Manhattan Island, NYC
Friday evening, 23/8

We have arrived at our "apartment" on West 41st Street and done a brief recon of our immediate neighbourhood  (the Theatre District) to the north and east.  The apartment is more like a motel room with two hotplates, a rangehood and a sink.  There is not even a table and chairs!  The whole space would fit about three times into our classy hotel room in Boston last night, but it will be fine (and will encourage us to eat out!).

Our last postcard was from when we had just arrived in Quebec City.  What a great place that was! Although we had only three nights there, we made good use of the first evening and two full days for sightseeing in the city, the old quarter (Vieux Quebec) and the historic battlefields areas known as the Plains of Abraham.  Then on Monday morning we drove out to look at Quebec's waterfalls (99 feet higher than Niagara) and then headed south, crossing back into the USA and making for Rochester, Vermont, where Judy's cousin (another Rob) runs a berry farm with his partner Patricia.

Rochester lies on highway 100, which runs north-south along the White River and is surrounded by forested mountains, (which are soon to turn golden and red as autumn advances).  According to folks we spoke to in a nearby town, this means that Rochester misses out a bit on sunshine in winter, but Rob and Patricia's farm is in Sunshine Valley, just north of the town and in an ideal sunny spot for growing raspberries, blueberries and blackberries.

 We stayed three nights with Rob and Patricia; a great pleasure to be in a real home again.  There was a lovely mix of helping with farm work, sightseeing in that beautiful area, and good conversation and laughter (well lubricated with red wine) late into the night.  A special treat was a slideshow of some of Rob's family history archives, which ranged from letters home from Rob and Judy's grandfather to his wife during WW1, right up to family photos from their childhoods in Sandringham (and on  holidays all over).

We are very fond of Vermont, and were almost tempted by the "Keep Vermont Weird" tee-shirts.

We had a final breakfast together on Thursday (Judy's birthday) then drove the three or so hours back to Boston. There we returned the hire-car, found our hotel and selected a very swish restaurant for a candle-lit birthday dinner.

And today, the Amtrak train from Boston to New York, the reverse of our last Amtrak trip in the year 2000.  Very scenic as we came down the coast, often beside little yacht harbours and beaches crowded with swimmers and sun-bathers.

So here we are in the Big Apple, where the traffic noise couldn't be more different from Vermont's calm.  We're wondering if it's possible that the horn could be the first thing to just wear out on cars here.

Tomorrow we plan to go to the Visitors Centre in nearby Times Square, learn about subway tickets and what's playing on Broadway and start our NY visit in earnest.

Regards to all from Judy and Rob