This morning we headed off on the North East train from
Grand Central to Greenwich Connecticut.
Stormy skies prevailed but it was much warmer than it has been. Catching trains here is easy and we wound up
being earlier than we thought. We were
met at the station by the Junior School Librarian from Greenwich Country Day
School, Palmer Sloan. As we drove out
to the school she pointed out many of the local landmarks – Greenwich is indeed
a very beautiful place with huge houses and landscaped gardens, low stone walls
running along the side of the road and numerous pretty churches. We arrived at the school which is like
something from a story book. All white
buildings and emerald green lawns, dotted with oaks and other specimen trees
that had been there for many years.
Palmer took us to her beautiful library, resplendent with
its own gas fireplace and reading nook.
It must be so cosy to be able to read to the children in front of the
fire in Winter.
We went for a tour of the Junior School and met some of the
children and their teachers. They have a
co-teacher in every classroom, generally a young graduate. This is an ideal situation and one I wish
more schools in Australia could afford to have.
The third grade students came to see me in two groups and I
had a lot of fun talking to them about Australia, being a writer and Alice-Miranda. There were great questions and we had some
fun acting out the school’s second best tantrum thrower and her encounter with
Alice-Miranda – or Alex Michael as we had two boys volunteer for the parts.
The students have a half day on Friday which allows for
faculty meetings but Palmer had been granted special permission to host a lunch
with the Grade 3 students. Numbers swelled
to 40 (from the originally anticipated 20).
The set up in the library was beautiful with table cloths, flowers, real
plates and goblets and the students were perfect guests. I enjoyed being able to talk to them in a
more informal setting and the pizza and salad was delicious too.
I signed books for the students who had purchased them . It was great to meet an Australian mother from
Mildura and her daughter who already knew the Alice-Miranda series as a friend
from Melbourne had sent the over. I was
thrilled that she had read and enjoyed them.
After lunch Palmer took us on a more extensive tour of the
school. We saw their stunning new
theatre and rebuilt senior school. It
truly is one of the most picture postcard schools I have ever seen. Their staff accommodation is like a village –and
a great example of the way that they care for their teachers and faculty
members. We then took a drive around the
area with Palmer pointing out places of interest. It’s a gorgeous town – but her patch in Old
Greenwich is definitely my favourite spot.
I had forgotten that it’s so close to the sea – we drove out to one of
the parks at the tip of Old Greenwich where there was once a big stone mansion.
The old couple who lived there didn’t
have any children but they did have a pet bear they used to drive around with
them in a convertible. There has to be a
story in that!
We visited Diane’s Books in Greenwich and I signed a lovely
pile of Alice-Miranda’s – so if you are looking for a signed copy, they have a
few J The day flew by and it was after 5pm when we
caught the train back to the city. There
are so many beautiful schools in the area, I’m looking forward to being back
again in 2013. Palmer and her team were
so welcoming – we had a great day and it was a fitting final school visit on
what has been an amazing tour.
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