But the best was still to come, when we arrived in Saugerties on the Hudson River - our B & B was this absolutely fantastic cottage, set near the amazingly gorgeous Esopus Creek. Thomas and I took I-don't-know how many pictures when we arrived, in the last half hour of daylight:
And again the next morning in the glorious dawn:
The proprietors' son lived on the premises in a little apartment off the kitchen area, and he prepared the most spectacular breakfast the next morning:
A bit hard to stir after that, I must say, but we had to, because we were leaving to go driving around the area for a while before heading back to New York City. I can heartily recommend staying here - the location is great, the proprietors are really friendly, and the house itself is well equipped and very nice.
Anyway, we headed off into the glorious day - first stop was the Saugerties Lighthouse. You have to walk a mile or two to get there, through wooded marsh landscape, with gorgeous views of the Hudson and surrounding landscapes on each side - it's like a little peninsula jutting into the river. The Lighthouse itself is now a B & B, and I'd say it would be pretty cool to stay there, but expensive too. I would prefer Esopus Creek though :)
After that we went off into the wild, and took a couple of wrong turns getting further into the Catskill Mountains. We ended up in this tiny village at a diminutive post office and got out to stretch our legs. A woman drove up with her friend on a golfcart-like vehicle and asked us if we were planning to rob the post office? Very very funny!
The region was very beautiful, all addressed in autumn frocks - we found the place below by chance, simply following a sign on a whim, and as you can see, it paid off. Lake Onteora was fantastic!
Monday morning, the Columbus Day parade is coming up and we're in Bryant Park near the New York Public Library with a coffee. *Aaah* Nice! I can't really remember exactly what we did that day, but I know it involved walking. I do remember where we spent the evening though - on top of the Empire State Building. Fair play to mum who is afraid of heights, for getting up there! She said afterwards that she wouldn't have missed it and it really was spectacular.
We arrived on the 86nd floor platform as the sun was slowly descending over New Jersey and we stayed until it was fully dark. Seeing the lights of New York come out was a breathtaking experience and we didn't really get tired of looking at them, especially the Chrysler Building, probably my favorite New York landmark (not in the picture, which is of lower Manhattan, with Brooklyn to the left and New Jersey to the right. You can also see the Statue Of Liberty in the distance).
The next day, our last full day, we went for a boat cruise around Manhattan. That is to say, we had to double back and couldn't do the full circle because of tidal issues. It was a really cool trip anyway though, under many bridges, and a wee detour to say hello to Lady Liberty:
We ended the day with a relatively brief visit to Central Park (which is enormous), before heading off to our last dinner together.
*sigh* What a week!
Now, in my next post, I promise I'll get back to finishing the report on the Barcelona trip......
1 comment:
I guess you were there while I was in Italy. It's great that you're working on your blog again. Yay!
Rose
Post a Comment