My son is a rising senior and wants to study biology. He prefers small liberal arts schools in the northeast and doesn’t want to attend any college or university below the Mason-Dixon line. So this summer we toured Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts while on a trip to pick up our daughter from a ten day sumemr wilderness camps in Vermont.

We stayed over night in the Massachusetts border town of North Adams and drove to Williamstown the next morning.

I must say it was strange seeing my last name on many t-shirts and college brochures. Williams is the 3rd most common last name in the United States so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that there would be a town somewhere with that name. But still. We spent some time in the Williams College gift shop looking for just the right shirt with Williams on it. We didn’t want purple or the word college. Just Williams. We bought four grey t-shirts with the words Williams printed in white. It’s going to be fun twinning — is that the right word — with the kids.

Spring Street is the main “downtown” area for students of Williams College. It’s a bit longer than Princeton’s Spring Street and has a few more shops but seems to be the only shopping/dining area within walking distance of the campus. Princeton has the advantage of multiple streets.

One side of Spring Street has the Williams College gift shop, a Mexican restaurant, the Purple Pub and a few other shops including a consignment store. At the end of Spring Street is an ice creamery, Lickety Split.

On the other side of Spring Street is the Pera Mediterranean Bistro. The shot was not planned. I was walking along with the tour guide and just happened to spot this elderly couple stopping for a look at the menu. I love the look of brick and the ivy and the sidewalk dining. For me, this evoked images of my college days when we would drive up to Boston and hang out on the streets of Harvard.