Burlington Vermont

Before moving out to Vermont I bought a New England guide book and am determined to go everywhere in the book before we leave this area (that is a very ambitious goal). I have even started highlighting where we have gone. So this past Holiday weekend we decided to go up to Burlington, VT and check things out.

Burlington in only about an hour and ten minutes away from us. As we drove up there the information signs started to tell me how many KM it was to Burlington instead of Miles. We thought this was funny and Brian said, "We must be close to Canada". This is true, Burlington is only 45 minutes from the Canadian border.

When we arrived, the first thing we did was go to the Church Street Marketplace and the Pedestrian Mall. There was all kinds of shops, from the regular stores like Old Navy to little local store. I found a store called Second Time Around, it was hit or miss with the pricing, but they take used clothes and fix them up, design them into new clothing and re-sell them. The store had some really cute things there, but I didn't buy anything because I have to remember that we are on a student budget.

In the marketplace they had little outdoor cafes, so we ate lunch at one. I was trying to figure out what the local food in Burlington was, but I didn't know, so I ordered French Onion soup and their local Root beer (It had French in the name and I know a lot of people here speak French, so close enough? - yeah right). They also had street acts, such as:

The One Man Band

And this balancing act done with knifes.

We also walked by the oldest house of worship in Burlington, it was built in 1816.

The First Unitarian Church

Next we walked through three different parks. The first one was the City Hall Park. They were having an Art Fair, Farmers Market and Eco-Fest. I wanted to find some fruit at the Farmers market, but they were sold out by the time we made it over there. Brian really enjoyed the booths at the Eco-Fest, but the speakers, or should I say Ranters were not his favorite. They were yelling and swinging their fists trying to get people all fired up about recycling. Go Captain Planet!

This bus supposedly runs off of solar power

When I went to Italy I fell in love with buildings that had vines growing on them. On our walk down to the next park, Waterfront Park, I found one.

Waterfront Park was my favorite of the three parks. We walked along the board walk, looked at the marina and got ice cream. At this park, they have swinging benches. You can sit in them and look out over the water. I bet they are filled with couples at sunset.

We walked to the end of the park and down a dirt bike path. We found a dog park (which we will have to take the dogs to) and an old City of Burlington Building. It had broken windows and grass growing on it's roof. It was very weird how the city would let such a huge building go to waste.


The last park we went to was Battery Park. The guide book I have talked this park up. There was a battle there between US Soldiers and the British Royal Navy. I don't know what I was expecting, maybe a battle re-enactment? - Not really. But I was disappointed with this park, it was more like a sidewalk along a main road with some grass next to it. However, Battery Park did have some good views of Lake Champlain and...


... a very cute Squirrel

In Battery Park there was a memorial with a statue of Civil War General William W. Wells.

There is also a statue of Chief Gray Lock which honors him and all of the Indians indigenous to Vermont.

We did a lot of walking and exploring and hope to do it again really soon!

~ Nicole