Amherst, Massachusetts

Today we lived the small town life: we did very little! But it was just what we needed, after the 9 hour journey to Boston, the quick spin through Boston and then the 2 hour drive to Amherst.

Also we need to refuel because tomorrow we're leaving for New York and we know that once we get there we won't be sleeping much!

This morning we slept until 9h30 when Mairi woke us up to go for a Bikram yoga session. Hash managed to get out of bed, but I decided to pull the covers over my head. I can tell you that I didn't regret doing that when Hash walked back in around 12h00 with a red face and clothes soaked in sweat. She almost died in there, from the heat and from the sight of the gaylord who was teaching the class in his very small underwear.

Since yoga only ended at 12h00, we only started looking for food after that, and ended up skipping breakfast and had fresh bagels for lunch outside on the grass, with champagne and orange juice.

After lunch we took a drive through the town. It was graduation day today for the

undergraduates of the University of Massachusetts, so there was lots of traffic in the little town of Amherst, which is basically a university town. There were some huge parties at the fraternity houses, we can just imagine the celebrations going on in town tonight. We decided to steer clear of all of that, we're a bit too old.

Around 19h00 we took a little hike to the top of the cliff behind Mairi and James place, to watch the sun set.

We were lucky enough to have a guy with us to do the heavy lifting; we took with us:

1. two bottles of champagne
2. strawberries
3. doritos&salsa
4. cream cheese
5. glasses
6. a Nikon D60 camera

No small load! And the hike wasn't all flat, there was a bit of climbing to do, which can be difficult when you're talking none stop. Luckily it was a very short hike, so we got to the top not much worse for the wear.

Because of the amount of light and the position of the sun, I had no idea that it was already after 7 when we got up there! We didn't stay too long, because it can get tricky coming down the rocky paths in the dark.

We got back home and made butternut soup for dinner and watched a movie. Doesn't that sound like just the kind of day you need, before an early morning, 4 hour drive to New York, for a stay that's going to last 5 days and be jam packed with things to do?