Three Beautiful Things

1. Seeing St Paul's Cathedral and The Millennium Bridge and The Tate Modern from the plane. 2. Wrapping my hands around a mug of real English tea that had been made with a fresh teabag and boiling water. 3. Lying diagonally across my double bed after a week of skimpy single beds.

1. Stopping to look out at a 100 mile view from Hog's Back Ridge -- mountains covered with turning trees behind us and a misty valley before us. 2. We picked a lunchstop town more or less at random from the map. It turned out that New Haven was the home of Yale University with its ornate red buildings and very formally dressed students. 3. A very small girl making faces at me in the mirror of the airport lavatory.

1. Seeing Autumn leaves when we thought we wouldn't see any at all. 2. Dinner with portions small enough to finish. Food in the States comes in such huge platefuls that you can't eat everything; so the West Dover Inn's delicate portions of truly delicious, beautifully presented and very imaginative food were very welcome. 3. Our room at the Deerfield Valley Inn had a log fire, so we sat in front of it knitting away, long into the night. Picture by Katie Skinner

1. 'It's get your women and children inside weather coming,' say Wes and Linda of the excellent Tuc Me Inn at Wolfeboro. Oh. We had planned to go for a long walk. Instead, we do two short walks and go into the village to watch the storm coming in across the lake. We see a little white dog running along a jetty snapping and barking at the waves as they slop over the side. 2. Sitting in Ben and Jerry's icecream parlour eating huge banana splits while the rain throws down outside. We felt very English. 3. The scene in When Harry Met Sally where she orders the apple pie. I like it because it is an intrinsically funny speech and it is a neat and simple way of telling you all about her. PS: If you're ever in Wolfeboro, I can't say enough good things about Tuc Me Inn -- The innkeepers made us feel right at home and did wonderful things with maple syrup for breakfast.

1. At breakfast in the hostel, we see a New Zealand backpacker travelling with his own personal jar of marmite. Later, we have second breakfast in in a non-chain coffee house with the demon drink in thick white china mugs and a slice of cake to share. 2. The bronze frogs on the Frog Pond. 3. Our tyre is more than a bit flat and with an unfamiliar car, Katie feels a bit helpless. But the mechanic in Wolfboro kindly puts more air into it.

1. The shopping in Mystic is great. We stand with our noses against the window of a closed craft shop. The owner hurries up, clutching her coffee. 'Just a moment ladies, I'll open up for you.' She says: 'In the cafe they said: "You have customers waiting," but I had to get my coffee first.' Later we discover a needlepoint shop. We are bowled over by the range of handpainted canvases, and chat to the owner, who has found her passion in life and made a trade of it. 2. A public loo in Newport with a jungle painted on the walls. 3. The restaurant where we have lunch is short staffed, so a pretty barman with an astonishing gravelly voice serves us.

Sometimes you just have to be a bit flexible with your numbering. 1. We met Rich's parents, Lucille and Fred, and you could see where he gets his kindness and generosity from. They welcomed us like long-lost friends, and I loved being 'The girls' right from the start. Later, we set out in Lucille's vast and beautiful 1980s Cadillac ('I'm the original little old lady who you want to buy a car from.' We went to the graveyard so we could salute Rich and give him some flowers. His stone is artful -- simple but full of meaning for anyone who knows how he gave Lucille gardenias, that he achieved Scouting honours and that he loved books. 1a. Driving towards the end of Long Island, we stopped at a Starbucks where the barista asked 'Are you on holiday?' I said: 'Yes.' Seems this was the right answer, because it got me a free coffee! 'He's probably used to dealing with some very rude and demanding people,' commented Bob. 2. 'Switch on y...

1. We didn't have long in Central Park, so we picked and choosed -- the statues of Alice in Wonderland and Hans Christian Andersen. Children were climbing all over Alice, and she seemed to have been designed with them in mind, because there were cunning footholds in the bronze. Hans Christian Andersen's ugly duckling was rubbed shiny. 2. We saw some Mennonite-type people preaching fire and brimstone in a park. The women all wore little muslim caps, and the men wore high trouser and braces. Later, I saw a little huddle of them standing in the middle of Times Square gawping at the lights. 3. During supper, I remembered that I hadn't seen any Andy Warhol sights. 'Oh we can go see where the Factory was,' said Bob. 'It's only a couple of blocks from here.' So we did. There's a Petco there now.

1. They served pineapple for breakfast in the hotel, and it was like dream pineapple. Instead of veering between scalding acidity, fermented sloppiness and fiberous chewiness like certain English pineapples, it was sweet and tender and tasted of... pineapple. 2. An enormous wisteria growing over three fire escapes in Greenwich Village. 3. The parks all had dog enclosures. They seem to be pretty much the only place that dogs can run wild and free in New York. The owners sit around watching as the dogs frollick merrily -- while following to the letter the long list of rules -- and it looks like a good way to meet people. Picture by Katie Skinner

1. Went to Chez Gerard for breakfast on our way to New York. I had toasted brioche with special chocolate spread. It seemed to be made with mostly cocoa and very little sugar. 2. I always think you know your holiday has begun when you climb off a plane and find the air is much hotter than at home. 3. Rich's friend Bob picked us up at the airport. We loaded into a pale gold Chevrolet. 'This is Rich's car. His parents gave it to me since I spent so much time in it.' Rich had often mentioned his car, and we knew he was tremendously proud of it, so it was a good link -- if he couldn't be here to meet us, at least his wheels were.