Leaving Staten Island was probably never going to be simple, as there simply seemed to be no way of leaving NY and getting to Boston that didn’t involve driving through Manhattan. We left fairly early, though after rush hour, and made our way through Brooklyn, Manhattan and finally the Bronx before hitting
more open countryside and easier driving conditions. Brian is proud that he can now say he’s driven in Manhattan and it all went very smoothly actually. We made our way up the coast on the I-95 to Mystic, first making a detour to West Haven and New Haven, home of Yale University. Yale was very impressive but we didn’t stay too long and carried on up the I-95 only making another quick detour to go and visit Essex, where we completely failed to spot any TOWIEs or orange fake tanned people. Instead we saw the largest amount of American flags per square foot you can imagine – literally a flag on every lamppost as well on the front of each house. Even the centre line in the road was painted red, blue and white!! Not to even mention the fact that each and every house had a perfectly maintained lawn and white picket fence….it actually made me a bit claustrophobic as it was all so ‘perfect’ so we didn’t spend too much time there before getting out!
Mystic turned out to be a nice little town and The Inn at Mystic is definitely the best place we’ve stayed so far, with a very nice room and comfortable beds. After settling in and booking a room for the next night (north of Boston – Boston itself is VERY expensive for hotel rooms!) we went out to explore, stopping on the way at the hotel’s restaurant for a Happy Hour beer. Mystic town is nice and we had another beer at rip-off prices at an Irish bar, prompting Brian to say he’s never going in an Irish pub again! I reckon they charge tourists more than locals as nobody could afford to drink at those prices! For dinner we found Angie’s Pizza Parlour close to the hotel and of course I had to try a pizza with spaghetti, meatballs, ricotta and marinara sauce as toppings. It seemed a good idea at the time and it tasted really good, but I couldn’t manage more than three slices of a not very large pizza as it is just that filling! For me to give up so early on into a pizza that really is saying something! There was also a bar/lounge attached to the pizza parlour so we ended up having a few beers there at much more reasonable prices before turning in for the night!
Things I learned today: even if you stay in a rather nice hotel they still don’t do the large bathsheets that you tend to get in European hotels, but just the rather smaller standard type of towels. Also, spaghetti on pizza may sound like a good idea but you probably shouldn’t try it more than once! And WTF is it with this country and their toilets so low you have to practically squat down to sit on them? Tip of the day: use the disabled public toilets as they tend to be on a level for normal sized people!
Biltong and Burger 