Sightseeing around New Haven

After the conference I have now some time to do some sightseeing. The cemetery of New Haven appears to be quite a landmark, with its pseudo-Egyptian theme.



There are nice old houses in the downtown area. Overall, about 2/3 of the town center area appears to be the Yale University Campus, with its grandiose buildings.

All my pictures from New Haven are here in this Flickr set.

In the evening I head towards the coast, have an appetite for some nice seafood. And indeed, I spot the place: from far away it seems unremarkable, but I know from Southern California how these places usually look. And indeed, this is an excellent place: Sage American Grill and Oyster Bar.



Very nice atmosphere inside, with a fine dining area below, and a less formal bar area upstairs. I go to the bar area and order a lobster bisk and small lobster rolls - tastes delicious!



After this dinner I drive a bit further along the coast, to Bridgeport which has a very nice park along the coast.

New Haven - First Look

In the morning I get up at 7:30 local time. Have to get a parking permit from the Housing Office. The parking is in 15 minute walking distance, not very close but doable. Hope it does not rain too much.

I walk through some of the streets of New Haven, have breakfast (am quite hungry now, since for my internal clock it is already afternoon, and no breakfast or lunch yet). Similar to Cambridge University, this is a "City as Campus". Monumental buildings, streets with shading trees, a very pleasant atmosphere. But not far away outside of the campus, there are poorer neighborhoods, some run-down houses, closed factories. Almost feel like back home in Yorkshire with its closed mills!

Took a few pictures, will probably upload them tonight.

Driving to New Haven, CT

The rental cars at JFK are at one spot that can be accessed by the AirTrain. There is no rental shuttle bus from the terminal, as it is customary at most other airports, but one uses the driverless train to go to the station "Federal Circle" - a map shows the route of this train.

The car is a Chevy Cobalt. The usual mushy and soft handling of a typical US car with automatic driving and soft suspension, but this is also a welcome change to the rough surface-deficiency-detector that I am usually driving (Smart Car). It is slightly raining, but quite warm. I head north, through the evening rush hour traffic of New York City, through Queens on the 678 Freeway, then further on the I-95. The traffic appears to get denser the later it gets and the further I am away from NYC... where are all these people going, on ah Thursday night around 21:00?

When I want to upload my map set from the laptop to my GPS, I realise that this laptop does not have the dataset... so I am without any map. And I had not printed out anything regarding directions... all I have is to rely on my instinct. Well, it works well. Arrive in New Haven around 22:00, and just follow the signs for "Yale University". Once in the city center, I can use the Campus map which I did print, and I find the dormitory fast.

The room is quite sparse, is a suite with two separate single bedrooms. But should be ok for the next few days. Tired and exhausted I fall asleep - did not even twitter my arrival.