The End is Near...

Arrived here in Boston, around 10pm at night. The flight was about 5 hours but we lost 3 hours timewise along the way....getting more and more confusing for our bodies with all these time changes. The bags took forever to arrive and although it is only a 20 minute drive to the hotel we didn't get there until gone 11pm.

Our first day was spent wandering the city. It has been freezing here the last few weeks and there are piles of icy snow on the sidewalks. Today however is bright and sunny with a bitter wind. We get our bearings and visit Trinity Church which sits in a square surrounded mainly by skyscrapers. Then we walk to the famous Boston Common and Public Garden where we view the State House. We are getting nippy so we go back to the hotel for some cards...having been losing for months (literally)....I have pulled a couple in front. It has been a nice break not playing for the past two and a half weeks but By is determined to win so got to play a few more hands. We have played about 1500 games this trip, plus a hundred or so games of dominoes !!!

Second day is as sunny as yesterday so we take the opportunity to head up Prudential Tower and do the Skywalk. The view is spectacular and we can get a real idea of the city layout. Halfway around the fire alarm sounds and a voice tells us not to panic, they will tell us if we need to evacuate, eventually it turns out that it was an incident on the 23rd floor (we're on the 50th) and we can carry on as normal, but it was an interesting few minutes. We buy a 7 day Transit pass (Boston's version of the Subway) and head to Fanueil Hall and Quincy Market. We browse the markets and the enormous food hall before walking by the harbour front to Paul Revere House and St. Stephen's Church, both sites on the Freedom Trail. Parts of the sea and river are frozen solid still so we warm up with a Starbucks and then walk past the Aquarium to the Old State House. A tiny and beautiful old building again surrounded by skyscrapers. We head back to the hotel to warm up properly with a hot bath and then have a noisy night ! The room next to us decides head banging music and screeching noises are a good idea at 10pm. They aren't - so I call the front desk and the security man comes and asks them to be quiet, they are for all of 5 minutes and then start again only louder. Another call to the front desk sees the screeching girls evicted and the remaining occupants of the room going out. I guess they did come back but they must of been very quiet this time. Also another time change tonight...the Amercians are moving to summer time and so we lose yet another hour tonight - argh !

Up late this morning but made a point of being a bit louder than normal in the hope next door are still asleep :-) Take the Transit to Harvard where we do a walking tour of Harvard Yard, some really nice buildings here amongst the snow piles. From here we take the Transit back across the Charles River and get off at the top of the Beacon Hill district where we walk down towards Boston Common. Here are lots of antique shops and small cafe's etc. We walk on and out the otherside of the Common to Chinatown and walk / get lost in a nice way on the way back to the hotel. Nice to see some of the city and the wind has dropped which is even better.

Monday morning and wouldn't you know it - it's Spring Break so the kids are off school - more bad planning ! Take the Tranist to the Aquarium and do the fishes. Well the penguins too - lots of penguins, infact the place is a bit obsessed, I thought I was bad....penguin videos, penguins seats, penguin stamps to collect in our penguin passport...3 species of penguin to view. It takes a while and fortunately the kids aren't too big a problem. After a lunch in the sunny cafe we take the Transit to the Science Museum. Loads of things to play with here - infact it kept us busy for several hours, so many that I had to ring and wish my mother 'Happy Birthday' from the museum. (Only 4 hours time difference now so that will make coming home easier...but then we lose another one when we move to summer time - gonna be a while before our wee bodies get a grasp of these changes).

Tuesday - last but one day of our mammoth trip - can't believe it has gone so quick so we do some shopping. Well actually, I should say we went out with a list of stuff we wanted and could find nothing we liked, so only bought By a pair of new trainers to replace the ones he has literally worn out with all the walking on this trip.

Tomorrow we will fly home to Blighty :-(