Yale and the Seventh Sister

It was sad to wave goodbye to the boys as we left Craig and Sue's house, but we took comfort in knowing we would be seeing them again soon. We were off to Yale University to tour the campus and see what Yale might have to offer Victor one day. This Ivy League school, the third oldest college in the United States, was founded in 1701 and is steeped in tradition.

One such tradition is that of rubbing President Woolsey's toe for luck. This started with his enthusiasm for the sport of crew and his habit of pushing the team boat off with his foot. It is said that every time he was in attendance of a competition and pushed the team off, they won. Therefore, any "Yalie" in need of luck, be it for an exam, an important game, or just a hot date, goes to the statue of President Woolsey and rubs his toe.

Yale employs a residential college system of housing, with incoming students randomly assigned to one of 12 colleges (none of which are called Gryffindor or Slytherin) where they will spend the next four years with the same group of students. We asked to see the Sorting Hat, but it was not included on the tour.

Our favorite building on campus was the beautiful Sterling Memorial Library, which was built in the style of a cathedral. The architect wanted to build a church, but the University did not need a church, so a compromise was made which produced a "Cathedral of Knowledge."

The Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, on the other hand, is housed in a building designed to mimic the look of a book of Green Stamps. Apparently, the Beinecke family made its fortune in Green Stamps (that must have taken a lot of trips to the grocery store!) and wanted the building to look like the stamps. The stamp-like sections of the building are not green, however: There is not enough green onyx in the world to cover a building that size, so they had to settle for white marble.

Our tour ended in the Beinecke Library, where we saw our second Gutenberg Bible of our trip (the first was at the Library of Congress in Washington), and we went on to have some lunch and hit the road for Gillette Castle State Park.

Gillette Castle is the present-day name for the retirement residence of actor William H. Gillette, of Sherlock Holmes fame. When Gillette decided that it was time for him to settle down and enjoy the money he had made, he built a very large stone house overlooking the Connecticut River. The official name of the house is "The Seventh Sister," though Gillette fondly referred to it as, "my big pile of rocks."

Perhaps the most fascinating feature of the Castle is the woodwork. Much of the home's interior is made of intricately carved wood. Even the light switches and door locks were fashioned out of wood. Oiling and maintaining that wood must be a full time job for someone!

We enjoyed our tour of the house and grounds, and found the history of the home to be just as interesting as those of Hearst Castle and the Winchester Mystery House, and we were glad that this tour came with a much more reasonable admission price. We highly recommend this stop to anyone visiting the area.

On our way to Ken and Sondra's house, where we will be spending the next few nights, we stopped at the Barker Character, Comic, and Cartoon Museum in Cheshire. Although the museum was unexpectedly closed when we arrived, we did have fun in the yard, playing with some of the outdoor displays.

We next made what Kala thought was an unplanned stop at the House of Doors. How was she to know that it was actually part of Andy's diabolical scheme to get Kala close to as many horrifying statues as possible? It turns out that in addition to the "largest selection of doors in the U.S.A.," the House of Doors is also the home of another one of those giant lumberjack statues we've been seeing in our travels. This particular giant is currently undergoing refurbishment, and so we enjoyed the rare treat of being able to see it in pieces. According to Kala, the only thing worse than a statue is a dismembered statue. Score another point for Andy for this one!

Fortunately, Kala survived that encounter, and we all made our way home to Ken and Sondra's house, where we were very excited to see them, their daughter Emma, and their new baby whom we hadn't previously met, Eric. We had a lovely meal and got settled in for the night. We are really looking forward to getting to know Eric and Emma better tomorrow!