Boston for two days

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We arrived in to Boston in the dark of the day about 5pm, with no where to stay and not a clue where to go, luckily on the Greyhound bus it had WiFi which allowed us to look for places to stay, we found a few possible places and saved them, along with the maps.

At the South Station in Boston, we were hoping to find some assistance for, but we could find nothing, we asked and were pointed towards the terminal security, and they provided us with a map and a list of possible places, but that was it.

We finally arrived at the first one, Malner Hotel, it was getting late and decided to just book in, costing us $119 + taxes just for the night, OMG, this is our second night and we are way over budget. We did get a shower, bath and a clean bed, I think this was just making up for the night before in the Carter Hotel in New York.

I woke at 6am the next morning, still on UK time, and left Jody fast asleep in the bed, with Laptop in hand I headed for the breakfast room, as this is where the WiFi was the strongest. Searched on Kayak.com for places to stay in Boston which where going to be a lot cheaper than the night before. I finally found 20 Berkley, what used to be the old YMCA, costing just $72 a night, double bed, but shared toilet and showers.

I had also searched for things to do, checking out the Trolley busses around Boston, we decided to go with the Old Trolley service, it covered everything we wanted to do and provided us with a boat trip around the harbour. I tried booking online as it was cheaper, it failed saying duplicate booking.

After breakfast, eating as much as we could before going pop, we headed to 20 Berkley, found that we could book in directly for $188 + tax but if we did it only online, it was $144 for two nights. So we sat down and used their WiFi to book in to the former YMCA, how mad has this world gone, just why could we not book in directly for the same price?

The YMCA was clean and the room, although the room was small and very hot, it was something we could handle.

We headed out for our first day in Boston, first impressions is it is very clean and well looked after. We boarded the Trolley, which as it turned out we got one ticket free due to the problems we had in the internet, first bargain :-)

The Trolley took us all around Boston, Cheers Bar (must come back here) the Fenway Ball Park (Base Ball), the old in the country, and it looked like it too, it was a bit of a mess, or where they just rebuilding parts of it? Past MIT, and only 2 miles away from Harvard, as you drive pass the universities you can feel your IQ going down by 10 points due to them having the ability of sucking it out off you for other to use for the greater good.

Then we headed back to the centre of Boston, jumped off the Trolley and on to the Boat trip around the harbour, we could not have had a better day for it, clear blue skies and sun beating down on us. Going out in to the harbour was quite something as you get to see the magnificent sky line view of Boston City, after a lovely cruse around the, very large, harbour we jumped off at the Navy museum, where we looked at the HMS Constitution, the oldest war ship still sea worthy, also called Iron side due to no cannon balls could penetrate her hull.

Back on the Trolley, which took use back to where we started, I really wanted to go over to the Cheers Bar, Jody followed along, it was well worth it, the bar down the steps was not the TV set but a real bar (Bull Finch Pub), severed lovely beer and wonderful nachos. The TV set was on the first floor (or ground floor to us Brits), stage lights, but still a working bar.

After mellowing in Cheers we walked to, what only could be described as the old part of town, very quant shops, dim street lighting and a sense of, you need money to walk in to any of these shops, it was almost like a street out of the old movies, very nice and relaxing too.

We headed back to our YMCA room, fell on to our beds, at about 6pm, and woke up the next morning still with some of our clothes on, some 11 hours later, yep 5am. We booked our next two stops, Montreal and Quebec, making sure that we got back on track with our budget.

Spent the day wandering around on foot, through the parks, meeting up with Mrs Mallard, and her ducklings, Jack, then Kack, and then Lack, then Mack and Nack and Ouack and Pack and Quack.

Walked around the old part of town with the Sky Scrapers now taking over what must have been very pretty, the Old Meeting house, where the Boston Tea party started, and what finally become the 1776, Independence Day started.

After eating at the Quinsy Market, which must have had some 100 different street style food stands, I went for Clam Chowder in a Boston Bun, yum, yum, Jody had a freshly made pasta mix, very yummy too.

Back on to the Trolley, as we had a two day pass, yep, not only did we get a free ticket, but got a free day too, we like Boston. Travelled back to the YMCA, quick Pizza and then to bed, as we have to be awake at 5am to catch out Greyhound bus to Montreal.

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Photos

Cheers
Where Everyone Knows Your Name

Mrs Mallary
Mrs Mallard, and her ducklings, Jack, then Kack, and then Lack, then Mack and Nack and Ouack and Pack and Quack.