I get up early – my back, which was OK yesterday, is especially bad today. We leave Victoria to wake up naturally, expecting a really late start from her in order to get over yesterday but it’s about 8.30 when she surfaces. I have washing to do and use the machines at the marina which is a bit weird as the laundry and shower block are in a hut on one of the floating pontoons and move along with everything else. A late breakfast is our left over Thai meal.
We see the USS Constitution going past down the river, no longer under her own steam but with the aid of tugboats. Where the river widens, she turns and gives a 21 gun salute. I tell Victoria I organised it especially for her but I don’t think she believes me!
Photos: Victoria keeps an eye on the USS Constitution as she goes by
Of course once we are all ready to go it’s much later than we intended. No surprise there then. We take one of the Boston trolley rides for the hour long trip of the city. We could have opted for the hop on/hop off ones and actually walked around the city more but I don’t think my back will allow it so this seems the better option.
Our tour driver is the usual comedian type – full of jokes interspersed with historical facts but he’s lively and works hard for his tip. We drive past the USS Constitution, now back in her dock, the Bunker Hill Monument, Boston Common, the Federal Reserve, the Boston FBI Headquarters, Beacon Hill, the State House, the Italian Quarter, Chinatown, and many other places. Quite frankly, if it weren’t for the tourists and the trolley buses, Boston would be beautiful!
Photos: Boston’s suspension bridge, State House dome and art?
At the end of the tour we head back towards the scene of the Boston Massacre. Victoria is a little disappointed with the headcount of this event saying that 5 people is hardly a massacre that is commemorated in history the way it is. I must admit I thought there had been a bit more bloodletting than that. With gun crime at the level it is in some US cities, there’s more blood on the modern day streets every day than that!
Photos: Victoria stands on the spot where the Boston massacre took place outside the Old Custom House
I spotted from the bus on the way around so we head for that, going through the Holocaust Memorial on the way. It doesn’t look very impressive from a distance, but the glass towers are etched with the numbers of the concentration camp victims and marble slabs pavement stones carry quotes from survivors and liberators. In a bustling part of the city, it’s quiet, reverent and thought provoking.
Photo: Words from the Holocaust Memorial
Photo: The Union Oyster House, the oldest restaurant in Boston and the oldest restaurant with continuous service in the US
A few steps away is a fresh fruit and vegetable market and my fridge is bare now except for a few tomatoes that Maggie gave me last week. The smell is amazing and I find it difficult to stop buying.
Photo: Fresh and yummy in the markets
Mike takes the produce and his headache back to the boat while Victoria and I wander around a few shops before following him back and having a drink.
Next stop is the Boston Aquarium, just along the harbour. I have to say that it’s not a patch on the one in Sydney but there are a couple of creatures that make it all worth the money – the jelly fish and the sea dragons. For someone who had an unfortunate and painful episode with a jelly fish in the BVIs some years ago and has since held a serious hatred of them, Victoria is fascinated by the simple beauty of the jelly fish. They are elegant creatures – as long as they stay behind thick glass!
Photos: Beautiful jelly fish
But the sea dragons are something else. Basically they are like seahorses but heavily disguised to look like twigs and plants, in fact they look half plant!
Photo: Weedy Sea Dragon
Photo: Leafy Sea Dragon
Photo: Cute but depressed looking Sea Horse
Photos: Some of these look like they are straight out of ‘Finding Nemo’
Photo: A ray stuck to the glass
Photo: 80-year old Myrtle the turtle takes a nap – apparently she can stay down for up to 5 hours at a time
We walk around the waterfront after our aquatic education. The owner of the Red Sox and Liverpool FC has his little boat moored up outside a hotel just along from us and we go for a peek but it’s not particularly interesting as it hasn’t got sails.
Photos: At the Boston Harbor Hotel
On the way back to the boat Victoria hears a band playing in the middle of the road (well it’s a park in the middle of the road) and she stops to listen for a a little while – the oldies go back alone.
Mike still has his headache from hell and it’s not worth going out for a decent meal while he is like this so Victoria and I go back out to Quincy Market and bring an Indian meal back to Jeannius – after all, it is Friday.
Photos: The setting sun make a wonderful backdrop for Jeannius
Before I can hit the sack I have to go back and put in another load of washing – woman’s work is never done, especially on a boat – but eventually everything is ship shape and Bristol fashion so to speak and I at last get my well earned rest.
Position: 42 deg 21 min N, 71 deg 03 min W
Distance so far: 1942 miles
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