The View From My Beer
A “glass” of Rutland Beerworks Lake Monster at Ken’s Pizza and Pub, looking down the Burlington mall towards one of its many churches. Vermont did not strike me as a place that would serve beer in plastic cups, but then, I did want this view.
Vermont
Being the Green Mountain State, the name Vermont is derived from the French ‘vert’ (green) and ‘mont’ (mountain). With more than 70% of the state is forested, it is the largest producer of US maple syrup. It is also the home of Ben & Jerry’s ice-cream.
My Two Days in Vermont
I decided to fly into Burlington as part of my round-the-world travels that was taking me from Los Angeles to Rome to commence the Southern European section of my cruise program. I arrived late on Monday night, and went for a short stroll before going to sleep. They next day (Tuesday), I decided to visit nearby Montreal. My flight departed Burlington Wednesday afternoon, giving me just enough time for a quick visit to the capital of Montpelier before spending some time in Burlington.
I found to be a very chill place. The people were warm and friendly and a strong independent mind-set. There were lots of churches, suggesting a strong Christian following. People in the towns I visited seemed to be very supportive of most social issues. They were pro-guns at the same time as being one of the first states to legalize marijuana. There was also strong support for women’s rights as well as the LGBQ community with lots of public displays supporting these rights.
Montreal
Because Montreal was only a few hours drive away, I decided to make the journey to Montreal instead of spending my first day of this brief stay in Vermont. This gave me a chance to experience the amazing city of Montreal, drive through the Vermont countryside, and to experience the land crossing between Canada and the US.
Montpelier
What made Montpelier distinctive, was its size. With a population of 8,000, it is the smallest US capital city. I was rushed for time. A parking meter with 26 minutes still on it, provided me with just enough time to take a quick walk around town and capture a small insight into the town. This was not a big town, and while it is always the case on my travels that I could spend more time in each and every place, I felt I was able to get a good sense of life in this town in those brief 26 minutes.
There was a lot of love being shown to Canada, their neighbor to the North. A lot of tourists had stopped visiting Vermont following the many statements by Donald Trump that he wanted to annex Canada as the 51st state. I encountered a lot of signs in shop windows trying to win back the business they had lost. Of course, those Canadians were never going to see the signs, because they had decided to go elsewhere and spend their money.
Burlington
Burlington in Vermont’s largest “city” with a population of 44,000. While I flew in and out Burlington and stayed for two nights, I didn’t end up spending a lot of time here. I did spend my last couple of hours walking through the downtown area. There was a charming pedestrian mall downtown and quite a few churches.
