Leaving New England

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Hi all

We are now sitting in a hotel room in Boston having left our base this morning in Pepperell, Massachusetts. Since Niagara we have visited a few more places, namely Salisbury beach and Hampton Beach where there were some beautiful summer homes just like you see in the movies. We also went to Cape Cod again and visited a lovely little town called Falmouth where we saw some wild turkeys just wandering around (making the most of it before thanksgiving!) and there were lots of scarecrows in various types of dress outside shops in the main street depending on the shop they were depicting. We had our lunch in the car that day, parked right in front of the beach, sun shining so wound the windows down and had a little nap, only to be woken by a man playing a very haunting sound on his flute! This sound brought in an amazing amount of pigeons and ducks in the calmest way imaginable, they literally just walked up to him as if in a trance and he promptly fed them!

The following day we went to Salem. That was a very weird town. Obviously this was leading up to their big night and the town is totally dedicated to witches and magic so it was very hyped up. There were haunted houses, costume shops, seances and psychics everywhere you looked but we did also come across the sad part where there were graves dedicated to the 'witches' that were killed in the name of puritism, mostly hanged but one poor man was pressed! There were lots of people wandering around dressed the part and we don't think it was just because it was halloween!

We have also been to Martha's Vineyard which was very pretty but very quiet. We went out of season. It is a holiday island full of holiday homes for the wealthy of New York and Boston. We got chatting to a man who told us about the "Gingerbread Houses". They were not on the tourist map and we would never have found them if we hadn't been told about them but they were really cute, again holiday homes but extremely pretty and a community in their own right.

So today we walked around Boston and it is a lovely city. Boston Common is the Hyde Park of the town and it has hundreds of squirrels running around. This whole area is very historical because this is where it all started and there are lots of references to the British soldiers that were fought for independence.

We ended our day in a bar called Cheers. Those of you who are our age will remember the TV programme and there are actually two bars in Boston, one the original and one a replica. We chose the original and it was good fun, Dave was in his element, burger and chips, nice cold beer and american football to watch on the big screen. I was ok too, pinot was great 😊

Tomorrow we are catching the train and onto the next part of our adventure but we have to say we have really enjoyed New England and would definitely recommend it for a visit especially in the autumn.

Thanks for all your comments on the last blog, we love getting them. Just incase you are wondering it is better to comment and then we can publish it alongside the blog. If its something more personal then please email instead. Either way we really enjoy hearing from you. Bye for now, Ann and Dave

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Comments

[roberto barbagallo]

Ciao David, indeed nice to read your holiday updates. Must admit I envy you. Great to hear you enjoy and look forward to hear further news ! take care

[Tina]

Hi there Ann and Dave. Looks like you're having an amazing time. Love reading all about your travels and seeing your photos. Look forward to the next episode. Tina. xx

[Karen and Keith]

Hi Ann and Dave, it's great reading your adventure. New England sounded fabulous, it must be fantastic to actually see the places we have all heard of, and have the time to really enjoy the local lifestyle. Loving the photos too.