Day 3 - New York City to Boston

Saturday 29th August

Today we had to have our luggage ready for collection at 6.45 - it's really good here as we didn't have to carry our bags anywhere and they were always put in our rooms when we arrived - that's what I call service.

We left at 8 am on the tour coach, really plush and only about 30 people on board. One lady had had her handbag and passport stolen in a café so that couple never made the trip. Our guide is a cheerful guy from Rhode Island called Gary who was trying very hard to put us at our ease. He is very knowledgeable, interesting and could be extremely amusing. The driver is called Bob and they are extremely organized with spot on time keeping. John is the Aussie who keeps us laughing with his jokes all the time.

Boston

We drove out of the city through the Bronx and into Connecticut where we stopped at McDonalds for a coffee. On through Massachusetts towards Boston along the freeway, stopping at toll booths on the way.

We arrived at Boston before lunch and had a short guided tour of the city. It is very English looking and it was raining a little bit because of the hurricane down south. We spent a couple of hours at Faneuil Market, rather like Covent Garden. We had lunch at the Plaza II café - huge beef sandwiches, steak soup and club sandwiches - and then did a spot of souvenir hunting. One shop was selling handmade chocolates, including strawberries dipped in chocolate which were expensive but good.

There are skyscrapers in the centre but the worst thing is the road works called the 'Big Dig'. They are an excavation of four road tunnels and are everywhere, due to last 10 years. One hoarding we saw read:
"Rome wasn't built in a day - if it had been, we'd have hired their contractor!"

There is even a web site called www.bigdig.com - "one site where you don't need a hard hat".

We were taken to the Boston Tea Party ship for a typically American OTT show. We would rather have looked in the museum or spent some time in the City Centre but instead we had to shove blue feathers in our hair and take part in a silly play-act on the ship. Never mind it was an experience I suppose.

The hotel was excellent and we got adjoining rooms so there were four double beds. We watched Debbie Travis on TV but had already seen it. The hotel is called the Sheraton Tara and is very modern and in the shape of a castle. The girls were feeling tired and stayed in to watch a film on TV and have a room service meal - absolutely incredible I am told.

We joined the others and visited the John Hancock Tower which is the tallest in New England. The observation deck is on floor 68 and although it was dusk and misty, there were still super views over Harvard and MIT. We came out in a downpour and sheltered until it stopped but soon got back in the coach to be taken to the 'Restaurant with No Name' - a warehouse by the harbour.

They brought out garlic bread, clam soup, salad, shrimps and clams, followed by lobster. Gary is very keen on lobsters and had already given us a lesson on how to eat them and shown us a video on the coach. People who had lobster were given plastic bibs to wear. We took a few pictures of each other and after ice creams and coffee we went back to the hotel.