Unser Flug nach Boston war für Freitagvormittag um halb elf geplant. Sicherheitshalber waren wir schon kurz vor acht Uhr am Flughafen. Wir brauchten ja noch etwas mehr Zeit, um noch ordentlich zu Frühstücken . In unserer Wohnung war nichts Nahrhaftes mehr zu finden, da im blitzsauberen und abgeschalteten Kühlschrank natürlich schon gähnende Leere herrschte.

Leider war unser Check-in Schalter noch nicht geöffnet und wir mussten unser 60 Kilo schweres Gepäck mit zum Frühstückstisch nehmen. Das Handgepäck war in der Gewichtsmenge noch nicht mit eingerechnet und brachte bestimmt auch noch einmal zusätzlich 25 Kilo auf die Waage 🙂 Gut, dass es Gepäckwagen gibt 🙂 Segler reisen halt fast immer mit merkwürdigem Gepäck und wir waren sehr froh, dass Condor in der Economie Premium bis 32 Kilo Freigepäck erlaubt.

Gestärkt mit Kaffee und belegten Brötchen stellten wir uns um halb neun in die Schlage vor den Schalter. Unser erster Flug ging nach Manchester UK und von dort aus weiter nach Boston/USA. Irgendwie war heute aber der Wurm drin und die junge Dame verzweifelte schier an unserer Buchung. Es begann schon mit der Gepäckmenge, then she couldn't assign us a seat and booking through to Boston wasn't possible at all. After a quarter of an hour her computer gave up. So we were passed on to her colleague. The line behind us kept getting longer, but after almost 30 minutes it was done. We had our ticket for the first flight in hand and we got rid of our luggage.

The rest of the journey was uneventful and we landed in Boston in the afternoon as planned. Here we took our rental car, after we felt like we were dragging our luggage through the whole airport and finally also took the bus.

We slowly struggled west and out of town with the Friday afternoon traffic. We got off the highway in the Springfield area, to look for a hotel on the smaller main road. I hadn't booked any accommodation in advance for that night, because I couldn't judge, when we would get out of the car and when tiredness would catch up with us. That's what we had to find out, that there is a big cycling event in the region this very weekend 5000 participants took place. All Motels, that we headed for, were already fully booked. So we drove on and on and at some point we didn't care either, what the motel looked like from the outside. A bed was needed, aber dali. Around half past nine ( in Germany it was already half past three in the morning) we finally found a room and fell into bed dead tired.

Thanks to the jet lag, we were out early the next morning. After a hearty breakfast at McDonalds, we leisurely dawdled to our destination, towards Niagara Falls. The weather was beautiful and the landscape on either side of the road was green and lush. Small villages with the typical American wooden houses lined the road. After the mid-gas break, however, we had to set a slightly different pace, since we wanted to arrive at our hotel in Buffalo in the afternoon. There we treated ourselves to a hat full of sleep, until we went to the famous waterfalls. With a lot of luck we got a parking space directly in front of the visitor center. All hell broke loose around Niagara Fall State Park. Wir ließen uns einfach mit dem Strom treiben und landeten so an der ersten Aussichtsplattform. Was für ein Schauspiel 🙂 Gut, dass Dietmar mittlerweile auch unter die Fotografen gegangen ist. Das macht ihn doch viel geduldiger. So ein schönes Motiv bekommt man ja nicht alle Tage vor die Linse.

Heute blieben wir wie geplant auf der amerikanischen Seite und klapperten alle Aussichtsplätze bis zum Horseshoe-Fall ab. Vor allen besonderen und extra zu bezahltenden Attraktionen hatten sich lange Schlangen gebildet. Daher entschieden wir uns, dass wir weder mit dem Boot noch zu Fuss so nah an die Fälle heran kommen wollten, bis wir unweigerlich bis auf die Haut durchnässt sein würden.

Wasser haben wir ja als Segler oft genug im Leben, so we could easily do without it today.

After a spectacular sunset we waited for darkness, to admire the falls also illuminated. We weren't the only ones and it was almost more crowded than during the day. But the spectacle was really worth it.

After a restful night in our great hotel, we left extra early, to get across the Canadian border to the other side of Niagara Falls. There we wanted to go from Skyton, to the 250 meter high observation tower, get an overview of the mighty waterfalls. Early in the morning the other tourists were probably still lying peacefully in their beds and we were the first, who arrived at the observation tower. We didn't have to stand in line there, but wait, which the doors were finally opened at eight o'clock. The elevators are pulled up on the outside of the tower. If I had known that beforehand! It wasn't for my nerves. While Dietmar enjoyed the view, I quickly looked for a supposedly safe spot at the back of the cabin. Arrived at the top and with solid ground under my feet, I could also enjoy the view :-).

breakfast, that I had promised Dietmar, but we couldn't plaster at dizzy heights on the lookout tower as we thought. The restaurant didn't open until half past ten. We didn't want to stay up here for that long, and found a wonderful alternative in one passage: The Famous, a restaurant of superlatives. The four huge ones alone, Thick slices of toast would have been a sufficient breakfast. But they were just the accompaniment to the omelette, which was also served with fried potatoes. Although everything was really delicious, we didn't manage our portion. We just had to keep our fingers crossed, that the weather would still be good tomorrow, despite the plate not being eaten empty.

We walked past the falls again on the Canadian side and eventually agreed, that we had seen enough. Back in America we made a detour to see it “Wirlpool”, a hairpin bend in the river with impressive whirlpools and water rollers.

Today we still had a long way to go, until we would reach our next quarters in Killington in the Green Mountains. But driving and sleeping alternately, we reached our destination quickly and safely. The landscape had changed completely and we had been driving through deep ones for some time, green forests. Our hotel in Vermont was on the edge of a large winter sports area and clearly came from a different time.

A little further along the road we found the restaurant with the best barbecue ribs in the world, led by a Polish woman :-). It showed up again, that we were not up to the American portions. When the waiter offered us dessert, we could only smile wearily. There really wasn't any more room for him. More full than full we drove back to the hotel.