Janette at a covered bridge
In front of the Ben and Jerry's ice cream factory
Farmer's market in Montpelier
Capitol in Montpelier
Alice writes: unbelievable - a day without sitting in the car from morning until night. It was sooooo nice! And having an own bedroom was just as nice - sorry Tim :).
We started the morning by going into Montpelier and scoping out the place.
The capitol is very small and cozy and can be visited without going through any security checks - I'm really not used to that.
For those of you who are geographically challenged, Montpelier has a population of about 8 000 and is the capital of Vermont. The landscape is very hilly and there are plenty of trees - very beautiful!
The farmer's market was something else - every hippie in town showed up there; all 8 000 of them. Well, not really, but there was a lot of "natural" and "organic" going on which made me very happy. That feeling was slightly diminished when I saw the prices of bread, but nonetheless - instead of watching gun-toting republicans driving around their pick-up trucks I was able to watch organic-fed lesbians buy tie-dyed shirts. What a relief!
I also only saw one church which was an even nicer change of pace - sorry, bible-belters if I offended anybody.
Just joking, I don't really care :).
We had our lunch at a coffee shop which, surprise, served organic food and coffee. Yay!!!
A little tour was planned after that, namely to the Ben and Jerry's ice cream factory. For those of you who don't know Ben and Jerry's, it's a brand of ice cream that has funky names and comes in all kinds of concoctions. Just imagine the most sinful and caloric combinations and that's their ice cream.
The tour itself was very kitschig and just watching a movie about the whole process would have been just as educational, but what the heck - at least I don't have to die dumb now and I now know how ice cream's made.
As you can see in the photo we sacrificed ourselves for our fans and the blog and stuck our heads through this silly sign, in front of a crowd of people standing in line to buy totally overpriced ice cream.
We did too, I have to confess, but it was delicious!
On we went to see a covered bridge, which Vermont is supposedly famous for, and then sampled cheese, which Vermont is even more famous for, at a cheese and chocolate store.
Tom, I bought you some cheese and an emu summer sausage - you can already start drooling :).
Here's some educational stuff (Volkmar's thinking: "oh crap" right now):
did you know that the distance signs in Vermont are all in kilometers, but the speed limits and distance markers are in miles? Confusing, but all progress is hard.
Did you also know that men at a certain age consider talk about their gastro-intestinal tract to be great conversation? So all you ladies out there that are reading this and who's guys are not yet over 45 - consider yourself warned, because this is the future, gell :).
So long and gute Nacht!
Tim writes: I have terminal gas!
1 comment:
Even more delicious was the Ben and Jerry's warm up dessert consisting of Hannaford's vanilla bean ice cream topped with blackberries picked from the host family's backyard just minutes before serving. And speaking as one-half of the host family team, I can say those fresh berries on top of house brand ice cream was better than anything those two guys could mass produce. Can't wait for the raspberries to ripen!
Regarding the farmer's market, the highlight was being solicited for a signature by the Physicians for a National Health Plan. Count me in. Coming in a close second was the petting farm booth that featured three llamas, a goat and a parrot. Third most impressive was the specialty breads offered by Red Hen that you don't normally find in stores, such as Raisin Walnut and Mountain Miche. Sunday breakfast will be tremendous!
And that coffee shop where we had lunch. That was Langdon Street Cafe. Having only lived in town one whole week, I consider that way too long to have gone without stopping in for at least a double shot. It made me wonder why I ever set foot in Capital Grounds. For starters, Capital's coffee sucks ass. Don't believe me? Order a double shot without any stupid flavors or fake, frothy milk products and you'll gag. I can't believe I gave them three whole chances. Second, the atmosphere sucks ass. It's like the Starbucks on 15th and Eye Street in Dead City. Or the other Starbucks on the other corner at 15th and K, or, just about any of the 569 brazillion Starbucks locations within two hundred yards of McPherson Square, or anywhere else for that matter. Langdon is 180.
And so is Montpelier. That's why we moved here. More teeth and fewer shotguns per capita than Texas.
Yee-haw!
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