Boston - October 26th - 29th

Tuesday:
We started out at 6:30 am in the dark. The roads were very crowded even at that early hour. It was basically city for the first couple of hours, but then we got out into slightly more open country, rolling, green in places. The autumn colours of all the trees were spectatular, green/gold/orange/red all mixed together in a patchwork effect. Boston's outskirts remind me a bit of Albany, hilly with winding roads and not well signposted. The drive, of about 565 miles, took about 10 and a quarter hours. S had to do all the driving because I foolishly didn't get an international driving permit before leaving home, and although my local motoring association website only said an international permit is recommended (not required) for the US, we didn't want to take any risks.

Wednesday:
Spent the day downtown. First we visited the Skywalk on the 50th floor of the Prudential building, which gave us an impressive view in all directions along with an interesting pre-recorded commentary (on personal headphones) which gave a short description and history of what we were seeing from each direction. Coming down again in the lift, I was struck by how loudly the other people in the lift were talking. I think the tone would have been more subdued in an Australian lift.

We're staying in a motel on the outskirts of Boston, not too far from a terminus of the T (subway system), and on our first foray into the city we were taken aback to discover that it costs $3 to get into the city, but only $1.25 to get back. We thought we were being ripped off, because none of the token machines were in operation and big notices informed us that the cash fare would be $3, but we've since learnt that that's just the way they work it here.

We got off at Copley Square, and even before heading off to the Skywalk we went into the Boston Public Library (because it has bathrooms!) and spent some time browsing around because it's such an amazingly beautiful building.

Later we walked on to the Public Gardens for lunch, where the very bold squirrels hung around begging for food. One climbed right up onto my backpack, which was on my lap, but wouldn't stay long enough for me to take a photo. From there we went over to Boston Common, where we really liked the Frog Pond and the Tadpole Playground. I couldn't work out why all the ponds and fountains were empty of water, and when I asked S was amused that she hadn't thought to tell me that they're drained for the winter well before the first frost is expected.

From there we retraced our steps until we reached Newbury St, which although it is full of shops didn't feel like a shopping area to me because all the shops are in what used to be houses so you don't get the shop fronts right on the footpath; they're usually up or down steps and inside what look like private doors. Everywhere there was a backdrop of turning leaves in all shades, and again I've been struck by how lush the vegetation is. I thought it might be a bit less so here than in the DC area because it's slightly warmer there. I think the train line is about the most attractive I've seen, simply because of the amount of greenery all along each side of it.

Boston, especially the central touristy part, seems very compact and walkable so far. We concentrated on the area to the south/west of Boston Common today, and we plan to visit the Freedom Trail and other north/eastern parts tomorrow or Friday.

Some of the architecture is similar to that of DC - heavy, solid, massive granite blocks, fairly austere and unadorned on the outside - but some is more similar to what I'm used to in Perth: red brick with ornamental flourishes in contrasting colours around windows and corners, and with more decoration on the outsides of the buildings.

Our motel is really nice: Near the reception area is a computer with free high speed internet access (which I'm using right now) as well as a breakfast area where we can get free breakfast of coffee, fruit juices, tea, bagels with cream cheese (I've never had bagels before - very nice) and sweet pastries, and in our room we have a self contained fully equipped kitchen with fridge, stove, microwave oven and even a dishwasher. There's often a bit of a queue for the computer but so far I've been able to get some time on it to check my emails every day.

Thursday:
A glorious, cold, clear, sunny day. We went to Minute Man Park, the historical site of Paul Revere's ride and the start of the Revolutionary War. We walked along part of the Battle Trail, noting markers of significant moments and places as we went, until we reached the Hartwell's Ale House or Tavern (I hope I've got the name right), where a couple of men dressed in period costume gave a talk about the war and the use of muskets, then showed us through the Tavern. It's the original building which until recently had been lived in and considerably modernised over the original materials, but has now been stripped back and restored to its original condition.

After sitting in the sun by the side of the trail to eat lunch, we drove to Walden Pond, walked around it and then sat basking in the sun watching all the other people also making the most of the perfect day. One particular tree was being extensively photographed because of its very startlingly red foliage. In spite of the cold, several kids were actually wearing bathers and going into the water, though we noticed they weren't spending too long in there.

I was amazed by the contrast of the sheer numbers of interstate and state highways intersecting and intermingling just minutes from beautiful woodland and the peaceful Walden Pond. Both Minute Man Park and Walden Pond were within about ten minutes' drive of our motel.

Friday:
Today we went back to Boston on the T and walked along the Freedom Trail, which is an approximately 2.5 mile long historical walk marked by a red line, mostly red bricks set into the footpath but sometimes red paint on the road, commemmorating the Revolutionary War. Due to the Boston Red Sox winning the World Series, we were somewhat hampered when we reached Government Centre by crowds gathered there to watch the lowering of the Red Sox flag. Everywhere in Boston all week we've seen signs both big and small congratulating the Sox.

As I found the other day, Boston is a very friendly and compact city in which to walk, with a lot of life taking place on the streets, including vendors selling souvenirs, t-shirts and food from carts. I had my first real American burrito (filled with rice, cheese, and black beans - very delicious) followed by a maple/walnut icecream. As we got into the North End, suddenly there was hardly any traffic, although there were cars parked nose to tail right along each side of the road. These were residents' cars, and there was practically no through traffic, which made walking much more pleasant.

Although the Freedom Trail is less than 3 miles long, we didn't get to the final section of, on the other side of the river, until mid afternoon, having begun at about 11:15, because we stopped so often to look at things and take photos. When we reached Bunker Hill and found people are allowed to climb the Bunker Hill Monument, which is a smaller replica of the Washington Monument, we at first thought we were too tired to try the climb, but we eventually decided we didn't want to miss the view from the top, so we climbed all 291 steps up and found it was well worth it. While we were up there still admiring the view, a family of husband, wife and son of about 12 arrived. The husband was in a really bad way and sat down on the floor gasping for breath for a few minutes, making me feel quite worried. Meanwhile I suddenly discovered that when I stood on the 3 ft wide grating in the middle of the floor I could see right down the central shaft to the bottom of the monument, and announced this fact out loud. Immediately the father told his son to stay away from there! The boy was already too scared to even look out of the windows.

After sitting down for a while to let our legs recover from the climb and descent, we walked the rest of the way to the end of the Trail and had a quick look at the USS Constitution Museum. If we'd been half an hour earlier we could have gone on board the USS Constitution itself, and I was disappointed that we missed it, but it had already been a full day and we were reasonably happy to just look at it from the wharf.

By this time it was after 5 pm, so we found our way back to the nearest T station (with difficulty - they've been renovating and the directions were less than clear) and managed to fight our way onto a very crowded train which just kept getting fuller and fuller for the next several stops until we finally cleared the city. We had to stand for about the first half of our trip, which would have been fine except that my legs and feet were quite sore by then.