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Published: October 3rd 2010
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From New York we catch a bus to New Bedford to stay with Bob (from the Tennessee conference) and his family. We have a yummy meal in a brewhouse bar and the guys get beer 'samplers' - a concept that definately meets with Keith's approval. Its great to meet Kris and Emma and to be staying in a home for the first time in a few months, but more on that in the next entry. Bob has a meeting in Boston and takes us up there with him, so we get to check out the city of Boston for the day.
As Bob heads off to his meeting, we take a short train ride in to the central city. Its a bit cooler today, so may be the end of the heat wave. We have a good walk around the inner city area with its very substantial buildings mixing the old and new, clean streets, markets and a great feel to it, then meet up with Bob and George (also from the conference) for their personalised Boston city tour.
Apparently a freeway has been placed underground, transforming the waterfront. The area seems well designed with walkways and plenty of
green space being fully utilised today by lots of kids (young and old) playing with the free games and activities in the sunshine. There's more hillbilly golf and we try out the game of cornholing that we'd heard about - throwing a small bag of beans towards a smooth-topped box with a hole in the middle. A great fountain has excited kids running in and out of the random action water jets, producing squeals of delight and surprise. The city aquarium sits on the water's edge and there are plenty of boats running tours and trips out the islands.
We wander around an amazing memorial to the Jewish people who died in the holocaust. Tall glass columns reach for the sky, each with thousands of identity numbers on it. Quotes from survivors are engraved in the footpath and walls. It's a powerful memorial.
As we continue our tour, lots of people are out in the sunshine enjoying the commons with duck ponds, gardens and fountains. A bride and her gaggle of girls are having their photos taken in a park and I get wave. There's a pond with kids paddling and another random action fountain, and apparently the
Holocaust memorial
Thousands of numbers, one for each Jewish person who died pond freezes over in winter and becomes an ice skating rink. There's even a tadpole playground - cute!
The buildings in the city are huge structures of stone and marble and seem to be much more solid and have more of a permanent feel than those in New Zealand. History is all around, but it's blended with the modern day society. As we come to the end of the long day's walking with Bob and George there's a blimp (hot air balloon) hovering over the city with TV baseball pictures showing on it's side. The Boston Red Sox are playing at the stadium in the central city, so we locate a nice little Irish sports bar and its time for a well deserved beer while we check out some baseball action. What a great city!
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