September 2011
The New England Fall Colours reconnaissance trip 

The first four days of the New England Fall Colours Tour travel from New York (well Newark to be precise, but then across New York City), to Long Island, and then by ferry to Connecticut and onto Newport, Rhode Island. I am currently on the reconnaissance tour exactly a year ahead, for the real tour in September/October 2012, and so far very much enjoying myself, as I know tour participants will too.

I’m fortunate to be given either free rooms in the hotels we’re using, or vastly discounted rates, so rest assured this trip is adding very little in cost to the tour, but an incredible amount to my knowledge, which I can then pass onto tour participants, both in the tour book and in person. The sheer amount of information I’ve collected thus far is staggering, and I’m really glad I have a car in which to put it all for the moment. I just have to try and condense it onto the computer and the tour book before I fly home!

After arriving at JFK in the pouring rain, and stupidly relying on a sat nav/GPS to guide me across NYC (Manhatten at Friday rush hour in the rain is not to be recommended!), I eventually arrived at the beautiful house of Dennis & Barbara Mamchur in Verona, New Jersey. The Mamchurs were on our Italian Job Tour in July and are a really lovely and interesting couple. Sadly Dennis was away (at a car show) so Barbara and I chatted away over dinner in a superb restaurant overlooking New York.

On Saturday I went to visit the first hotel of the tour, the Short Hills Hilton, which is just 20 minutes from Newark Airport and the arrival port of the cars. Most importantly it has underground parking, and we are planning on having the cars transported to the hotel the day before tour participants arrive, as I figure that most people will not wish to start their tour at the docks. It also happens to be a luxurious and well-appointed hotel, albeit not the most beautiful on the outside, with spacious, comfortable rooms, a spa and pool, and great restaurant for our welcome dinner.

I then headed across to Long Island, taking the interstate past the Statue of Liberty, and then the Holland Tunnel to pop up on Manhatten. Taking the West Side Highway took me past the World Trade Center site, which is now a fabulous memorial park, and down to Battery Park, and across the Brooklyn Bridge: wonderful to see so many famous land-marks. The Long Island Expressway is by far the easiest way to get out of the city and onto Long Island proper, and after 20 miles I turned north to Glen Cove on the north shore – an area known as The Gold Coast, that once held the greatest concentration of wealth and power in America, in the gilded age before the Great Depression. Thousands of acres were purchased by the likes of JP Morgan, the Vanderbilts, the Roosevelts, & FW Woolworth to create their incredible mansions and estates, and the area is the setting for F. Scott Fitzgerld’s 1925 novel The Great Gatsby. I went to visit Mrs Bernstein, mother of Lex who, with his wife, Donna, was also on the Italian Job Tour. Mrs B and I had dinner so I was privy to lots of excellent information on the area and the best places to see.

The next day dawned foggy but soon cleared as I made my way north to Sag Harbor and took the first ferry to Shelter Island. It’s a lovely drive through pleasant wooded areas, past pretty houses and rocky coastlines. Another ferry from Shelter Island to the North Fork, which is renowned for its vineyards, before heading up to Orient Point. From here it’s a longer ferry (80 mins) to New London, Connecticut. It’s been warmer than usual, with temperatures in the low 80s (high 20s) and definitely shorts weather, which makes being by the sea even more delightful. I stopped at Mystic Seaport, formally known as The Museum of America & The Sea, with sixty buildings reflecting life in a 19th century sea-faring village, with its associated workshops and stores. Further along the coast the old fishing village of Stonington is also pretty, with whitewashed, clap-board houses. Afterwards I made my way to Newport, which is a real gem, and where the tour will be based for two nights at the superb Hotel Viking, one of the historic hotels of America. I continued along the north shore and then crossed to the South Fork to Hampton Bays and headed along to East Hampton. I’ve always wanted to visit the Hamptons, to see the holiday homes of the uber-rich and famous and I was not disappointed. Truly stunning architecture and enormous, yet somehow not too ostentatious homes in wonderful, natural materials such as cedar shingles which weather to a beautiful silver-grey, set in large, lawned gardens and some with a superb beach setting. Those lucky folk. And of course the towns had all the sorts of expensive boutiques you’d expect in such a neighbourhood, located on pretty high streets. All very stylish and desirable. And I’ve found a perfect hotel in East Hampton, the trendiest of the Hamptons, an easy walk from both the beach and town, that I’m sure the tour participants will love. I can also vouch that the beds are immensely comfortable.

I have to admit that I’m a huge fan of Newport. I visited the town in 2000 when we were part of a Morgan Club tour to America (the tour that essentially made me start Classic Travelling), and I loved it then. Now, having spent 2 nights here, I still think this is a fabulous place and I would happily move into one of the exquisite coastal houses on Ocean Drive (I wish). The town has so many historic buildings (pretty old even by European standards – 300 years or so) that give it such charm, with quaint streets, and beautiful buildings painted in lovely muted colours. The waterfront wharfs have a great selection of bars and restaurants from which to watch the yachts, or even enjoy a sunset cruise. Then there is the incomparable Bellvue Avenue, lined with the most incredible mansions, from the Vanderbilts’ (yes, them again) ‘The Breakers’, to slightly more modest fare. Think of Europe’s stately homes, huge chateaux and castles and put them all in one town and you have an idea of the sheer wealth that dominated. Many of the mansions can be visited, or you can see them all from the lovely 3.5 mile cliff walk. The town is also home to a variety of other museums, galleries, shops and is just a lovely place to enjoy.

Tomorrow I head to Cape Cod, then on to Boston and up the Maine Coast, from where I shall write my next blog.