"Glass House" Train Trip To New Canaan

We left on a 6:45 train to Stamford, Conn, on Thursday, November 9, so we had to get up at 5:00 AM. It was a very long day. The train traveling north was only late 10 minutes, as was the returning one, but the second train left Stamford around 5:15, when it was supposed to leave at 4:58. From Stamford Jim's friend Brad Kaplan drove us to his huge house in New Canaan. They have two guest rooms, each child has a separate room,there was a suite (now closed off) for the Nanny, and there are two dining rooms, with Brad's Lionel trains in the basement near the home movie theater. That gives you an idea of the size of the house. It has a beautiful location. We had lunch at a lovely Italian restaurant on the main street in town, and for that Brad's wife Julie joined us. (The kids were in school, one is 8 and the other is 5 and 1/2.) New Canaan is a town for the ultra wealthy, since another Phillip Johnson house is currently on the market for $15 million. After lunch the four of us toured Phillip Johnson's amazing Glass House, the main tourist attraction in New Canaan. We had reservations and the tour was limited to 14, including the guide. It's really more of a huge outdoor setting with various small buildings: the Glass House, Brick House, Gate House, Gallery (to show paintings), Gallery for sculpture, Gate, etc. The grounds are beautiful and November is the perfect time to see the foliage in Connecticut. The main house (Glass House) is quite small, but remarkable. Johnson used it only on weekends since his office and apartment in New York was his main place of residence. The modernist look of his sleek architecture is still smart and concise. He also built another house for his partner (a man who was a gallery dealer) nearby, but that is not open to the public. Right after the two hour tour Brad took us to the train station for the long trip back to Philadelphia. It was an exhausting but very rewarding day. - Dan