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Published: September 25th 2009
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Bennet Street
Nearly named after us, but not quite! Thursday September 24th 2009
I'll be honest in that I have always been an early riser, but even by my standards today was too early. For some unknown reason I was up at 5am!! With Kay sound asleep, I powered through by reading about 30 two page chapters of 'The Lost Symbol' the latest Dan Brown book that continues the adventures of Robert Langdon and so far is surprisingly good and quite apt considering it is all about American symbols and the essence of America's founding fathers/Masons.
When Kay did eventually come round, we quickly got ready and having looked out the room we realised that the promised notion of a Massachusetts fall was a far distant prospect with the sun beating down and so we both donned our shorts to really lap up the sun. It was hot, probably pushing 25/26 in addition with the humidity that seems to have a continual strangle on the majority of the East side of America.
We headed South East from the hotel, knowing that our long term aim was the Aquarium but with time no pressing matter we headed slowly down Bennet street through the fascinating world of Chinatown looking
Chinatown
Sunny side up in Chinatown down by the Friendship Arch. at the various elements that make it so unique. Live poultry is not an uncommon sight, and the red and gold emblems that don the majority of shop fronts make it feel like something very different from the rest of the city. We carried on walking up through until we got to the Friendship Arch which is a common communal meeting point for many local people.
With Chinatown being right on the edge of city and the cool breeze drifting in from the Atlantic, we carried on walking down Atlantic Avenue going past the impressive looking South Station and past Rowes Wharf before finally heading up towards the Aquarium. Running parallel to the freeway that runs around the whole of the city is a fantastic greenway that is in memory of Rose Kennedy (JFK's mum!). When Boston went under major renovation thirty years ago through 'The Big Dig' the city replaced the eye sore elevated freeways that ran through the city and put them all underneath instead. In their place they have placed a 2.5 mile greenway that makes Boston feel very different from many other cities that house over 600,000 residents.
We got to the aquarium and
Rose Kennedy Greenway
A view from the middle of a 2.5 mile stretch of Greenway that has been placed through the middle of Boston's former highways. An elveated stretch of freeway used to run high above the city, but after a great deal of time and effort this is now underground and the greenway placed to bring a real natural feel to the city. the first thing we came in contact with was the Penguins (A personal favourite of mine) who enjoyed a large swimming pool complex, whilst a huge central tank dominates the building as it stretches skywards to being nearly 100 metres tall and you walk up rounding the various fish, sharks and turtle that reside in it. We continued looking around and to be honest were slightly disappointed with how little was inside - maybe we have been spoilt by seeing Shamu and his friends in SeaWorld but somehow it didn't even have the feel of a Sea-Life centre. In addition to the aquarium you can also gain admission to the Imax theatre to watch 'Under the Sea 3D' which is a 45 minute film all about the isolated undersea locations around New Guinea and Southern Australia witnessing how various species survive and adapt as per their own individual needs. The 3D element was stunning and a very worthwhile thing to do!!
With the sun still beating down on the city and our stomach's rumbling, we headed into the edge of the North End of the city and back to Faneuil Hall that we'd visited a few days ago. Inside
the Hall is around 60 different types of food - everything you can think of and each freshly made in front of you. Hot Dogs, Mac n' Cheese, Clam Chowder (Think chicken soup, but made of fish - a Boston speciality) etc. We grabbed a quick bite before taking a stroll back down to the Harbour side and just enjoying the weather and the cool breeze of the coast before heading back to the hotel through the common and public gardens just to relax for a few hours in the afternoon.
Since arriving in Boston we have been inundated with recommendations of activities to do by locals, places to eat etc but a website that I have always liked and trusted is TripAdvisor - an online portal for travellers to provide their recommendations based on previous experiences. Having looked online and saved some money from our budget by not eating in excessive places we decided to make a reservation at the highest rated restaurant in Boston - Atlantic Fish.
Atlantic Fish is located just off trendy Newbury street, and has a great patio dining area that hugs the street it sits on. The evening's in Boston are still
Blackened Halibut with Spinach and Crushed Potato
The best peice of Fish I have ever tasted, and the bottle of California Viognier we shared helped wash it down perfectly. quite warm, and so we headed over for our reservation at 6.30pm and took a prime seat outside the venue - a candlelit dinner for two. As is customary with American eateries we received a fresh warm bread basket to share and after much deliberation Kay ordered a glass of Kir Royale, whilst I plucked for a $40 bottle of California Viognier (cheap by this restaurants' standards!) and was surprised just how good it was. We studied the menu for what seemed an age and both could have ordered about ten different things. With Boston being a fishing port, the choice of eating seafood is obvious but with it being fresh and local and quite exotic its difficult to know what to pluck for. Swordfish, Sea Bass, Lobster, Lemon Sole were just a few of the options but in the end I plucked for the Nova Scotia Halibut served with crushed new potatoes and spinach, asking for the fish to be blackened with Cajun spices - the restaurant will cook your fish in about 20 different ways and this sounded awesome. Kay plucked for the giant crab cakes with corn pudding. The service as expected was fantastic, and before we
knew it our dinner had arrived and all I can really insert here is the word WOW!!! We both tucked into our own and each others dinners and both quickly agreed that this was simply the finest fish dinner we had ever had. The taste of fresh crab is something quite different to what I am used to, and the halibut was a thick white piece of moist fish with the fantastic spices sat on top giving the fish a real kick. It really was incredible food and so filling that when we had finished and the desert menu was handed over, we couldn't even possibly entertain the idea! We finished up our drinks (Kay assisted in helping with the Wine) paid the hefty bill and both left walking home with real smiles on our faces.
We walked the short trip back to our hotel at around 8.30, the city slowly winding down but nonetheless busy and walked back into our gorgeous room where we greeted with a fantastic plate of chocolate strawberries and cream, in addition to the lovely bottle of champagne that the hotel had kindly given to us to celebrate our honeymoon. Despite having eaten so
well, we tucked in and kicked back after another busy day.
Nic and Kay x
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Mummy
non-member comment
Fish and penguins
Hi thanks for the updates, glad your honeymoon is so perfect for you, fish and strawberries looked wonderful, just two words to say CAT HAIRS and yes they are fine xxx