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Published: October 24th 2010
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It must have been the first time in my life that I hadn't been glad of a free upgrade. In fact my heart positively sunk. Fresh from an eight hour bus journey from Montreal, Alexa and I had arrived in Boston ready to pick up our hire car and embark on our road trip a little further down the east coast to Cape Cod. It was coming up to 5pm and so we had reached Boston just in time to take on their legendary rush hour. To make matters worse I had never driven in the US before (let alone a major city like Boston) and had not even previously driven on the right side of the road. Imagine my dismay therefore at being informed by the car hire person that it was my lucky day...they had run out of small cars and were therefore going to have to upgrade us...to an absolute beast of a car that went by the name of a Dodge Avenger! Admittedly it did look pretty cool but at that moment in time if someone had offered me a straight swap for a nice little red Micra I'd have taken it! Despite a few initial complications
(principally remembering which side of the road I should be driving on) we made it safely out of Boston and a couple of hours later were arriving at our home for the next five days, a quaint little hotel in a place called Dennis which was located conveniently about half way along the Cape. Alexa succeeded in navigating us along the most scenic possible route from Boston down to the Cape, though I suspect we would have appreciated this a little more if it hadn't been for the fact that it was dark!
Cape Cod is a sandy peninsula fringed with over 400 miles of sparkling coastline. The Cape boasts spectacular beaches, quaint fishing villages, excellent biking and hiking trails, not to mention some of the freshest seafood imaginable, great for a non fish eater like myself! Despite this we had a wonderful time on the Cape and it came as a welcome break from the cities which had largely dominated the previous few weeks of our adventure. We visited small seaside towns such as Hyannis, Chatham and Yarmouth, all of which were extremely picturesque if a little quiet due to the season having just come to an end.
We also visited the rather alternative Province Town located right at the end of the Cape where we treated ourselves to some rather alternative shoes (see pictures!) My feet are currently putting up some resistance to the new shoes (perhaps they deem them a bit of a fashion disaster) but I remain hopeful that in due course they will come to accept them as otherwise both my feet and I could be in for some tough times! Province Town itself is steeped in history as it was the original landing point (albeit unintended) for the Pilgrims on their voyage of discovery back in 1620. We were never going to be able to resist climbing up to the top of the Pilgrim Monument and we were not disappointed as the views over the Cape were absolutely breathtaking.
Unquestionably the highlight of our time on the Cape was a 52 mile round bike trip from Dennis up to Welfleet and back again. The route was along a designated (and very scenic) bike trail which used to make up the old train lines. Our cycle took us through small towns such as Orleans, Brewster and Eastham before arriving at Welfleet where we
found ourselves overlooking one of the most stunning beaches I have ever seen. The sea was a sparkling blue and glistening white sand stretched in both directions for as far as the eye could see. At the top of the beach there were spectacular grassy sand dunes which you could easily lose yourselves in and there was an overwhelming feeling that the whole place was remarkably unspoilt. We could certainly appreciate why the Cape had been a favourite get away destination for the Kennedys and suspect that not a lot has changed with the place since then. The 26 miles back to Dennis seemed to take considerably longer than the outward 26 miles which I suspect probably had something to do with the fact the we were both losing any feeling in our bottoms by this time. However we broke the journey up with a very pleasant lunch and ice cream in Orleans and eventually made it back to Dennis, tired but exhilarated, with a full three minutes to spare before the bike shop was due to close. Our time on the Cape was thoroughly enjoyable and at some stage in the future we would like to return in July
or August and experience the place in all its glory.
Following our stay on the Cape we travelled back up north to spend a couple of days in Boston. We had heard very good things about Boston and were not disappointed. The city was absolutely beautiful and apparently we had chosen the best possible time to see the place in the "fall". We were staying with a friend of Alexa's, Alyson, and her fiancé Charlie, and we really couldn't have wished for better hosts. Both Alyson and Charlie went out of their way to help us enjoy their lovely city and having been recent travellers themselves were only too aware of a traveller's needs...a washing machine, internet facilities and most of all some home cooked food! We spent our first day in Boston exploring the city and going on a freedom trail guided tour where for the best part of two hours we were told all about how the Americans had kicked the terrible English out of their country just over 200 years ago. Our guide who was dressed up very convincingly as a tavern wench was particularly enthusiastic and I suspect was probably a graduate of the Mel
The shoes!!
... some may refer to them as 'gorilla feet'! Gibson School of bashing the English (think Braveheart and Patriot to name but a few!) The tour was nevertheless very interesting and it was fascinating to imagine what the city must have been like all those years ago. We also visited the cafe where they filmed Cheers and couldn't resist trying some of 'Norm's Nuts' washed down by a nice cold beer. The following day we had a walk over to Harvard where we felt quite out of place being surrounded by so many intelligent people before Charlie very kindly gave us a guided tour of the Boston Bruins Ice Hockey team's stadium where he works. Charlie informed us that they can turn the place from an ice hockey stadium into a basketball stadium in under four hours which we found astonishing. Despite the history we were both big fans of Boston and can fully understand why people say it is one of the most beautiful cities in the US. Our next stop is New York where we will be joined by Alexa's family so tune in next time to hear how the Phoenix's get on in the Big Apple.
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