Right before sunset we arrived in Montpelier, a small little city with tons of charme, and the capital of Vermont. Our stop was also super quick, we only took a couple of pictures and jumped back into our car. Our goal was to reach Burlington before nighttime.
After another hour in the car we arrived in Burlington. It was my first time there and it reminded me so much of my little home town in Germany where I grew up. Lots of farms with sheeps and cows, the mountains at the horizon, located by Lake Champlain. Our home for the next couple of days was the Hilton Burlington on Battery Street with views over the city and the lake. Compared to NYC it was super quiet, relaxed and it was beautiful being able to see smaller buildings with lots of restaurants and small shops and the lake.
We started our first day in Burlington, exploring the old part of Burlington by foot. For our late lunch date we choose the Farmhouse Tap & Grill. I found recommendations for restaurants through an older article in the New York Times. This restaurant was on their list too so I decided to give it a try. Farmhouse Tap & Grill is located on Bank Street which is just a quick walk away from Church Street. Church Street is a main part of the town center. The restaurant was super busy, the waiter had to put our names on a waiting list and we went outside again for a 30 minute stroll and a few quick stops in different kinds of local stores until our table was ready. We decided to order a large salad with fish and a burger with fries for our main course. The quality was super fresh and both dishes were delicious. Our waiter was friendly, always filled up the water and did an awesome job, which you couldn’t say about all the NYC waiters! After our main course we ordered traditional waffles with maple syrup and a coffee. Of course, in Vermont maple syrup is a must to try. While we were waiting for our dessert – it finally started to snow! Christmas had been too warm with no snow in sight, but here in Burlington we finally got snow, it felt immediately like a second Christmas.
The waffles were so amazing, I totally forgot to take a picture. Our lunch was huge so I felt like we had to walk around for a while and enjoyed the fresh snowflakes on our faces. After sunset we went back to our hotel since the temperatures were falling down dramatically and it was too cold to walk outside any longer.
On our second day we explored other parts from Burlington, some places included memories from my husbands childhood and we enjoyed a fantastic dinner in the evening. We spent our whole evening at Hen of the Woods, a gorgeous restaurant with tons of local cheese products. We started with oysters, they were so fresh and had a delicious taste. I had enjoyed too much food the day before so I wasn’t able to eat more than oysters and cheese. The cheese plate with fresh maple syrup crackers was super tasty. You can call us crazy, but it was so good – we had to order a second plate.
The next morning we woke up to a snow covered city. The Lake was unfortunately fully covered with fog and we were not able to see the mountains. The temperatures were super freezing so we took our car to explore more spots around town. Our first stop was at Echo Leahy Center for Lake Champlain. It was great to explore the underwater world of the lake in a museum/aquarium. I would say it is definitely more for families with children but we had our fun as well. You can see local fish, different kinds of smaller animals like starfishes, turtles and scallops. Quite an interesting journey if you have a little bit of time or the weather is not as good as you wished for. After a long day exploring town I was so happy when we went to another great restaurant, which was only a stone’s throw away from our hotel. The Bleu! I can only say good things about food places in Burlington, but this place was the icing on the cake. We had a cute little table in a corner area with views of the bar and the whole restaurant. A glass of fine white wine combined with homemade pasta and scallops and I arrived in my personal food heaven. The staff was friendly and attentive. We had a great evening and time flew by way too fast.
On our last day we drove to Shelburne Farms which is a little bit outside of Burlington, perfect for us, it was on our way back home. Shelburne Farms is a nonprofit organization educating for a sustainable future. That means learning that links knowledge, inquiry, and action to help students build a healthy future for their communities and the planet. The home campus is a 1,400-acre working farm, forest, and national historic landmark. If you have time, trust me its worth a visit. During winter time not everything is open, but you don’t have to deal with huge tourist groups. We were almost alone there! It was a great experience to get a better feeling for the whole area and the historical part of Vermont. After couple of hours inside and outside we felt like snowmen and went back to the welcome center were we bought a few postcards, and I couldn’t resist falling in love with a cute unique cashmere scarf which I decided to get as a little “end-of-the-vacation” present. Before we drove back home we enjoyed a late breakfast at Vermont Coffee Company. A cute little place with tons of amazing local food and other products. A great store for presents. We purchased obviously Maple Syrup!
After a six hour drive we finally arrived in our beloved big apple and I was super happy to be back home right before New Year’s Eve.
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