I continue my travel blog of my hugely enjoyable trip through New England by writing up about my time spent in the delightful state of Connecticut in this entry. Being New Englands southernmost state, and bordering energetic and buzzing New York to its I rather expected Connecticut to be busier and less New than my previous destinations so far - but boy was I wrong! Connecticut seemed quintessential New England, with lovely little towns filled with white houses and tall churches, people, and bodies of water everywhere - whether it was the sea, a lake or a river, houses seemed to be just built next to a waterway. I loved Connecticut, and enjoyed my time there very much.
After having gratefully received a lift from my mansion Air BnB host Chip back in Providence to the Amtrak train station, I boarded a short train ride out of the city and Americas smallest state, heading for what I thought was the most amazing day so far on my trip, and this was certainly saying something after my previous days. Thirty minutes later, whilst much of the trains passengers seemed to be
heading off for the bigger cities towards the I hopped off at the tiny little station in the absolutely adorable little town of Mystic, just over the state border from Rhode Island. Immediately the pace of life slowed, and as the train left the station, the peace and quiet of this lovely little place descended all around, and I felt I had hopped into a different world from busy Providence - this was nice!
In my planning, I was looking for somewhere to spend the day on my journey from Providence to my next in the Connecticut city of New Haven. I initially thought about stopping off in New London, an important whaling centre back in the day, simply because I thought it would be nice to spend time in a city named after my adopted home back in England. More reading led me to decide to spend the day in lovely nearby Mystic instead, and I was certainly happy with this decision. Mystic is home to the states most famous and popular tourist attraction, the Mystic Seaport Museum, and is also known in my eyes for being the setting of an eighties film called Mystic
Pizza. I hadnt actually seen this film before my trip, but I had very much heard of it, just like the film Mystic River, which is actually set on the Mystic River back in Boston, rather than the Mystic River flowing here through eastern Connecticut. After returning home I bought Mystic Pizza on DVD, and enjoyed it very much - I was also able to recognise many of the places in the film which Id already visited in the town. The film was actually inspired by the films screenwriter, Amy Joness, visit to the town and a previously unknown little pizza place there. Apparently she loved the pizza so much that she created a film about three waitresses who worked in the diner, including Julia Roberts. This was to be my first destination for the day ahead, as well as a brunch stop.
After getting off the train, I was hoping that there may be somewhere in town where I could leave my backpacks for the day while I walked around - no such luck unfortunately. There was a very friendly shop owner just across from the station who did actually offer to, but his shop was closing at
3pm and my train to New Haven wasnt leaving until 4.30pm. A friendly receptionist at a hotel in town was also just about to take them off my shoulders for me, when her manager stormed out of the office and absolutely refused to do so if I wasnt a guest staying there - I even offered to have a coffee in the adjoining hotel cafe, but that wasnt happening either. Ah well, I think I was going to have to get used to carrying my little travel buddies with me for the day.
The town centre was a short walk from the train station, beautifully set on a narrowing of the Mystic River before it opens out into the Atlantic Ocean beyond.
