[ThoNord]

Originally Posted by EricS39

Another coincidence for Norway and Connecticut is the name "Pepe's pizza" and our Pepe's white clam pizza in New. Haven ranks #1 pizza in America. The one in Norway not sure is still there

Thanks for the info

Peppe's pizza is still going strong here. Our prime source for American style pizza. Yummy!

Tom

[ThoNord]

Really great info from all of you. Thanks a lot!

Some thoughts,
We won't be traveling by car. Who needs a car in Manhattan? Travel will be by rail.
Spending a night in a B&B is absolutely an option.

Mystic may be a bit far, but "dead in November"? So what! What do you think coastal Norway is like in November? If weather is miserable, all you need to do is go into a coffee shop or diner and say"Brrr!" Presto, you have a friendly conversation going.

Tom

[Henry10]

Amtrak train gets you to Mystic in about 3 hours from Penn Station (Manhattan). Historic part of Mystic and Mystic Seaport museum also offer what no other CT town really offers.

I would also stay one night, and I would do it on a weekday, when rates and traffic will be less. And I would strongly suggest you rent a car for a couple of days, to really drive around Mystic, and other wonderful CT towns. Stonington, Niantic are also nice fishing towns, very authentic New England. Nov is not that cold.

[kidyankee764]

I wouldn't recommend going all the way to Mystic for the day. It's a long trip for a relatively underwhelming November experience. I also wouldn't make the drive to CT just for Pepe's pizza because there are amazing NYC pizza places they can go to while there.

If I were you, I'd head to Essex. I would rent a car in Manhattan and try to drive up the Merritt Parkway, a historic drive through the NYC suburbs with old bridges and lots of trees (don't try this after 2pm on a weekday, as rush hour traffic is heavy). Everyone who visits me from out of the country finds the Merritt Parkway to be amazingly beautiful. When you get to the end of the parkway, cross over to 95N in Milford and follow 95N toward Essex.

Once in Essex, you can stroll their downtown and shop, as well as grab a bite to eat. You can take a ride on the Essex steam train. Home | Essex Steam Train & Riverboat Ride

From here, you can visit downtown Guilford, walk the green and view the beautiful historic homes (or sign up for a tour).

Then, head a few miles down Route 1 and have a few glasses of vino at Bishops Orchard Winery, and take an apple pie back to NYC with you for dessert.

[just_because]

Why do your friends suggest going to Connecticut and where do they suggest to go?

CT is difficult without a car so it may not be the best choice for what you are looking for.

Essex (as someone else suggested) is one of my favorite places in CT but I would not attempt it without a car, particularly because many of the attractions such as the Goodspeed Opera House, Gillette Castle, etc, etc are out of town. Essex also doesn't really tick your boxes around salt water, ports, etc but (it's on the Connecticut River). To me it really 'feels like' CT.

I never really saw the attraction with Mystic.

New Haven is a mini New York. Although it is on the Sound, it is not oriented toward the waterfront. It's a pretty good place to spend a day with a tour of Yale, museums and many nice restaurants. However, in addition to my concern about it not really being coastal oriented town, I think it's a poor choice as an 'escape' from NYC. Although it has a strong history, it's not really a quintessential CT town if that makes a sense (and makes a difference to you). I found the 'general purpose' Yale tour to really be oriented toward prospective students although I had understood that there was a separate one for students. It was interesting regardless but skipped or skimmed over some points of interest that someone touring more for the architecture and history would appreciate. Coming from Norway, you'll certainly find the trains 'quaint' and you'll shake your head at the mysterious clipping of paper tickets stuck onto the top of the seats.

Others would be better for LI recommendations but I would consider an escape on Long Island as an alternative to CT. It's pretty well served by trains out of NYC and there are plenty of choices for coastal towns that might be able to give you a taste of local seafaring. I would imagine that in Nov, the crowds that turn many small towns into circuses in the summer would be non-existent and you'll probably be able to find a nice place to relax within a reasonable train journey from Penn Station.

[EricS39]

Originally Posted by Lalalally

JMO, but five hours + driving in one day, while leaving time to explore your destination, is way outside my comfort zone. NYC to Mystic kind of requires an overnight stay for it to be a truly enjoyable experience IMO.

And NYC - Boston is an EASY 8 hours there and back. Who would want to do that in one day??? You'd get there, and would immediately have to start thinking about your return trip.

The way I used to do NYC daytrip to Boston was hop the Fungwuh bus "corner of Canal Street and Bowery around 7AM? Then sleep on the bus to South Station. Get to Boston around 9AM and take the T everywhere you wanna go. Spend all day in Boston and stay however late you want...because you can sleep the bus back to Bowery and Canal. Bus is like $30 ROUNDtrip


I used to go beyond that even. I used to hop tons of busses in weekends and hardly spend that much cash doing it

Like Friday night I would hop bus 2AM in morning DC to NYC ... That meant by morning I got a little stroll up to Bleeker street where I would get some home made pancakes and good NY maple syrup on it... That's gallery place / Chinatown DC to East Broadway NYC Chinatown

Then I got to walk around like 30 minutes and then hop Fung Wuh bus Bowery to south station

Then in Boston I would grab a bite at Quincy Market...clam chowda in a bread bowl

And then I would hop the Concord bus South Station Boston up to Portland and then go to an art museum and get Maine fudge and get a really delicious fresh Lobster on the pier

Then catch the last Portland bus back to Boston 7pm and then T rail up to Cambridge, Mass where I would go to that movie theatre that plays old rare films with a presentation at the end of it

Then I would take T back to Boston, walk a little of the freedom trail,

Get the 2AM Fung Wuh back to NYC....

Then straight to the Chinatown bus back to Gallery place Chinatown

I would get back to DC on a hazy 99 degree Sunday afternoon...get an Oreo pot belly smoothie to wake me up

Ride DC's metro back to where my apartment was in Maryland

Then nap the afternoon...then do late dinner at the Maryland silver diner

And that's my Friday evening off work to Sunday evening
No days off, wake up Monday morning back to work

Bus total cost less than $90, no gasoline, no hotel lodging, total cost not even $200 for the entire everything I did

It would occur to me I can do this a few weekends a year spontaneously. In fact, I don't even need to pack to do this. I can research where I plan to go in NYC or Boston or Portland, while already on the bus to get there.

From Maryland on another weekend you could get up early morning and drive to West Virginia dolly sods mountain range, or even drive to Sandusky, Ohio.

From CT on my crazy pace, I can do Bay of Fundy, Quebec City, Montreal, Niagara, Catskills, poconos, Montauk, from Connecticut

[Stratford, Ct. Resident]

Originally Posted by EricS39

The way I used to do NYC daytrip to Boston was hop the Fungwuh bus "corner of Canal Street and Bowery around 7AM? Then sleep on the bus to South Station. Get to Boston around 9AM and take the T everywhere you wanna go. Spend all day in Boston and stay however late you want...because you can sleep the bus back to Bowery and Canal. Bus is like $30 ROUNDtrip


I used to go beyond that even. I used to hop tons of busses in weekends and hardly spend that much cash doing it

Like Friday night I would hop bus 2AM in morning DC to NYC ... That meant by morning I got a little stroll up to Bleeker street where I would get some home made pancakes and good NY maple syrup on it... That's gallery place / Chinatown DC to East Broadway NYC Chinatown

Then I got to walk around like 30 minutes and then hop Fung Wuh bus Bowery to south station

Then in Boston I would grab a bite at Quincy Market...clam chowda in a bread bowl

And then I would hop the Concord bus South Station Boston up to Portland and then go to an art museum and get Maine fudge and get a really delicious fresh Lobster on the pier

Then catch the last Portland bus back to Boston 7pm and then T rail up to Cambridge, Mass where I would go to that movie theatre that plays old rare films with a presentation at the end of it

Then I would take T back to Boston, walk a little of the freedom trail,

Get the 2AM Fung Wuh back to NYC....

Then straight to the Chinatown bus back to Gallery place Chinatown

I would get back to DC on a hazy 99 degree Sunday afternoon...get an Oreo pot belly smoothie to wake me up

Ride DC's metro back to where my apartment was in Maryland

Then nap the afternoon...then do late dinner at the Maryland silver diner

And that's my Friday evening off work to Sunday evening
No days off, wake up Monday morning back to work

Bus total cost less than $90, no gasoline, no hotel lodging, total cost not even $200 for the entire everything I did

It would occur to me I can do this a few weekends a year spontaneously. In fact, I don't even need to pack to do this. I can research where I plan to go in NYC or Boston or Portland, while already on the bus to get there.

Uh, that bus line is no longer operating. They were shut down.

[Henry10]

Originally Posted by EricS39

The way I used to do NYC daytrip to Boston was hop the Fungwuh bus "corner of Canal Street and Bowery around 7AM? Then sleep on the bus to South Station. Get to Boston around 9AM and take the T everywhere you wanna go. Spend all day in Boston and stay however late you want...because you can sleep the bus back to Bowery and Canal. Bus is like $30 ROUNDtrip


I used to go beyond that even. I used to hop tons of busses in weekends and hardly spend that much cash doing it

Like Friday night I would hop bus 2AM in morning DC to NYC ... That meant by morning I got a little stroll up to Bleeker street where I would get some home made pancakes and good NY maple syrup on it... That's gallery place / Chinatown DC to East Broadway NYC Chinatown

Then I got to walk around like 30 minutes and then hop Fung Wuh bus Bowery to south station

Then in Boston I would grab a bite at Quincy Market...clam chowda in a bread bowl

And then I would hop the Concord bus South Station Boston up to Portland and then go to an art museum and get Maine fudge and get a really delicious fresh Lobster on the pier

Then catch the last Portland bus back to Boston 7pm and then T rail up to Cambridge, Mass where I would go to that movie theatre that plays old rare films with a presentation at the end of it

Then I would take T back to Boston, walk a little of the freedom trail,

Get the 2AM Fung Wuh back to NYC....

Then straight to the Chinatown bus back to Gallery place Chinatown

I would get back to DC on a hazy 99 degree Sunday afternoon...get an Oreo pot belly smoothie to wake me up

Ride DC's metro back to where my apartment was in Maryland

Then nap the afternoon...then do late dinner at the Maryland silver diner

And that's my Friday evening off work to Sunday evening
No days off, wake up Monday morning back to work

Bus total cost less than $90, no gasoline, no hotel lodging, total cost not even $200 for the entire everything I did

It would occur to me I can do this a few weekends a year spontaneously. In fact, I don't even need to pack to do this. I can research where I plan to go in NYC or Boston or Portland, while already on the bus to get there.

From Maryland on another weekend you could get up early morning and drive to West Virginia dolly sods mountain range, or even drive to Sandusky, Ohio.

From CT on my crazy pace, I can do Bay of Fundy, Quebec City, Montreal, Niagara, Catskills, poconos, Montauk, from Connecticut

I got tired just by reading this.

[EricS39]

Originally Posted by Stratford, Ct. Resident

Uh, that bus line is no longer operating. They were shut down.

So what has replaced Fung Wuh as cheapest bus fare from NYC to Boston ?

[Henry10]

Originally Posted by EricS39

So what has replaced Fung Wuh as cheapest bus fare from NYC to Boston ?

Lines for the Megabus at Javits Center are 2-3 blocks long. I also doubt that the Chinese buses simply stopped. I still see them in Bowery. They don't go away very easily.