A Drive Through The English Shires

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Today we went for a leisurely drive from Cambridge to Portsmouth, passing on the way Newbury, Sailsbury, Exeter, Manchester and York. Yes, many of the New England place names sound very familiar. Today we are very sadly leaving Boston and heading north. We have loved Boston, and two of the four of us agree that it's our favourite city in the USA so far (and it has some very tough competition, mainly New York), which I'm sure they'll be very happy about. We could have probably have done with a bit more time there.

Whilst packing, for the first time, we put on the TV. It's like having the One Show running all day, but with the irrelevance times by 100, coupled with over-the-top sugar-coated sincerity and a constant stream of unimaginative, in-your-face commercials thrown in. I now know why Elvis used to shoot TVs.

Before we set off for our drive to Bar Harbor, where we are going to spend the next few days, we drove across the river to Cambridge and Harvard University. I come from Cambridge in the UK, so it had to be done. We had a short walk around the main university area and around Harvard Square. There was a huge queue near the statue of John Harvard, the university's most famous benefactor and was actually born in London. Apparently, it's good luck to touch his foot (very similar and a lot less controversial than Juliette's breast - see Good Luck in Love Was Not Getting Slapped or Arrested). We really weren't convinced it would be worth queuing.

On the way to Bar Harbor, we stopped off at Portsmouth, my wife's family come from Portsmouth in the UK. To be honest there was not a lot to it, so we got some postcards and then continued our drive. We parked up along the side of the road, but on the opposite side to the direction we were travelling. There are no issues doing that in the UK, but a motorcycle policeman came by and made it quite clear that that was not allowed here.

Portsmouth is in New Hampshire. The sign as we entered said "Live free or die", which is obviously the state motto.

Whilst driving we saw a car with the number plate "NY Jets" so we thought we would try and see who was driving it, as it was probably someone very well connected with the team. He didn't look like a football player and looked bemused as to why some car was stalking him and taking photos of him and his car. It was a Massachusetts plate, so he was probably just a very big fan.

It was very late and very dark by the time we got to Bar Harbor.

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Photos

John Harvard
Statue with the lucky foot.