After the stampede we had a quiet day on our final day in Calgary, only venturing out in the afternoon to watch the new Jurassic Park movie (which was excellent) and get some dinner. Jerry enjoyed the cinema.

Our flight to Boston was very quick and easy, taking about 4.5hrs, although despite it being a morning flight (and thanks to a 2hr time difference) it was still nearly 8pm before we made it to our Airbnb in Boston. 

We have been in Boston for a few days now, and the temperature is sweltering. It’s been up to 33 degrees both days and when you are sight seeing all day it gets very tiring fast! We are staying in an area called Revere which is about 20 minutes from downtown, so we are using the subway to get around. There’s a stop just down the road from us and tickets are pretty cheap so it’s very convenient.

The first thing we did was go to Boston Common and public gardens which were nice, although we didn’t linger too long due to the heat!

Boston Tea Party

Next up was the Boston Tea Party Ship and Museum. For those of you not familiar with the story (like me) it was part of a protest by American colonists who were protesting against all the taxes being imposed on them by Britain. On 16th December 1773 they destroyed 342 chests of tea in Griffins Wharf in Boston harbour. It is said to have kick started the American Revolution.

It was a really enjoyable experience as rather than you walking around merely reading about the event, it was way more interactive with “actors” taking you around and reenacting the story for you. From the town meeting when they all rallied and agreed on the course of action, to dumping the tea off the ship. Everyone got the chance to “dump” some tea off the side which we all did.

Following the tour we went to their tea room where you could sample different types of tea. It was great for me (a massive tea drinker) but not so much for Si who doesn’t drink it.

There were some old fashioned games on each of the tables in the tea room too…ours was called “Shut the Box” which is apparently a traditional old English game played that used to be played in pubs. We’d never heard of it though so after a quick reading of the rules we had a quick game, well 11 games to be precise as I was quaffing so much tea!!! I won 6-5…it was quite a good little game actually involving dice and numbers and it wasn’t all luck based, it did require a bit of thinking and strategy. I have put a picture here of the rule sheet as I didn’t want to go into too much detail on here.

Sam Adam’s Taproom

Following all the tea, we then headed for a late lunch (and a proper drink) to the Sam Adam’s taproom which was just a short walk away. Although you can get some Sam Adam’s beers in the UK there was so much selection here, probably around 25 different beers. We again opted to have a flight so we could sample as many as possible. They were showing Wimbledon on the big screen too which was a bonus.

We then wandered around a local market for a bit before heading home.

Day 2 we spent doing something called the “Freedom Trail” which is a 2.5 mile trek around the city taking in various landmarks relating to the American revolution en route. The trail is marked using a red brick strip along the roads so it’s relatively easy to find your way. There are 16 historic sights along the way, including the USS constitution ship (which you could go on), Paul Revere’s house, Old South Meeting House, the Boston Massacre Site and Faneuil Hall. Here is a selection of pics from the various sites.

After we had completed the Freedom Trail we wandered down the Charles River Esplanade, then stopped off for a quick peak in the Public Library Building. We did actually search the library’s in house computer system to see if any of the books written by various family members had made it in, but sadly they did not. The only one we could find was “Fade”… 🙂

We also walked past the bar from the sitcom “Cheers”. Neither of us have ever watched it but thought we should check it out as it’s an iconic show in these parts.

Anyway, more from us soon.

Lucy