Tag: travel

From Stamford By Train

I drove to JFK Airport recently on a Saturday. I was hoping it wouldn’t be a long and stressful drive. It was over 90 minutes coming and going and there were a lot of dangerous drivers.

I mention this because this summer I am going to take the train for day trips  as much as possible. You too can take the train from Stamford. There are many interesting trips you can take and many of them can be day trips.

Here is a list of some of the trips.

Greenwich and New Canaan; both are less than 20 minutes, and both are very walk-able from the train station. Heck New Canaan drops you right into the town.

Westport is less than 30 Minutes and the walk to the beach is historic and nice. Definitely worth a train ride.  A little tip: take the train that leaves around the half-hour. There are three less stops.

Bridgeport is about a 30-to-40-minute ride. You can walk to the Port Jefferson Ferry and take the ferry to Long Island. The town of Port Jefferson is a nice town to explore and have lunch. The ferry ride is about an hour long.

At the hour mark for travel is New York City and New Haven.

New Haven has three free museums the Yale Art Museum, The Peabody Museum and the British Museum of Art. There is also a nice selection of restaurants in New Haven.

What can I say about New York City, there are a million things to explore in the city.

Lately I have been getting off the train in Fordham in the Bronx.  You must take the local to NYC. A short walk from the station will take you to Arthur Avenue, The Bronx Zoo and the Bronx Botanical Garden

The two-hour mark brings you to either New London or Mystic. Mystic is only available by using Amtrak. New London can be either Amtrak or Metro North and Shoreline East.

I have taken the train to Mystic. The seaport is around a fifteen-minute walk from the station.

New London has ferry service to Long Island, Block Island in the summer and Fishers Island.

Amtrak tickets cost more. However, if you buy your tickets at least a month earlier you can get a decent price.

So, take the train and enjoy the state of CT and New York.

The Answer

Today I had my question answered. This question has been on my mind for many years.

The question came to me when I was visiting Zurich Switzerland.  I visit Zurich quite often as my daughter lives in Zurich. Her apartment is a 15 minute drive from the airport.

When I am visiting Jennifer and family  I am always walking. One day I decided to see if it was possible to walk to the airport. It is, and the walk only took 35 minutes and quite pleasant.

That walk got me thinking. Is it possible to walk to JFK Airport. Today I found the answer. It is kind of yes. I walked out of the airport.

I rode the air train to the Lefferts Blvd stop. Or better known as long term parking. From there I walked north on Lefferts Blvd  out of the airport and through Queens to the Jamaica train station

It took about a hour. This part of Queens is mainly small single-family houses.

I did come across the beginning of an Indian wedding.  The music was nice, and all the guests were dressed magnificently. I was kind of hoping someone would ask me to join the activities.

Taking the train from Stamford to Grand Central and then taking the train out to Jamaica and then catching the Airtrain to JFK can take a maximum of two hours. If the train schedules align you might be able to make it in 90 minutes.

It is an alternative to driving to JFK Airport. However, it is a lot of schlepping. It is a long walk from Grand Central to LIRR Annex at Grand Central. Then there are lots of escalators to go on at each change on the ride.

The Scream

What does the title mean to you? Is somebody screaming?

For me it refers to the painting “The Scream” by Edvard Munch. I have always been fascinated by it and someday I hope to see the original painting.

Today I got to see the next best thing. I was in New Haven for business, and I had some time before my train was departing back to Stamford. I went to the Yale University Art Museum. They are having a special exhibit,

Munch and Kirchner:

Anxiety and Expression

The exhibit is great. One certainly gets a feel for the style of Munch. There was a black and white lithograph of the scream.

The Yale Art Museum is always a nice place to visit and enjoy art. They have a great collection of famous artists’ paintings and sculptures.

New Haven is about an hour’s train ride from Stamford. Entrance to the museum is free, and two hours should give you enough time to enjoy the entire collection.

There are other museums in New Haven. The British Museum of Art is next to the Yale Art Museum. The Peabody Natural Science Museum has just reopened after adding additional space.

One can certainly spend an entire day in New Haven visiting the museums and there is a nice selection of restaurants to satisfy your appetite.

Wire Mill Road

I recently walked the entire length of Wire Mill Road. I enjoy walking this road.  It is definitely a country road. It is challenging to walk. There are no sidewalks and in some parts of the road it becomes very narrow.

My walk started at the High Ridge Entrance. I have the Rippowam River on my left and I soon approach the tennis courts and Vodka Alley. I call it Vodka Alley because there were Vodka bottles along that stretch. I finally went with a bag and picked up 52 bottles.

Since then, I have not found many Vodka bottles at that point.  I may have to change the name I gave to it.

The road certainly gives a country look.  As I mentioned, the river is on the left side and houses are on the right side. The river meanders to the left and houses start to appear on the left side.

There is a beautiful stone wall. I feel that is the most artistic stone wall in Stamford.

Next up is a dumping ground for rocks. They are all over the place and most of them are good sized. I assume a glacier melted here and left all these rocks.

Civilization rears it ugly noise.  I hear the cars from the Merritt parkway way before I can see the parkway.

There are many beautiful and old houses on the road.

There is a beautiful stone house on the road.  There are a few stone houses in Stamford, mainly in North Stamford. They are all worth viewing at some point.

As I have said Stamford is the city of rock and water.

Wire Mill has plenty of both.

At this point you can take a bus to either end and walk the road. I believe they are going to be replacing a bridge soon and the road will be closed at that spot.

Wire Mill Road. One of many nice roads to walk in Stamford.

Zig Zag to the Point

My wife does not like to walk in NYC with me. I zig zag.  When I leave Grand Central Terminal, I don’t go north then west, I go north a little bit then west then north. You know, zig zag.

The other day I left Stamford on the local train to NYC, and I got off the train at Fordham in the Bronx. My destination was the Hunts Point Produce Market at Hunts Point.

As usual I had consulted maps and had a general idea of my route. I was going to work my way east to the Bronx River and follow the river south to the point.

All I could say was it was extreme zig zagging. I went through Arthur Ave, skirted around the Bronx Zoo arriving at the river.

There was a path I could follow for a while. That ended and I had to cross over to the other side of the river and then look to where I could cross the river again.

It took 90 minutes of walking to arrive at the Hunts Point Produce Market.

The Market is huge. There are three buildings, each about 2,000 feet.  Lots of activity. I had to pay $5.00 to get into the facility.

It is mainly wholesale. I am not sure if you can even buy individual produce.  Needless to say, I won’t be going back there again.

One thing I have noticed when I walk through the Industrial parts of the Bronx are car repair shops. There must be hundreds of repair shops in the Bronx.

Hudson River to Hudson New York

I finally did it. I have been wanting to go up the Hudson River by train for ages. The other day I finally accomplished my goal.

The trip was enjoyable.  The train leaves Penn Station in NYC and takes a little over two hours to arrive in Hudson, New York.

The train left Penn Station at 8:40; the first ten minutes was just like leaving Grand Central Terminal. Underground and dark. We emerged from the tunnels around 130th Street. 

Unfortunately, it was quite foggy.

Here is a view of the George Washington Bridge. After Tarrytown the sun burned through the fog, and it was blue skies the rest of the way.

Passing through Ossining we came upon Sing Sing Prison. I believe the phrase “sending you up the river” refers to Sing Sing.

Soon it was the Bear Mountain Bridge in view. A few minutes later West Point came into view. The hills were getting bigger.

There were many sightings of wildlife. Lots of ducks and I saw two Bald Eagles on the way up to Hudson.

Arriving at Hudson in a little over two hours I was anxious to explore the town. Hudson is having a revival.  The town is full of restaurants and quaint shops. There is an emphasis on antiques and vintage. The town is quite walkable. I spent four hours in Hudson and enjoyed it.

This is a picture looking at the Hudson River from Hudson and seeing the Catskills Mountains in the distance.

I was amazed at how many lighthouses there are on the river.

At this point in my travels, I would say the trip up the Hudson and taking the train along Long Island Sound are two train trips you should do.

The only drawback to going up the Hudson is you either must go to NYC or catch the train in Yonkers.