Boston

We left for Boston at 8:30 am on 28 July - so a slightly more reasonable time than our bus trip from Washington to NY! Even so I still slept for most of the way. Nick booked all our bus trips and managed to get them for the exorbitant amount of $1 each! (Yay Megabus and booking early!) Once in Boston we made our way to the hostel and as it was already fairly late by the time we got there we decided against doing anything touristy. So we just went to Mc Dondalds (again) for lunch/supper and later went out to a bar for a couple of drinks where we got to watch all the fanatical Red Sox fans getting all excited!

Yesterday (our only full day in Boston) we decided to do the Freedom Trail which is a historic trail that runs all through Boston and goes past places specific to American Independence and the Civil War (like Paul Revere's house, the Old State house, graves etc ). We were going to do it on our own but when we got to the information centre there was a costumed guide who could take you on a tour so we decided to do that. He was hilarious! And really interesting and he did it all in character. While he was showing us maps of what original Boston looked like I got to be his 'cane holder' while he decided that Nick looked like someone who wouldn't forget the name of a pub (what a good guess) so Nick had to remember the 'Green Dragon' which was a pub where all sorts of meetings were held and plots were hatched etc. We got about half way down the freedom trail with him in the morning and then signed on for his afternoon tour as well. They were both about 2 hours. It was a great way to do the freedom trail! It was really interesting and fun and we learnt a whole lot more American history!

Once we were done we went and had clam chowder for lunch/supper (lupper) at the Union Oyster House - the oldest continually operating restaurant in America. It was really yummy! Then we walked through Boston Common (where Nick went wading through the kiddies frog pond) and Boston Public Gardens (where there were statues of some very cool ducks) and went to find the Cheers Bar! Of course we had a drink there. I had a Cocktail that had something to do with Frasier and I got to keep the glass. I'm still debating whether I'm going to be able to get it back to San Diego in one piece. Then we walked along the Charles river back to our hostel for a well earned sleep.

This morning Nick and I went for a cruise around Boston's inner and outer harbours. It was really pretty! It was also nice to see the city from a different perspective. The commentary was very good (although the old guy sitting next to me kept grumbling about it) so you always knew what you were looking at. I'm glad we got out and did something - Nick was all for just staying at the hostel which I thought was very boring. We cut it a bit fine getting to the bus station for our trip back to NY but everything worked out. On the bus today I did a fair amount of sleeping and then looking out the window as we drove through the NY traffic. I realised that I was a complete and total idiot though - I should just have flown out of Boston instead of bussing back to NY, spending a night here and then flying out tomorrow. Oh well!

Nick is now on his way to Toronto to continue with the next leg of his awesome travelling adventure and I fly back to San Diego tomorrow to look for an apartment and move. What fun. It's been a great two weeks though! I've thoroughly enjoyed myself.