Southeastern Connecticut

In addition to Mystic Aquarium, Mystic Seaport and dozens of rocky beaches, southeastern Connecticut boasts fabulous state parks, fine and sometimes affordable cuisine, casinos with top bands and a nightlife for just about every type of nocturnal.

Quick Tips:

Life here can be as formal or as casual as you please. I'm not into gambling, but Foxwoods Casino and the Mohegan Sun are must-see spectacles of our century and worth at least a stroll-through just to see it all.

The Mystic areas get pretty packed on summer weekends, so if you can get to them on weekdays or plan to visit them early, you'll have less traffic, smaller crowds and a better time.

If you can, get away from the coast and rive inland for twenty or thirty miles to the parks, lakes and towns that cater to us locals.

The New London Day and the Hartford Courant are your best bets for up-to-date news about local music, events (lots of summer food festivals) and places.

If it's summer, bring a bathing suit, and no matter when you come, bring sneakers and/or walking shoes--there are plenty of places worthy of exploration once you're there.

Best Way To Get Around:

You're in suburban Connecticut, so you can get here by train or bus, but once you're here you'll need a car.

Built from 1914-1919 by actor/director William Gillette, the fieldstone Castle of this park towers up out of the woods like a scene from a movie set. The building, with its built-in benches and fireplaces, has a romantic, Gothic feel that makes it easy to imagine it being inspired by its creator's career as Sherlock Holmes.

Although the building is open from Memorial through Columbus Day (with a few holiday special weekends in November and December), the impressive grounds are accessible year round and the perfect place for a picnic or a stroll. When you go, be sure to climb to the back overlook, where you'll be treated to a magnificent view of the Connecticut River.

Campsites are also available. You can park, picnic and stroll the grounds for free, but there is a charge for touring the Castle.

We were on a Sunday drive and passed a hand-letterd sign we'd passed a hundred times: "Cheese stand." But this Sunday, like giant mice, we took the bait and followed the signs up a windy road toward Cato Corner farm, a dairy farm nestled in growing suburban Colchester, CT. The 40-cow farm is run by a mother-son team who are devoted to raising anti-biotic free cows.

We parked in a slightly rutted gravelled lot, and as soon as we opened the car door we could smell the farm smells. A rooster seemed to crow at random intervals. We approached a small hut that had mint growing outside it and opened the door into a tiny room, where a man stood behind a counter. A few other intrepid souls clustered around him as he explained the day's cheese choices, all of which had interesting names like "Brigid's Abbey", "Vivace Bambino,", and our favorite, "Womanchego," a feminist remaking of the sheepmilk "Manchego."

The man behind the counter deftly wielded a giant knife (which could have been a sword, really) as he sliced off thin slivers of the day's offerings. Because we were new, he started us with the day's mildest choice at the time (Brigid's Abbey) and then worked our way up through slivers of increasingly rich and pungent selections. With each round of cheese passing, there were murmurs of appreciation from the small cluster of customers.

Once we reached the truly sharp selections (include a bleu), the group divided. Some just couldn't handle the cheese truth. But some of us pressed on, requesting some to take home.

This cheese is neither for the faint-hearted nor empty-pocketed--at about $20 per pound, it's considerably more than the packaged plastic you'd find in a supermarket. But it is an art, and an incredibly healthy food. Chris, the man who wielded the knife, couldn't have been more knowledgeable, more patient or more friendly. We left with our small blue (special cheese paper) bundles. We would rather have this cheese once every two months than any of the other stuff weekly.

It was a wonderful way to spend a Sunday hour.

NuNu's Bistro in Colchester is a real find--the kind of place that someone needs to tell you about because the place doesn't seem to advertise. For starters, it's BYOB ($2.00/person corkage fee), so you can enjoy a sumptuous meal with excellent wine and not go bankrupt. We recommend bringing a bottle of red and a bottle of white, not out of deference to the Billy Joel song, but because you'll have a hard time choosing your dinner if you assume you *must* have fish because you brought white or you *must* have steak because you brought red. (We usually deviate from this restriction anyway, but when it comes to wine, why not go prepared?)

The restaurant is in a Victorian cottage, and it's tiny. Local art--big and colorful-- covers the walls. The tables nestle close to one another but everyone seems to understand that getting jostled is always a friendly possibility.

The service is excellent--quick, friendly and anticipatory. They seem perfectly content to have you sip your wine and chat while you mull over your choices.

For starters, we've enjoyed the antipasto (rich cheese, spicy olives, sweet roasted peppers and heavy dried sausage), but the portions are so very big we generally stick with just the main course and a cappuccino for dessert.

We've been here several times, but our favorites are the chicken Elena, a rich chicken breast smothered with artichokes, capers and mushrooms laced with white wine ($22) and the Italian suasage, musrooms and pasta dish ($17). The salmon, which we had on another occassion, was fresh and light. All of the pasta is light and perfectly cooked--true al dente--not gummy and with a bit of give.

More than likely you'll need to take some of this bounty home--it's just too rich to eat at once, and the memory of it the following day is even better when it's helped by a taste of the real thing.

On Sundays there's a buffet--we've havent gone yet, but plan to soon. (They're closed Mondays and have hours that change seasonally, so you might want to check their website before heading out (www.nunusbistro.com)

When you step through the door, even if it is only to pick up the pie you've been craving for two weeks, the man at the door, the owner, will hand you a Slice. This is the same man who painted the large, folksy mural on the wall; I saw him myself, before the restaurant opened standing before his creation in the evening, palette in hand, appraising his handiwork. He held the palette as if it were a pizza, and he hands out the pizza as if it were his artistic creation. And it is.

So don't even bother ordering any of the Italian dishes the place orders--ziti, lasagna, meatball subs. Just stick with the pizza. It has that super-thin crust and a rich tomato sauce and cheese that is real. Don't mess with toppings--the mushrooms are canned and impart their preservative taste into that sweet, oreganoey sauce, and the pepperoni just makes oil puddles in that lovely cheese.

They serve beer and wine here, too, so your meal can be complete. Two can eat heartily for under $20.