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Published: October 17th 2013
I cannot stay away from the USA this year ...here I am back with Suzanne for two weeks - this time on the East Coast. Our first few days in Boston we are trying out airbnb for accomodation for the first time. We are in a tradional house ( 15 mins walk from Harvard) - the top floor (attic)with a deck in the treetops has been converted and the house owners rent out this cute space. Its all wood and windows - light and airy and we even have a sunken jacuzzi bath to soak the muscles after a tough day sightseeing.
Always ready for a bargain we found flights to Boston with Aer Lingus - from Gatwick to Dublin and after a few hours mooching around the airport on to Boston. The plane was great and good service so no complaints about Aer Lingus - we even got our favourite seating arrangement - 2 seats window and aisle as the plane seating plan is 2 -4-2 . Happy travellers. So after leaving home at 6.30 am we arrived in Boston at 5.30 pm ( -5 hour difference)...a bit of delay in Imigration with hordes of passengers and only 4
booths on !!! And it takes a while to speak to the officer and have your fingerprints taken and photo done. But then we were into a cab and off to Harvard ready for a good night's sleep.
A lovely sunny morning saw us walking to Harvard Yard and then on the 'T ' fast transit to Park Station whcih is right on the corner of Boston Common - and we were off walking the Freedom Trail... a red line painted or sometimes in brick this guides you round the famous sights. What a wonderful mix of architecture there is - old and new rub side by side and the old burial grounds scattered round the city are truly peaceful bringing a great sense of the history of the city to your feet. There are state buildings with shining golden domes, churches with white wooden spires, colossal stone neo romanesque buildings, art deco hotels and shining glass skyscrapers to delight the eyes and the senses as well as views across the water round the harbour. Boston common and the streets lined with trees give the city a feeling of being in one big park and the area of Beacon
Hill with its cobblestones and homes of the rich Victorians are a delight ( well actually John Kerry Secretary of State lives there now - we were hoping he would invite us in but I guess he has more important things to deal with ).
We rested our feet taking a trolley bus hop on /off tour and in 2 days did the whole route ( of course we must get our money's worth)... included in this was the Boston Tea Party Museum which was excellent with actors guiding us through a re-enactment of the events which led on to the revolution against George lll and the English and the American War of Independence. Samuel Adams had us all so riled up about the taxes and lack of representation that we were all quite ready to tip that tea into the harbour and I would have ridden off with Paul Revere to warn the patriots quite happily. Back to the present and the tea rooms there did a great hot mulled cider and giant cookies.
And it would not be a holiday for Suz and I if we didn't take a boat trip - round the harbour we
went - weather a bit grey at this point but we got to see the clipper ( ?) HMS Constitution which is still commisioned by the US Navy.
Both days we were out by 9am and home about 12 hours later - so it was full time sightseeing. But also some great food - dinners at the Green Dragon pub and then the Kirkland Tap and Trotter next night - as well as Boston Cream Pie in the Parker Hotel ( where it was invented) and Clam Chowder down at the Harbour, bagels at Quincy market, drinks in the Cheers pub ...so you can see we also grazed our way round Boston. It's a hard life!!
Each day we have spent some time wandering aroiund the campus of Harvard and enjoying the peaceful atmosphere there and we are intrigued by the brightly coloured chairs set out in the yard - sometimes scattered randomly , sometimes set out in circles or lines or small groups - we ask ourselves is it a work of art or is it just that during the day groups of students come out and set up the chairs for discussion - or perhaps at
night the Harvard elves move the chairs about.
In 2 1/2 days we have seen a lot of this wonderful city , fallen in love with it and want to come back and spend more time - to get to see the museums and galleries ... but it was time to move on today and now we are in Cape Cod. Settled in to a lovely house on Ocean Edge Golf community ( this is an Intervac hospitality exchange) in Brewster. So tomorrow it's a new place to explore.
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Angela Ardington
non-member comment
Looks like a very beautiful and interesting city. Thank you girls for sharing it. loving the vicarious travel. Dom's heading there in December (after the UK) so it was nice to have a preview. Look forward to more photographic delights. xxx