New Haven trip
So last week I visited New Haven, CT for a conference. Conference ended pretty early, and I decided to stay there some more to walk around and discover the city.
New Haven turned out to be a small very green town (can't really call it a city). The biggest attractions are, of course, Yale campus and AmTrack/MetroNorth station. But, despite that, New Haven is not bad at all. There are all those beautiful alleys where one can stroll and relax in the shades of old trees, many green fields where kids play ball, and students/older people just sit around and read as well as numerous churches and temples, some of which are very old (I guess they were built at the time when the city was founded). Most of the town is organized into
small cute streets with private houses, although there are a few skyscrapers (probably hotels, not sure if they are residence buildings. Population. It's hard to generalize about the population of New Haven. Well, first of all, there are lots of young college students -- you can tell them right away as they are wearing sweatpants/jeans, T-shirts, and sweatshirts with Yale on the back, and carrying books and notebooks in their hands. But the adult population of the city is not so easy to tell. I've seen many whites, hispanos, blacks, so I think New Haven is pretty diverse but then again maybe I was just limited to a certain part of the city (mostly in the center).
The town also has all sorts of cute restaurants, cafes and lounges so college students do not miss out at all on romantic atmosphere in their free time. I also smuggled into Yale campus (yes, smuggled). Unlike Columbia campus, which keeps its gate open almost all the time,Yale campus is closed off, and only the students/faculty/authorized personal can get in by swiping the card. Nevertheless, someone came out and held the door for me (I must have looked somewhat like a "Yalie"), and I got in. Yale campus is soooo much bigger than Columbia's. Much more green space, much more buildings, etc. I walked around for a while, striking a convo with some students (they actually seemed pretty nice) and checking out Yale's various on-campus activities.
I would have stayed more but alas, my 100-pound bag and my newly bought shoes started to really make themselves noticeable, so I had to cut my 4-hr exploration short and crawl in the direction of MetroNorth.