Hola avid readers. As you may have gathered we got over the border without issue, it was a simple experience in the end. The only annoyance was that the joyous US immigration system now charges you $30 to enter the kingdom! It’s a fee to “complete the forms”, but of course they are being completed anyway, and we already paid for our ESTAs. Ho hum 🙄.
Having collected the hire car, we then drove the 400-500 miles to Boston (not sure exactly how far it was in the end after a detour in to Albany). Petrol prices here are comparatively cheap, around 80p p.l., but the Americans are up in arms about it as it has gone up so much. They have no idea how good they had/have it!
We arrived in Boston directly after the marathon (same day)…bad plan…and it was Patriots day…bad plan…and our hotel is near TD Gardens which is the major music venue, that had a gig on…bad plan. The result of all this is was that the car parks and the hotels are full on profiteering, which is a frustrating and sad thing 😞.
Moving on, Boston is a nice city steeped in history. Learning about the role it played in early British settlement, the American revolution, education, the American civil war and then in the abolition of slavery is interesting. It was the hub of a lot of it. We have had the pleasure of spending time walking and exploring the streets and landmarks, in the public library, around Harvard and it’s museums, and in Salem learning about the witch trials. At the Public library we were able to see 1 of only 9 surviving etched copies (done as direct copies in circa 1810-1820 due to the state of the original), and 1 of only 6 “broadsheets” (printed and published at the time for the population to read), of the Declaration of Independence. We will see the original in Washington in due course.
We were lucky enough to have tickets for Red Sox v Yankees at Fenway park ⚾. That was a great experience, as the Ice Hockey was in Canada, even though I (Si) missed the only home run when going to the loo!
Finally, one of our regular haunts, Cafe Nero, is here in Boston! Who knew 😄.
Tomorrow we head for NYC, via Plymouth rock. Onward.
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