Boston.

Our trip to Boston didn’t exactly start off in the best way. Up until this point we have had absolutely no issues with any transportation during our trip, which of course is welcome when you are travelling this much/far in such a short space of time, however that good luck ended on this leg of the journey. Of course doing the Canada/America border crossing takes time, I appreciate that, but when the bus driver is laughing about how this particular bus never makes its arrival time, and you know that even without delays your day of being on a bus is already totalling over 13 hours, it makes it pretty irritating to say the least. So by the time we finally arrived at our airbnb apartment it was almost 1am and we had been travelling for 19hours! Luckily we had the most fabulous hosts who let us in and made us feel welcome even at that ungodly hour - so we rolled into bed for some much needed sleep. The next few days were going to be busy, and hot!

Tuesday morning we were feeling refreshed and ready to explore. We started off the day by doing the Freedom Trail. This is a 2.5 mile walk that leads you to various historic sites throughout Boston. It starts off in Boston Common which is America’s oldest public park, and leads you up to the Massachusetts State House which has a dome covered with 23-karat gold leaf - it’s pretty impressive. We then moved onto the Park Street Church and then the Granary Burying Ground. It is here that Benjamin Franklin’s parents, Samuel Adams and Peter Faneuil are buried - along with around 5,000 other people. It’s pretty old and bashed up and I found it really strange that there were some headstones with an angel on, and others with a skull on - I wonder who got what and why? I never did find the answer. Next was Kings Chapel which is a tiny little church on the corner of the street and is known for being the first non-Puritan church. I wont lie I don’t know what that means, but apparently it’s pretty cool. Then came the Benjamin Franklin Statue, which needs no explanation and the Old State House which is where the Declaration of Independence was first read to the people of Boston, the Boston Massacre Site, Faneuil Hall, and the Bunker Hill Monument. Way way way too many things to go into detail packed into that short walk, but it was super interesting and we actually learnt a few things here!

We then wandered around the market a bit, looking at all of the yummy food stalls and things on sale and Danny spotted a leaflet for the ‘Original Cheers’. Now apparently ‘Cheers’ is some kind of TV show from the 80s that I somehow have absolutely no idea about and don’t realise how cool it is to visit. Well despite that, we went in there and had a beer and it was a really strange little place. The real name of the pub is the Bull and Finch and it’s just like walking back in time when you go in there, it’s pretty odd. But Danny was impressed and my Mum seemed to like that we had been there, so yeah, if you’ve seen ‘Cheers’ then I guess you know what I’m talking about, if not never mind and I shall move on. We wandered around Boston University which was absolutely CRAZY as it was moving in weekend, grabbed something to eat and hit the hay. 

Wednesday was the day. The day of the whale watching. I think I was almost as excited, if not more excited to do this than I was to see Niagara Falls! I pretty much power walked the entire way to the docks and off we went. It was an hour and a half boat ride to the area where whales are most spotted so we just stood out on the deck, watching the shore disappear and trying not to get blown over by the high winds. We had a fair few laughs at some of the poses that people do for photographs whilst on board a boat, and of course the people who get sea sickness (I know, we are mean) - but there was this weird kind of machine that they use to clean up the mess which we named a sick hoover. It was funny, I guess you have to be there. But anyway, back to the whale watching. I was a bit concerned that we weren't going to see any. Now the company guarantees that you will see whales. They do this by issuing you a voucher for another boat tour if you don't see whales on this visit. But we were leaving tomorrow, another visit wasn't an option, so I had all my fingers and toes crossed for a sighting, and boy were we lucky! We saw five whales in total - four humpback whales, and one minke whale. Not only did we see that many, we saw an adult and two baby whales all swimming together which apparently is extremely unheard of, so we were treated with that one! It was such a cool experience and something that I will always remember, I loved it!

By this point, half of the day had already gone, so we headed over the complete opposite end of town to go and do a tour of Fenway Park. Fenway Park is the home ground for the Boston Red Sox baseball team and is supposedly 'America's most beloved ball park'. Constructed in 1912 it is extremely old, in terms of baseball stadiums - i'm pretty sure I'm right in saying the original wooden seating from when it opened is still there today, and it's teeny tiny; the fourth smallest baseball stadium in America. We didn't know much about basketball but it was a cool place to look around and it certainly made us intrigued for the game we are going to watch in New York which just happens to be the Boston Red Sox vs New York Mets. Evening quickly crept in and so we made our way to the Judson B. Coit Observatory at Boston University. Every week they open up the observatory to the public and show them the wonders that are in the sky. Tickets have been sold out for weeks, but we took our chances to see who didn't turn up in the hope that we would get in. This time luck was on our side and we got to peer through the microscopes on the rooftop to see Saturn, the moons surface and a double star. It was sooooooo cool! I had no idea what to expect, but to see Saturn that close and in perfect conditions - it was really something.