Exploring Boston

---

It's 23.05 on Thursday 19th March. Today has been or first full day in Boston. I think pretty much all of our nights were a little disturbed last night, as often they are in a new place. Because of this, I didn't wake properly this morning until 9.55. I attempted to rouse the others but they were having none if it, so I headed down on my own to catch the last 5 minutes of the free breakfast the hostel offers every morning. After filling up on bread and cereal I headed back upstairs to find the others still in bed, but at least awake. For the next few hours we slowly got ready to head out, trained and played a little pool in the common area. Once everyone was showered and suitably layered out we left the hostel and begin the 10 minute or so walk towards central Boston.
Again, the day was bitterly cold and within the first few minutes I was congratulating myself on making the decision to wear my thermals for the first time. It was kind of cold that renders your face incapable of coherent speech in minutes.
Once in Boston we spent much of the day exploring the city, ducking into shops and food courts and, of course, Starbucks to keep warm.
Having just left a place as busy as Manhattan the streets of Downtown Boston seemed oddly quiet and compact. This was actually a welcome relief from the constant heaving masses of NY, but it was odd to be able to actually reach the edge of a city centre rather than just walk and walk through the endless blocks of shops and restaurants of New York.
The afternoon drew on, and we decided to head back to the hostel at around 5, via a whole food store to grab some ingredients to cook ourselves some dinner. Once back we spent a couple of hours or so amusing ourselves with reading or sleeping - then reassembled to try out the kitchen facilities.
Kate and I took charge of dinner, as pasta is really only a two person job. The kitchen worked well, and it was nice to be cooking alongside people from all over the world. In fact, a Chinese guy on the station adjacent to ours kindly offered us some of the noodle dish he was expertly cooking and which turned out to be delicious. That's the kind of atmosphere this place has.
We sat chatting amongst ourselves since then in the dining area - Rosie and Matt having only just gone to bed. We didn't actually get round to discussing the plans for tomorrow, but I imagine we'll find some more of Boston to explore!

---