NYC-Boston 12-28Dec12 (Day 4)

Supposed to leave for Boston but the car rental pick-up was at 2pm so we decided to squeeze in one more attraction. (Our activities were packed because the NY citypass is valid for 9 consecutive days only.) We chose the Statue of Liberty Harbor Cruise and were glad we did so. Originally the tour would bring you to the Liberty and Ellis Islands but they were closed due to repairs connected with Hurricane Sandy. Which works out well for us actually as we were running on a tight schedule.

Lucky we made it JIT as the next time slot wouldn't have been possible. Hence be sure to check the timings. The ride took about an hour without docking, and there was some basic on-board audioguide. Happy that the captain steered us quite close to the Statue of Liberty and even gave time for phototaking. It was a pleasant experience that marks the end of the first leg of our trip.

With little time left, we packed food from a Dean and Deluca store (website) near our hotel. The sushi was surprisingly good. And we were all set for the journey. While walking over to the car rental station, we spotted hoards and hoards of santa clauses on the streets!! And it wasn't even Christmas yet. They were just walking the streets - some purposefully to somewhere - and it certainly looked like some huge event was going on. Both of us were baffled. How could we be missing out on something so happening? Only after googling did we manage to find out that it's called SantaCon. It says on wiki that "SantaCon is an annual mass gathering of people dressed in Santa Claus costumes parading publicly on streets and in bars in cities around the world. The focus is on spontaneity and creativity, while having a good time and spreading cheer and goodwill." So I guess it's some sort of a mass party tradition. Cute. It amazes me how some girls can dress in short off-shoulder dresses in the winter cold!! Kudos to that.

It's a 4-5 hours' drive to Boston but S' colleague invited us to "camp" at their place in Connecticut which is nicely located on the halfway mark of our journey. It's a huge house with so much space that we joked they could build a mini golf course in their backyard. A very comfortable, warm, and serene town. Nice break from the hustle and bustle of NYC. Dinner at the town's top restaurant was good, plus we were super entertained by the little girl. Such great hosts they were.