Boston Follow the Yellow
er
.Red
..Brick Road
It was the 4th of July and we were in NYC. DH and I had been in NYC on the 4th of July before and had enjoyed the Macys water parade and fireworks along the East River then
along with a million other people
.and there had been a bit of debate about whether we spend another 4th of July in NYC or not.
In the end, surprisingly, my mum decided that she did not want to be around that many people and we chose to head towards Boston, where we would catch the fireworks there instead.
So, we picked up a car hire early in the morning and headed on out of NYC.
Road to Boston
We decided to meander up the 95 into Connecticut, past Rhode Island and into Massachusetts.
Yes, I know we could have taken a more direct route but I like collecting the US State Road Maps that are handed out by the State-run Tourist Information stops for a number of years. These maps are/were handed out mostly free of charge; but you needed to find the highly rare Tourist Information stops. Ive managed to pick up about 20 or 30 but am not sure if Ive got all of them anymore.
The route I chose was one that would give me the best chance of coming across these State-run stops.
On our way, we came across a little town that all the adults wanted to stop in
..Mystic. Did you know that Mystic Pizza was one of the first
if not the very first
.movie Julia Roberts was in? Well
we wanted to find out if there really was a Mystic Pizza.
It is a very small town
there is one main street that we stopped in; and there was another part of the town 5 minutes drive away that we didnt visit.
The Mystic River runs through town.
And we were lucky enough to be in town at the right time.
This was a taste of what was a common sight and occurrence in this part of the world. All in all, the whole bridge raising process takes about 10 minutes maximum
and DS was complete enchanted with the whole viewing experience.
DH and I were very amused by this establishment.
Someday, Id like to have a business card that reads Drinking Consultant as my job title!
We had a snack at Mystic and found a cute little café that served Clam Chowder. Seriously
the best chowder I have yet to have. The chef must have had an East Asian background because both mum and I could taste curry in the chowder! Absolutely spectacular.
We went in search of the Mystic Pizza and the Mystic fridge magnet. Yes, there is a Mystic Pizza but we could not find a fridge magnet in any of the dozen or so tourist shops we walked in. Turns out that the New Englanders have certain standards and tacky fridge magnets did not cut the grade. So, I ended up with a watercolour etching of Mystic to bring home.
The other thing that struck us was that home architecture was rather different in this part of the US
.Shingles!
Boston
Our home in Boston was literally a home.
We had looked at hotels in downtown Boston and I was astonished to find that Boston hotel rates were as high as room rates in New York city. But before I could settle on a hotel, we had an unexpected offer from one of DHs work colleagues to go stay with her.
She lives in Newton, which is on the outskirts of Boston and has a 4-bedroom house, separate dining, living, family room, study plus an enclosed porch/sun room. It was an incredibly generous offer and one that DH was keen to accept. We ended up in the 3 spare bedrooms one for DH and me; one for DS and one for my mum.
We had originally planned to stay 2 nights but we had such a great time with her and she was so generous with her hospitality that we were all convinced to stay an extra night by our host. Turns out she had wanted to organize a mini-meet for DH with some of the other work colleagues that lived in that part of the world and the only night they could all get together was the 3rd night. DH was pretty happy with the mini-meet arrangement and so we stayed the extra night.
We had dinner with her and her partner for all 3 nights the first night she took us to a nearby Pizza restaurant; the second night my mum cooked noodles as her way of saying thank you; and the third we headed into Boston Chinatown for dinner with the work colleagues. All three meals were great and the company was the best.
As a side note - Sadly, the night we went to have pizza was the 4th July and it rained! So, whilst we went to the site to look at fireworks, it was rained out. I gather it was no better in NYC, so it turned out to be a good decision to keep going rather than staying the extra night.
From her place, it took us about 20 - 30 minutes drive on the Massachusetts Turnpike to get into downtown Boston. We headed into Boston every day that we were there, getting in about 10 am and leaving around 4 pm to avoid the traffic.
Parking in Boston cost about $17 per day and we parked underneath the Boston Common.
We used the Boston public Transport system to get around and found it to be extremely convenient and reliable
particularly the train system.
There were heaps of attractions that we didnt do in Boston I found it hard to find activities to keep DS interested in Boston. The adults were interested in the historic Boston and whilst there were kids museums and activities a-plenty; we ended up doing a fair amount of activities that were more geared towards adults, rather than entertaining my then 7 year old.
Here are some of our highlights.
Boston Common
Boston Common is the oldest city park in the US. The Common has been used as cow pastures, a camping ground for the British, an area for public hangings, protest grounds and the park.
It was a very logical starting point for us in Boston. Not only did we park the car there everyday, it also forms one end of the Freedom Trail and we picked up a free walking tour from the Common; plus it was an access point to the Boston subway, which is the oldest subway system in the US.
It was also a very pretty patch of green
and we all enjoyed walking around the Common and taking in the views.
The Soldiers and Sailors monument, in memory of the soldiers that died in the Civil War.
The Frog Pond, which is a public skating rink in the winter months.
Brewer Fountain, the first piece of public art in the Common.
The Swan Boats have been part of the Common for over 130 years and I dont think that there is any other park in the world where you can enjoy a ride.
The lovely gardens that even DS thoroughly enjoyed walking through. It was a great way to spend the last hour of each of the days we were in Boston.
(Continued in Next Post)