I have an interview with the state this Friday in Waterbury.
Any suggestions about where to eat there or in Montpelier / Barre where my hotel is?
Also because of flights being cheaper if you stay Saturday night I won’t be flying out until Sunday. Any ideas for things to do on a Friday or Saturday night?
Oh ! Barre huh? well your a good hour from Burlington, and it seems weird you wouldn’t stay there, in burlington. But don’t fret, Barre is the second largest city. Try the pubs on church street, or benningtons. they are pretty good. The coffee corner for breakfast in Montpelier, and drink lots and lots of Magic Hat if you like good beer.
In Montpelier, The Capitol Plaza Hotel is just about a block from the State House, right across the street from the Department of Personnel, if that is where you need to be. There are a couple of other area hotels as well. Check outhttp://www.montpelier-vt.org/ for more information.
Now, as for things to do on a Friday night…
Understand, Montpelier is the smallest capitol city in the country, about 8,000 people. The downtown is two intersecting streets. Not a lot of nightlife. In fact, the city is pretty much closed as of 6:00 PM. As for Barre, a slightly larger, more working-class city, the less said the better.
Your best bet is to drop up to Stowe (GREAT restaurant town) or Burlington (college town, lots of nightlife).
If I were you, I’d just keep my fingers crossed that the Day’s Inn has a decent cable line-up.
I would recommend getting a hotel in Burlington for Friday and Saturday. If you choose to do so, I can give you a list of fun bars and restaurants to check out. Have a Bob’s first for me. No, make that a Humble Patience. Or maybe a #9. No, go to the Burlington Brew pub and get the sampler for me. No, no no. Get a Long Trail Ale Back Woods stout (I think). Or maybe a Catamount.
All kidding aside, head to the Magic Hat brewery for the free tour. They are very generous with the free samples, and the first time I went I got the tour from the owner (he was bored).
Hey, Degrance, that’s cool! I live in Montpelier, and I work for the state.
Lesse… for hotels, there’s the cheap one on the Barre-Montpelier Road, next to the Friendly’s (I think it’s $40 a night) or there are more expensive ones here in town.
Montpelier is rife with restraunts. There is an excellent (if a bit pricey) thai place called the Royal Orchid on Elm Street. There is a quite good italian place called Sarducchi’s on Main. Three pizzarias, too.
BUT, being a small town, the sidewalks pretty much roll up at 6 or 7, except for the movie theater and such.
As for things to do on Friday or Saturday, if DO decide to stay in or near Montpelier, how would you like to have pizza or something and talk about working for the state?
I sent an email to the address you put up for Straight dope. Thanks for the invite.
Thanks for the replies everyone.
I already have my hotel room and I am staying in Barre. We hope to live in the central area of the state around the capitol so I’m gonna spend Saturday looking around.
The actual interview is in Waterbury.
It was more the resteraunt / coffee house thing I was looking for. Thanks all those who had some ideas to share on that front.
My family and I did a ton of research about Vermont and Montpelier specifically in deciding where we wanted to live long term so the lack of a night life and the small town nature of the capitol won’t be a suprise.
Wish me luck on the interview. If anybody is interested I will stop by this thread Monday and let you know how it went.