Boston

Slept quite well and easily awake by 6am so up and out exploring downtown Boston for breakfast (in effect just up the street from the Revere Hotel). And there it was…. Dunkin’ Donuts! Had a breakfast “sandwich” each and a coffee, espied another couple (from Horwich) on same trip. Appears the Virgin flight was excellent but so was ours. Saw Robert the tour leader on the road, brief chat then back to hotel for packing and meeting in lobby for 8.30am. A bit drizzly for the first couple of hours but then warm and no need for coats. Cindy (local Bostonian) boarded the bus and conducted a 3-hour sightseeing tour of Boston with two walking tours. Very interesting. Mostly, of course, about the Founding Fathers, the revolution and ensuing American War of Independence plus facts about Boston and Bostonians. Boston used to have a elevated Freeway going right through the middle to carry the ever increasing amount of traffic but that has been demolished and up to 14 lanes of traffic now go by underpasses-a bit like lots of Mersey tunnels. We walked to see the USS Constitution or “Old Ironsides” (one of the first warships made) and saw a statue of Paul Revere, famous US folklore hero of the revolution who rode to inform the people that the Brits were coming. Saw a statue of JFK, the house where he and Jackie lived and the church where matriarch Rose Kennedy worshipped and where her funeral was held in the 1990s. Boston has an abundance of higher education institutions and we saw the building of MIT and Harvard.
The coach dropped us at Quincy Market (a bit like Borough Market in London) where Ted and I partook of broiled scallops wrapped in bacon for lunch. Back to the coach by 2 pm and then the longish drive from Massachusetts to North Conway, New Hampshire. It was warm and sunny outside but the air conditioning in the coach makes it miserably cold! Arrived at the Residence Inn by Marriott which seems to be on a bit of an industrial site. There are outlet stores and the odd supermarket. We walked to Barley and Salt for dinner but an expensive and indifferent meal really. I am still very tired and so at the time of writing (9pm) I’m off to bed!Lue lisää