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It’s trolley Time!

By Anthony Stoeckert, Special Writer
   On the Saturday after Thanksgiving, I was exhausted.
   It was late afternoon, and two days of driving, eating and shopping — along with a nasty chill in the air — had me wishing I was home, wearing sweatpants as I drank hot cider and vegged in front of the TV.
   Instead, I was standing with my daughter outside Mediterra on Hulfish Street in Princeton, waiting for a trolley. And before I knew it, I was invigorated by the sights of Princeton, and the knowledge, and enthusiasm of Mimi Omiecinski.
   Ms. Omiecinski is the owner of Princeton Tour Company, which is offering holiday trolley tours through Dec. 29. The trolleys are more like a bus than a trolley, but they look like trolleys, and they clang.
   They’re also warm and comfortable, a perfect setting for some sightseeing and insight. And Ms. Omiecinski knows her stuff. She’s been hosting walking and biking tours of Princeton for six years, and came up with the trolley tour idea last year because wintertime — with its snow and icy sidewalks — isn’t suitable for walking and biking.
   ”It’s going to give you just enough information to make you go, ‘Wow that’s interesting,’” Ms. Omiecinski says. “If you’re a history buff, you really feel like you get a lot of information, but (it’s also good) if you really just want to look at pretty things in Princeton . . . it’s kind of the best of both worlds.”
   Ms. Omiecinski adds that these tours don’t offer as much information as her other tours, but we saw, and learned, plenty. The trolley (which came from Cape May, courtesy of the Great American Trolley Company) took us by the homes of Grover Cleveland, Woodrow Wilson, J. Robert Oppenheimer, and Albert Einstein.
   We also saw a house that F. Scott Fitzgerald lived in, and one that both Saul Bellow and Philip Roth occupied (separately of course, they weren’t roommates).
   We also learned about some lesser-known “smartypants” (Ms. Omiecinski’s term for the geniuses of Princeton, compared to the rest of us “dum-dums”) such as Kurt Godel, a brilliant guy with a wife who was brilliant in her own way. Mr. Godel is one of Ms. Omiecinski’s favorite smartypants. He didn’t exactly have the looks of George Clooney. But his wife kept his confidence up by insisting his secretaries couldn’t keep their eyes off him.
   The tour also took us by the Institute for Advanced studies, Westminster Choir College and much, much more. One of my favorite tidbits involves the always-in-the-news Dinky. It’s not only the smallest train ride in the country, but it also was the victim of the last train robbery in the U.S., though the robbers weren’t after money. According to Ms. Omiecinski, some rascals stopped the train by placing their car on the tracks, and took their girlfriends off the train for an outing.
   Ms. Omiecinski says she collects her information through reading articles, and visiting libraries. It’s not uncommon to find her at the Mudd Manuscript Library, for example, reading a thesis by Michelle Obama or James Baker. Those not only teach her something new, they often lead her to another path for another tale.
   ”I still wake up dying to learn more about Princeton and to tell more about Princeton,” she says. “So for me, the way I get this information is I never stop being curious about her.”
   The trolley tours are continuing on Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., through Dec. 29. They’re a perfect companion to a day of shopping, or dinner or a gander at the Palmer Square Christmas tree. The tours are sponsored by Palmer Square, Callaway Henderson Sotheby’s International Realty and Hamilton Jewelers. Riders receive a $25 gift certificate to Hamilton Jewelers.
   ”It’s an hour (that’s) literally non-stop, don’t take a breath, shameless name-dropping, it’s pretty amazing,” she says. “In my opinion, I don’t think there’s another two square miles on Earth that can boast to the level that Princeton can.”
Trolley tours cost $15 per person. For reservations or information, go to www.princetontourcomapny.com or call 609-902-3637.