Boston (August 3 - August 6)

After an extensive day of travel by bus from DC we arrived rather jaded, but excited to be in Boston city. To make for a cheaper stay we chose accommodation in the Greater Boston area, needless to say it was not the easiest of places to find and unfortunately the worst we have stayed in yet. We can only laugh but with thread-bare sheets, no air-conditioning or even fans in 35 degree and 100% humidity heat, and 5 communal-type showers to share between 50 odd people, we didn’t find it funny when we arrived. It appeared to be an old rest-home or institution of some sort, an odd place in a dodgy neighbourhood.
But alas, we sucked it up and turned our minds to the most important job assigned to our stay in Boston - to buy a car. However after several hours of research, phone calls, and advice from locals we soon discovered that due to Massachusetts State law on car ownership, this was not going to be possible. Our plan to purchase a car and drive the length of the States to Dallas Texas was no longer happening. This was disappointing but thankfully our plans are flexible. The plan now is to head to Canada for the weekend and then fly down to Texas where we will buy a car with the assistance of Cam’s cousin, David.
Once we had reached this conclusion we quickly set about booking accommodation and flights so we could enjoy our remaining day in Boston. We strolled through the city and ate our lunch in the beautiful Boston Common, America’s oldest public park.

We also walked the Freedom Trail which is a 2.5 mile walk around the city that covers Boston’s Colonial sites. This proved to be really interesting and deepened our understanding of the American history and why independence is celebrated to a great extent. The highlights included America’s fist public school which was built in 1635, a visit to the Boston Massacre site where victims lost their lives in the American Revolution, and the Granary Burial Ground where they are buried. We also visited the Cheers pub that the hit tv series was based on - ‘Where everybody knows your name’. We had planned to visit Harvard but unfortunately an afternoon of torrential rain prevented this.

We found that Boston people were very friendly and helpful, with strangers in the street going out of their way to help us on several occasions. Although our stay in Boston may have been tainted a little by both our accommodation and the admin involved in the car ordeal and then changing our travel plans, we still enjoyed our visit very much. We would like to return some day to explore the coastlines and wilderness of the greater Boston area and Massachusetts.
Next we board a plane heading north to Buffalo where we will then cross the border to Niagara Falls and Toronto, Canada.