Boston bound

Mr Gibbs wished he was going back to Massachusetts and we can see why, very pictureskew although four hours on a coach with a nervous driver, no rest stops or room to spread out took the edge off it. Another city another metro system to comprehend. We did manage to find our way to food although Mary sought greater stimulation and went off in search of it possibly forgetting to note some landmarks and needing to wander for an hour to find the way back!

An attempt to find the visitor information place proved futile as it appears that no-one needs such information after 5 in the afternoon, we did manage to find our way to Harvard Square though, thinking it was a square and not an entire suburb, and stumbled into an Italian restaurant for familiar food done well, and some welcome liquid refreshment then back to an interesting Airbnb selection 12 flights up with no lift! Come morning we would realise just how 'under the flight path' we really were, but what the heck, it is Massachusetts and it is one place we have seen.

Morning brought a completely different perspective on Boston, what a pretty city, very tidy and to our delight we discovered all the flowers are out in full bloom and that Bostonians love them and seem to compete with each other to decorate their tiny front gardens.

Boston is obviously proud of its heritage and it's place in the scheme of things American like being the next biggest financial centre often Wall Street. Took the hop-on-hop-off bus to get a feel for the place and learned amongst other things that at MIT they have their own nuclear reactor on site right in the middle of Cambridge and not in some exclusion zone like Lucas Heights! 

We also found out the source of 'don't shoot until you can see the whites of their eyes' phrase.It was said by an American Colonel who commanded the rebel forces in the Battle of Bunker Hill against the British. It was day three and they were running out of ammo. 

A boat trip around the harbour showed just how modern a city can be and what vast sums of money can do.  Hopping off the hop-on-hop-off bus we found some hip hop being performed by a group of very athletic young black guys (they said it was alright to say that) amazing agility and very entertaining.

One of the advantages of the bus is that you can target the places to go back to for a closer look and Beacon Hill won, what a fantastic collection of tiny streets and amazing houses all preserved in perfect condition with not one to the buildings in anything but original form. We learned that up to $10 million can change hands for a not very large place on the hill and a mere $3 million for one down lower! Apparently the Kennedy's had a little place there so we got the picture. More wandering through the older parts and dodging our first motorcade we came across BarLola and brought the day to an end with a refreshing wine and some very delicious tapas lalalalalola.