Day 23: Along the Hudson River to Albany

On Tuesday I retraced my train route from Boston to New York City and then took the train from New York to Albany along the Hudson River. The direct train from Boston to Albany had been canceled, perhaps due to track work, which necessitated the two-step trip through New York City.

The two and one-half hour ride up the Hudson was spectacular. The weather was quite different from the weekend, cloudy, gray and misty, which made the scenery perhaps even more dramatic. The train closely follows the east bank of the Hudson for most of the trip, with great views of the palisades, bluffs, and deep green hills with wisps of mist on the opposite shore.

We passed many historical sites and landmarks along the way, including the George Washington Bridge, Tarrytown (site of Washington Irving's "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow"), the Sing Sing Prison at Ossining, the West Point Military Academy, and Hyde Park (Franklin D. Roosevelt's home), among other places.

Arrived in Albany late in the afternoon. It's a city with lots of interesting older buildings along with the Empire State Plaza, which has a Brasilia-like series of stark office towers set along a plaza leading to the ornate Nineteenth Century State Capitol. Stayed in a bed-and-breakfast in a block of row houses across from a large leafy park.

West Point Military Academy

View across the Hudson River
north of West Point

Bridge across Hudson at Rhinebeck

Washington Park neighborhood in Albany

Day 22: Boston

Drove from Portland to Boston in the morning. Weather was beautiful - sunny and in the 70s.

Visited my Aunt Connie (my mother's sister) at her retirement home in Cambridge in the morning. Minor glitch - I arrived about 15 minutes before my 10:00 a.m. scheduled arrival time, but was caught in gridlocked traffic behind the Cambridge Memorial Day parade, which was passing right in front of the retirement home, so by the time I waited for all the bands and Little League teams and fire trucks to go by and parked several blocks away, it was 10:30.

In the afternoon, visited my cousin Anne (on my father's side of the family) in Brookline. We took the "T" (streetcar/subway) downtown and spent most of the afternoon walking through the colonial houses in the North End, past Paul Revere's Old North Church and along the waterfront to the U.S.S. Constitution, then back along the harbor walk past many new hotels and condo developments. Big sports day in Boston - Bruins played in the Stanley Cup Finals at the Boston Garden at 8:00 p.m. and Red Sox played at Fenway at 4:00. Finished our walk at the Boston Common, where thousands of American flags had been placed on the lawn to honor veterans for Memorial Day.

Anne at her Brookline home

Boston Bruins fans on the “T”

U.S.S. Constitution,
with Bunker Hill Monument in background

Memorial Day Flags on
Boston Common

Days 20 and 21: Portland, Maine

Drove to Portland on Saturday to visit my mother’s cousin and childhood best friend Janet. She’s in her 90s and is an avid book reader and excellent photographer. She takes care of the pond behind her condo, does research on her iPhone and enjoys life.

Toured Portland today. It’s an attractive and lively city with lots of solid Nineteenth Century red-brick buildings in the Old Port area. I went on a ferry ride in Casco Bay, walked around the Old Port area, and went on a bicycle ride along the Eastern Promenade.

Portland’s Old Port area

Bicycling along Portland’s Eastern Promenade

My mother’s cousin Janet and
her daughter Abi and son-in-law Scott

Days 19 and 20: Concord, New Hampshire

On Friday, I took an early train from Providence to Boston and then took a bus to Concord, New Hampshire to visit my college roommate, Chris Porter, and his wife Margaret, who's a historical biographical novelist. They live in a former municipal water pumping station built in 1890 with a recent residential addition in a pleasant neighborhood of mostly older colonial homes.

Visited the 1819 New Hampshire State Capitol, which includes a 400-seat House of Representatives, the largest state legislative body in the country. Margaret is a former state representative, so she was a good tour guide. Also toured Concord, including the Main Street lined with Nineteenth Century red brick storefronts, and St. Paul's School, a well-known quintessential New England prep school.

On Saturday morning, took part in a very popular New Hampshire tradition, attending a Presidential primary campaign event at a home in Chris and Margaret's neighborhood. This one was for Mayor Pete Buttigieg from South Bend. It was well-attended and the weather was great. I was told that there are dozens of similar events in Concord in a given primary cycle; some residents are diligent about attending many of them before deciding who to vote for, and others are more selective.

Margaret and Chris Porter 

New Hampshire State Capitol

Margaret pointing out her former seat
in the 400-seat House of Representatives

Presidential primary campaign event
for Mayor Pete Buttigieg

Day 18: New York City to Providence

Took a midday train for the three and one-half hour ride from New York to Providence. An all-coach train, filled to capacity. After we emerged from the tunnel under the East River at Sunnyside, Queens, we had some good views of Amtrak's Sunnyside yards, the midtown Manhattan skyline and the massive bridges connecting the boroughs.

Then it was on through the affluent New York and Connecticut suburbs close to the city (New Rochelle, Stamford and so forth), the belt of somewhat tired industrial cities in central Connecticut (Bridgeport, New Haven and others), and some scenic stretches in eastern Connecticut with harbors full of sailboats and weekend homes on the water,

After arriving in Providence, I toured the State Capitol. It's nice, built in 1904, with a very ornately painted interior under the dome and an interesting chandelier. It has some similarities to Wisconsin's and California's Capitols, because it's situated within a large park, but it's some distance from the center of Providence and doesn't show many signs of activity except during the day when there's legislative activity.

Then it was on to a walking tour of Providence: Benefit Street, with attractive Colonial houses; the Providence Athenaeum, an 1838 library and reading room with books and artifacts; Brown University, with a somewhat mixed collection of brick and stone buildings around a historic quad; and the downtown, with some interesting newer and older buildings.

Finally, I watched WaterFire, an event at dusk in a cove between downtown and the Capitol where boats with torch-bearers are used to light a circle of floating braziers, creating a ring of fire, accompanied by music. It's quite a scene and draws a large crowd. To add to the excitement, while waiting for the event to begin I came across a reception for a National Association of State Treasurers conference and chatted with several of the attendees about various money management and public policy issues such as the administration of state unclaimed property programs.

Rhode Island State Capitol

Providence Athenaeum

Brown University:
Prospect Gates and University Hall

The East Side has many houses from the 1800s

Day 17: The Jane Hotel (Out of the Ordinary)

I stayed at a highly unique hotel in New York City: The Jane Hotel, in Greenwich Village, a few blocks south of the High Line. Quirky, reasonably priced, and fascinating.

The Jane was originally a lodging house for seamen, who walked there from the piers across the West Side Highway. It's in a 1908 red-brick building designed by the same architect who designed the buildings at Ellis Island. Everything is very nicely designed and solidly built.

The standard rooms are small, like ship's cabins (or roomettes on trains), with one bed or bunks. Shared bathrooms are down the hall; robes are provided. As a bonus, the bathroom windows have views of the Statue of Liberty, especially nice when it's lit up at night.

The Jane has many advantages: Interesting architecture and décor, reasonable rates ($125 per night for a single), great location, friendly staff and an eclectic clientele. They say they have a long tradition of housing guests with more dash than cash. (I wonder if I qualify in the "dash" category?)

Check-in at The Jane Hotel

Standard single room at The Jane Hotel

Room at The Jane (like a ship’s cabin)

Old Rose restaurant/coffee shop at The Jane

Day 17: Washington to New York City

Took a morning train from Washington to New York City, riding in coach. The train was filled close to capacity. It's a much different atmosphere than on the long-distance trains in the West. People are inclined to keep to themselves, in part because many of them are traveling for work purposes and are getting ready for meetings or checking email, but I think also because the pace of life in the East is faster and people aren't as inclined to chat and just want to go about their business.

The train passed the row houses of Baltimore, the scenic rivers flowing into the Chesapeake Bay, and the bank buildings and chemical plants in Wilmington, Delaware. In Philadelphia, we caught glimpses of the city skyline, the Art Museum where Rocky ran up the steps, the picturesque boathouses used by the crew teams on the Schuylkill River, and a lot more row houses.

Everything got more dense as we approached Manhattan through New Jersey. We could see the Manhattan skyline in the distance just before we entered the tunnel under the Hudson that took us into Pennsylvania Station.

Row houses in Baltimore

Boathouses on Schuylkill River in Philadelphia

Manhattan skyline from New Jersey