Vacationing in the Berkshires - Part 3

We can't get a decent weather report up here. We either see Albany weather or Springfield. Neither are accurate for this area. With the way the clouds and wind whip up over the hills, it may not matter.

Today we saw some sun peeking out, thus, we headed to the Berkshire Botanical Gardens in Stockbridge. 15 acres with a little woodland trail thrown in. Despite the upcoming chilly weather, a lot of flowers greeted us.

We window-shopped and lunched in Stockbridge. A quaint small New England town. So quaint that Silver Fox busses dropped off a gaggle of tourists.

We slipped into a quiet alley to eat at Once Upon A Table. A tiny, brightly colored space.

I ordered the special - Omelet with Goat Cheese, Sauteed Onion, and Potato and a glass of Qupe Syrah. The potatoes had a yummy baked poatao doneness that melded beatifully with the goat cheese. My husband tried the New England Clam "Chowdah" and a Caesar Salad. The salad was decent, but he thought the soup was overrun by the ham, taking away from the clams. I thought it was quite tasty, but not traditional.

After lunch we headed to the Norman Rockwell Museum. A beautiful setting with scultures gracing the lawn. The permanent scultures were fashioned by Peter Rockwell (Norman's son). The temporary ones portrayed different artists' interpretations of garden gates. The museum also moved Norman Rockwell's red barn studio from the middle of town to the museum site.

Inside the museum the actual paintings were the best. The light shines out in the paintings that a magazine cover could never capture.

For dinner we hit the Bizen - a Japanese sushi/Robata grill/Kaiseki restaurant. We sat at the sushi bar, marveled at the Hispanic sushi chefs, and ordered a Mark West Pinot Noir.

We then proceeded to order tuna rolls, grilled teriyaki duck (small plate), shrimp katsu, yellowtail sashimi, and lobster/avocado roll. All good. I particularly liked the duck and the lobster roll.

Now on to the show. The Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center (recently restored to its former grandeur) shows old films on Mondays. We took in The Third Man which starred Joseph Cotten and Orson Welles.

Since we had walked to dinner and a movie, we decided to be decadent and stopped by Allium for after dinner drinks and possibly dessert. A Sambuca for my spouse. For me, I ordered Hennessey cognac and a French press of Great Barrington coffee to make my own cognac coffee. Our engaging bartender was manning the bar once again. We also decided to split a dessert - warm flourless chocolate cake (with molten chocolate in the middle) sitting in a pool of caramel sauce with a scoop of SoCo vanilla ice cream on top. Oh my god good! After finishing dessert and coffee we ambled back to our temporary abode.

What a varied and wonderful day!