NORTH AMERICA TRIP FOR DEN & KEITH, ANG & IAN

BOSTON (May 2nd to 3rd)

After a great French breakfast, we checked out and discovered that we could load the car at the back of the hotel and there were no stairs! Not too sure why we weren’t told this when we arrived, it would have been less pain for the nice guy on reception!

The drive to Boston was around 6 hours and we were heading south to the border crossing at the small town of Stanstead. From there we drove through the very picturesque states of Vermont and New Hampshire, before arriving in Massachusetts and the city of Boston. We had two coffee stops at Tim Hortons and Mcdonalds and the weather was a bit drizzly early on, clearing up nicely later on with some sunshine.

Keith drove us through the border and we had a ‘grouchy’ USA border officer on shift. Maybe he wasn’t happy doing the Saturday shift at some remote crossing point as his questions were not very clear, plus he got agitated when we tried to clarify. Basically, he was a right nause, but after a few minutes we eventually passed through back into the USA.

We arrived in Boston late afternoon at the Holiday Inn Express and Den found us a nice grill within walking distance of the hotel and we headed out for a nice dinner.

Boston is a city steeped in military history and it played a major role in the American revolution with events like the Boston Tea Party where the Americans revolted against the nasty British rulers who were getting too greedy, taxing them on ‘tea’ of all things. We took an uber to the city and found the bus tour stop (using our code breaking skills) and set off, hopping off at the Naval shipyard, to see the USS Constitution. This ship was built in 1794 and is still the oldest commissioned warship still afloat. To the Americans the ship is very famous, having sunk and captured numerous British ships in various battles. Her nickname is ‘Old Ironsides’ due to her ability to withstand enemy cannon fire. We went onboard and had a good look round the top deck.

In the same area of the shipyard was Bunker Hill where a famous battle was fought on June 17, 1775. This was the early stage of the American revolution against the Brits. Of the 2400 British soldiers who attacked at Bunker Hill, over 1000 were killed by a small American force largely made up of non- military, or untrained men. There is a 220 ft granite obelisk nearby, completed in 1842, that commemorates the battle. Some more GCSE history for you.

Our next stop was Boston Common which apparently is the oldest city park in the USA (1634). There is a lake in the park which has the famous Boston Swans, a series of pedal powered boats, that…….. look like Swans. Having started in 1877, they have certainly stood the test of time.

Also near to the park is the famous bar where they filmed the hit series Cheers from 1982-1993, so we went to have a look at that. Of course, it was just like the TV series, down the stairs into a basement bar. It was also very busy, as it’s now both a bar and restaurant.

After the bus tour we had a coffee and then headed back to the hotel for a chill. Dinner was another fab steakhouse, followed by a few games of UNO and cards.

So that was the city of Boston, quite a nice city actually and in the morning we were checking out and heading off to the city that never sleeps, New York City.