Boston and New York

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I arrived in Boston Thursday night, unfortunately I had to spend 1,5 hours figuring out how to change my flight home, so we only just made it for dinner before the restaurants closed. We stopped at a vegan Asian restaurant called grasshopper where we had super delicious food.

We went back to my friends place in Worcester outside Boston and had an early night as we wanted to make the most out of my one day in Boston. We went into the city early and walked the freedom trail, which will take you past most of the important historic sights. It is a red line of old bricks that you follow all the way around the city. We decided also to do the harbor walk and made it by the Boston Tea Party museum but too late to go in. It is funny all of the sudden being in a city with much more history to it, there were memorials everywhere. In one of the parks we saw an eagle eating a smaller bird surrounded by people. We did the trail from the Back Bay and then it takes you through the center past city hall, holocaust memorial and much more, before you end up in the old Italian neighborhood and stop at the Bunker Hill monument which is a tall tower you can climb up into and see an amazing view over the whole city. In the evening just for sunset we went up to do the observatory skywalk and could see the whole city both in sunset and with all the night lights. We could see Fenway Park and M.I.T where we could not make it out by foot. After some nice vegan pizza and craft beer in Cambridge we went home to sleep.

The next morning we got up early and headed to New York by car. The drive down was so beautiful - autumn colours on all the trees. We got there and got settled in our Airbnb in Harlem just north of central park. Then we headed out to Seasoned Vegan close by for lunch, it was super good! Really recommendable. After that we walked through the beautiful Central Park where they were setting up everything for the New York marathon the following day. Then we walked to Times Square, it is a bit too hectic for my taste but fun to see when you are there. Then we walked a bit more around the Central Station area and had a pint at a small Irish Pub before heading up to the Empire State building for sunset. The queue here was insane, no need to say we did not make it up there for sunset. It was still very beautiful and it was the first time I comprehended just how big the city actually is. After that we had dinner and some beers before heading home to sleep.

The following day we went for breakfast a bit further north in Harlem, we found a good Jamaican vegan restaurant. After that we headed downtown again for our last hours in the city. We went to see the 9/11 memorial and World Trade Center. The memorial has a big black whole where the water floods down and sounds like it does not end anywhere, it is very powerful to see. After we walked down to the harbour to get a view of the Lady of Liberty. We could not get a good luck from the shore so we decided to do the very touristy cruise over at least to get some cool photos. It was worth it, you got a very good close look at her and a very cool view of Manhattan and the Brooklyn Bridge. After this we just had time for a quick lunch and then had to head back to Worcester as my flight left the following day.

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