Connecticut. Really? Huh.

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We took a look around both Hartford and New Haven, Connecticut today, and we didn’t really find the Connecticut that I had grown to know and love in the “The Babysitters Club” books I read during my adolescent years. Hartford was much less clean and pristine than we had expected (although we did run into one or two people that typified what we were expecting), and we actually found several abandoned buildings downtown.

In Hartford we toured the Mark Twain house (Hartford was once the national capital of literature), passed the Harriet Beacher Stowe (“Uncle Tom’s Cabin” author) house, quickly toured the Old State House, then took a self-guided tour of the new State House and checked out the Supreme Court courtroom across the street. (Hartford is the capitol of Connecticut.) Overall, we’re getting a little sick of historical houses where only the walls are original (and even those have been restored several times.) We’ve been more intrigued lately (and today was no exception) by the more current or working sites like the Supreme Court. (or the museums that are frozen in time, where everything is left just as it was in its heyday like we found in the MoTown museum in Detroit.)

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We also walked around the park outside the Capitol to the 1914 carousel. (I love that these New England states have all maintained these beautiful carousels) At the Carousel we were met by a downright alarming-looking group of operators that greeted us with “y’all gonna ride?” spoken through an exhale of cigarette smoke. We purchased two tickets for $2. Just as I was reflecting on how wonderful carousels are, one of the operators came up and staked out a spot behind us. As he talked and made signs with the other operators, Eric and I both actually thought we were being triangulated for a moment there (in Connecticut…while riding a carousel…) and I put my purse on my lap. Fortunately nothing came of it and we just decided to head to New Haven so that we could get there while it was still light out.

My horse at the carousel
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In New Haven we were expecting the distinction between the beautiful university and the run-down town surrounding it (we’d been briefed on that by friends). Our first stop was Frank Pepe’s, self-claimed inventor of the “tomato pie” -- otherwise known as American pizza. The line to get in wasn’t short, and it was long even when we left over an hour later. The pizza was good, but nothing to scream about. I guess the rest of America has improved on the design since its invention.

Then we took a pretty thorough look around the Yale Law School and took my picture in front of the Women’s Fountain (designed by Mya Lin, designer of the Vietnam War Memorial).

And now we are currently driving through the rats’ nest of freeways that is New York City (and New Jersey). Looking forward to our official “Rocky” day tomorrow!! Philadelphia, here we come!