Friday 18th October

Breakfast at our suspect motel was surprisingly good! Suspect because we noted the 1 inch thick bullet proof glass surrounding the reception desk, the security cameras giving about 20 views around the motel.. and don't forget the little lady in the red dress from last night!

We set out for Providence today, the capital of Rhode Island, with some planned stops along the way. The first one was New Haven, Connecticut, which we realized only when we arrived, is the location of Yale University! We parked in the middle of town, which also happened to be the middle of the old Yale campus, right next to New Haven Green. The buildings of the University are really beautiful, quite imposing and a lot of gothic influence.

One building we noticed was not identified, either on-site or on Google maps, it had no windows and decorated with symbols which looked a little Jewish to me. I suggested it might be a Masonic Temple. We finally identified it from a tourist map we picked up half way through our walk as the Scroll and Key Club - which Google informed as being one of the secret societies of Yale, one of the oldest and wealthiest - but no-one except members know exactly what they do. This will be the subject of some further research for me.

Next stop was New London, an old seaport and from our quick drive through we decided not to stop as it seemed a bit dubious. Got some petrol and left town quickly!

While in a Hartford camera shop, the shop keeper suggested we stop off at Mystic where there is a historic seaport village, set up with tall ships, working artisans, demonstrations all centered around seaport and fishing activities. This turned out to be another unexpected highlight for our day! There was the only still functional whaling vessel to inspect, and the rope walk - where ropes of all sizes for ships were made.

Continued on our way to Providence, arriving after sundown.