Westport is something of a celebrity town, with longtime residents Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward adding some Hollywood glamour, and convicted felon Martha Stewart injecting a dangerous gangster element into the town that makes it very edgy. Actually as you can see the pre-convict Martha had a much stronger influence on the town. This is Main Street, across the river from our hotel, housing a long line of Brooks Brothers, Ann Taylors and Talbots with a couple of decent restaurants thrown in.

105. Westport, CT

Because my parents don't approve of my relationship with Somchai, we're not allowed to stay in their house, and have to stay in a hotel when we visit them. We stayed at the Inn at National Hall in Westport, about thirty minutes south of Monroe. The hotel is fine, the usual New England chintz interior, although the exterior would be a major disappointment to any unsuspecting tourist looking for the quintessential New England experience. It's a brick building that I think used to be a factory, and is now marooned in a suburban office park surrounded by a parking lot. Service is also patchy. There are only about seven or eight rooms, and we stayed there for about a week, but every time we came to reception we had to identify ourselves and our room number, like there were so many Caucasian and Asian gay couples staying there simultaneously that they couldn't keep track of all of us. And we never met the manager the whole time, which is odd because at these types of places they always stress the family feeling, which is non-existent here. (Room: 6, Facilities: 3, Service: 3, Overall: 4). Oh, and I was just kidding about my parents of course, the real reason we don't stay there is that my room still has the bed I used when I was in high school, which is about the size of the pillow I use on our current bed.