, to sleep on feather pillows under a feather doona, and to wake with a view of the many islands and headlands in the bay. We love Maine, we loved Carstine, we loved the Manor Inn ... this was a travel experience par excellence, and a million miles from the image most people have of America ... definitely a 'Time of Wonder'!

State #46

Our trip is going by so fast, that if we don't write about New Hampshire in retrospect, we'll leave it out - and it was too good for that, so this is just a short blog to include it in our tally.

Like Vermont, NH is a longish, narrow state, and as we're travelling across, rather than up and down, we travel quickly, and thus were in New Hampshire for less than 24 hours. We're returning there, further south, after we've been to Maine, though, so then we'll be much more informed.

Soon after we crossed the border from Vermont, we came to the little town of Bath, which has the most wonderful covered bridge. We'd seen 3 or 4 other, shorter covered bridges as we drove, but somehow they were always in places where it was impossible to stop, but this time we were able to stop and really enjoy the sight.

Then we discovered that we had stopped outside of "America's oldest general store", so of course we had to have a look through that too - not that we were particularly impressed mind you, as the owner greeted us with "What are you doing here? The tourist season is over"! We, of course, consider ourselves as travellers, not tourists, so we just laughed ... and promptly left, without buying anything.

Our Affordable Travel Club hosts for the evening, Nancy and George, were much more welcoming, when we arrived at their beautiful home overlooking the snow-covered White Mountains through huge windows, as we sat in front of the fire, enjoying local cider (Frances) and black tea (John) the setting sun turned white to the most amazing apricot-pink - it was remarkable!

On Thursday we drove a kilometre (or half a mile, if you're American) to see the Franconia home of poet Robert Frost before we left the area. We then had the choice of two routes to Maine - the scenic route to the south of Mt Washington, or the more direct northern route. Directness won, because the weather had turned grey and drizzly - and were we pleased ... see our next blog to find out why ... !