Thursday 14th October - Boston Harbour, more Boston & flight home

Up early this morning for our final packing following a bit of a sleepless night.  In the words of the Paul Simon song...........
Couple in the next room
Bound to win a prize
They've been goin' at it all night long
Well I'm tryin' to get some sleep
But these motel walls are cheap
Checked out and left the luggage at the hotel.  Took the subway to the harbour and picked up the harbour cruise that came with our Old Town Trolley tour.  45 minute tour of the harbour which gave some great views of the Boston skyline.  Here's a panoramic..........

Lots of sights from the water................

Then it was back on the "hop on/hop off" trolley to get back to near our hotel for lunch and then a taxi to the airport.  I like this one of Starbucks who wanted to get rid of the gold kettle that had been on the wall for a hundred years but were told they had to keep it if they wanted to open their coffee shop!

The Trolley drivers are superb - they're driving along tricky roads whilst giving a non stop commentary and tinging their bells and gesticulating.  Truly a skill.

And of course there's always the character on the bus..........

Here's the legendary Bobby Orr with his hockey club poised to strike the hockey ball

  They mark the 2 1/2 miles of the Freedom Trail with a line of red bricks..............

One of the motorway bridges that goes through the city...........

And finally one of the ubiquitous hot dog sellers.............

We're at the airport now, hooked into the free internet - all I had to do to get it free was to watch a one minute BMW advert.  What superb cars they are, can't wait to get back behind the wheel on the proper side of the road!

Well that's it - end of the blog now.  I've enjoyed doing it - hope you've enjoyed the photos and drivel

Wednesday 13th Oct - Boston tour & Freedom Trail

Took the hop on/hop off tour bus up to the far end of the Freedom Trail (a 2 1/2 mile historical trail marked out with a red brick line), then walked the trail back into the downtown area.  It turned out to be a great way to see the city which we really enjoyed.  Here are some photos..........

And more of Boston ......................

We wrapped up the day with a visit to the Boston Tennis & Racquets Club where we were made very welcome and the Pro, Jimmy Burke gave us a tour of the facilities - Real (Court) Tennis court, racquets and squash courts and the social facilities.  It was great to see Camden Riviere (the world real tennis #2) who is the assistant pro stringing a racket.  He's playing in the British Open tournament at my club in Manchester next week!.. Chatted to his dad, Tiger who has a dream of building a real tennis court in Charleston, Carolina with 360 degree viewing and 3 tiers of viewing but I think he needs the incentive of the world number one in the family.

And finally our last meal in the US ('till next time) at Legal Sea Foods where we decided to splash out. ........

Flying back home tomorrow but time for a bit more sightseeing and the harbour cruise in the morning.....

Tuesday 12th Oct - White River Junction to Salem & Boston

Another fantastic day weather wise.  Clear blue skies and plenty of sunshine with temperatures of about 61.  Had one of the most beautiful drives you can imagine - 100 miles along a two lane motorway through a forest with all the leaf colour you can imagine.  Did our best to take some pictures to capture the drive but it's tricky when you're doing 70mph and you can't stop.  Still all credit to Jean's photographic expertise.  Here are a few of the best ones...............

We took a drive round Lake Sunapee in New Hampshire which looked nice on the map.  Like most lakes we've come across, there are very few public places to get a good view as people have built cabins all the way around but we stopped at the town of Newbury (population 10 - all of which had gone to Florida for the winter!).  A few views.........

After about 150 miles driving, we got to Salem where 20 innocent people were killed as witches in the 1700s.  It's a theme town that was a little boring.  Anyway here is the cream of the photos.........  Spot the odd one out!

Then it was off to Boston where we dropped the cases off at the hotel and then took the car to the airport.  I'm really glad we got rid of the car as driving round Boston was not at all enjoyable with all the flyovers and underpasses.  Had a nice Tapas meal at Masa near the hotel.

A day of heavy sightseeing tomorrow, we're taking the old town trolley tour and then walking the freedom trail.