Day 17 - Boston, Boston Common

As expected the sun woke Julian up at 6am.  Steve and I had been awake since 5:30am, so it could have been worse.  Julian was content to lie with us for a while in the King size bed which was very good of him.  The strange thing about this bed is that it is about 1m off the ground - photo to come.

We all had breakfast and then once again mucked around, making the most of not having to be anywhere.  I put on a load of washing in the washer/dryer and it said that it would take 4.5hours!  I thought it was joking, little did I know that it was going to change its mind and take longer!

At around 9:30am Julian was eager for a run around, so we put on his doggy backpack (with a leash for us to hold) and we went for a walk around the surrounding streets.

Beacon Hill is one of the most expensive areas in Boston (we saw a BASIC 3Br apartment for sale for $3.2M- damn scary).  We walked the block to Louisberg Square which is prime real estate.  The brownstones around this block are valued between $6M - $20M.  Senator John Kerry has one on the corner.  One can dream...

We then got yet another hot chocolate from Starbucks and we all walked 3 blocks to Boston Common.

 Julian is loving walking and we are trying to make the most of it.  So far today he walked at least 1km (according to Google Maps).

We then walked him to get Julian a decent lunch and give him a rest in the cot.  I then walked 85m (according to Google Maps) to Cafe Vanille and bought our lunch:

Toasted Pastrami Panini (don't know why we got bread), Pain Aux Chocolat and Chocolate Eclairs washed down with in-house Passionfruit Iced Tea.  Steve wasn't too keen on the tea but everything else was delicious.

As I write, Julian is still asleep.  When he is up we will go back to Boston Common and join a Freedom Trail walking tour.

Day 16 - Boston

Our neighbours had gone and Julian slept until 7:15am but woke up wet and unhappy (rightly so). We managed the showers (yay), pack up and breakfast in 2hours.  We called our accomodation in Boston to see if we could drop our bags off early at the apartment but were told we couldn't.  They did allow us to use their other location to store them for the 2hours until our apartment was "ready".

So we set Jane (GPS) up and she decided that we would take the same route back to Boston.   We had to return the rental car back at 1pm so we decided not to deviate from Janes decision.  The drive was 2.5hours and apart from a friendly flash from the local cops, it was uneventful.

 New Hampshire number plate "Live Free or Die"- New Jersey already had "The Garden State".

Julian swatting for the test when he gets back to childcare.

Boston skyline - this time with blue skies.

When we got into Boston which included some poor decisions on Janes part, we found the place where we could drop off our bags.  So much luggage that poor Steve had to haul up and down stairs!  Then we got back in the car to drop it off at Avis in the city.  No problem there and the nice lady suggested a place across the road to have lunch - Au Bon Pain.

We had excellent Clam chowder, salad and a bagel which Julian didn't want.

We had a bit of time to kill until our apartment was ready at 3pm, so we went to the local mall Copley Place and let Julian ride the escalators and walk from end to end.  Very ritzy place this - Louis Vuitton, Neiman Marcus, Barneys, Bally etc.  We also found a Starbucks for another hot chocolate and bought more straws for Julians cup as he is chewing the end off the first one.

It was a short walk back to the Inn and they were very good.  They helped us with our bags and got us a Taxi which we jammed full of bags!  The ride to the apartment was straight forward and the driver did very well as the apartment is in a laneway which is barely wider than a car.  It was a struggle to get out without banging the car door on a fence or wall.

The apartment was on level 3 which was at the top of a walkup - so Steve had to haul the bags up even more staircases.  These were narrow and damn dangerous!  Inside the "toddler friendly" apartment was another 2 staircases - one going to the bedroom and then another floor up to the roof top deck.  This is the view from the deck:

Nice eh?
We didn't like the place when we arrived but that may have been tiredness.  We hate stairs!  Also the place is filled with skylights without blinds - damn killer when the sun is up around 5am.  Steve found a fix for one which we will show you tomorrow.  Julian was very reluctant to take a nap but we forced it upon him and he slept for 45mins - boy he needed it!

For dinner we walked about 100m around the corner and down the road to The Upper Crust, a pizza joint with good reviews.  We bought a vege pizza and added Chicken and got it Take Out.  We ate it on the roof top deck:

Tomorrow will hopefully be low-key, probably a walk around The Freedom Trail and a play in Boston Common.

Day 14 - North Conway, New Hampshire

A 6:30am start with a happy little boy- yay!  We tidied up and made the most of the washer and dryer before we handed the keys back at 9:30am.  We really enjoyed staying here, shame it is so far away.

As we were leaving Woods Hole the weather packed in big time and it rained and rained.  We managed to find the LL Bean outlet at Wareham and thankfully they had a jacket in Julians size.  He has grown out of all of his old ones and we needed one desperately.

Then we drove to Plymouth.  The plan was to walk around the Mayflower replica, the Pilgrim museum and have a look at the Mayflower Society house.  Unfortunately it was blowing a gale, freezing cold and the rain was coming in sideways.  Also Julian dropped off to sleep just as we arrived - our singing couldn't keep him awake any longer.

We decided on Whoppers from Burger King and ate them in the car on the foreshore.  This was the view out the windscreen:

Then we set Jane (GPS) up to take us to our rental in New Hampshire.  For some reason she decided on taking us via Maine, adding 2hours to our trip.  Thankfully we were on to her and caught the error before it was too late.  There was a lot of cursing to be had.  The correct route took us through Boston which wasn't too bad traffic wise.

 Still crap weather as you can see.

That is Fenway Park (Boston Red Sox) on the right.

We stopped for a pit stop in Portsmouth at the Dunkin Donuts.  Fair to say, we wont be eating their donuts again as they seem to always be dry.  The hot chocolate (we have given up on their coffee) tasted like marshmallows even though there weren't any in there!

Then it was the last 130km to North Conway where were are staying for the next two nights.  Still raining.  There were a couple of pretty lakes on the drive but I think the rain obscured the greater vista.

For some reason Jane (GPS) couldn't find the road we are staying on, which added another 30mins whilst we sat in the McDonalds carpark googling the address!  When we arrived, we turned the heating on (12degC outside), set up the cot, feed Julian and headed out much to his dismay.

I had found a local hotel which brewed it own beer in North Conway, so we went there for dinner (Moat Mountain Brewery: http://moatmountain.com/).  Steve had a Pulled Pork burger with fries and I had Carolina Pulled Pork (slow cooked pork with a spicy sauce all on a slice of cinnamon raisin toast served with garlic mashed potato and coleslaw). 

 No idea why Steve was pulling the face - perhaps he was worried about the beers.  I had a Pale Ale and Steve had a Brown Ale and a Belgian triple.  It was so good, we have decided to go back!

We once again needed milk, bread and beer so we went to Hannafords, the local supermarket.  Nothing too exciting there except it was raining and we got drenched getting Julian in/out of the car.

And then when we got home we found that we couldn't get any water in the bath/shower so Julian missed out on a bath.  He wasn't interested either and was fast asleep in minutes!

Finally, here is a little house at the end of our street.

Day 11 - Woods Hole, Martha's Vineyard

We woke to a lovely day and we all had a wonderful sleep-in (to 7am, thank you Julian).  Because of the lovely day, I thought I should take some photos of the rental to give you an idea what a beautiful place this is.

 This is the view from the lounge of our rental.

This is from outside, looking at the lounge on the left and entry foyer on the right.

Katrina and Greg were coming later in the morning, so we did a bit of shopping at the local Stop and Shop to get ingredients to cook up some dinners for Julian, before they arrived.

When they arrived, we decided to head straight out to the ferry for Martha's Vineyard to make the most of the beautiful day.  Unfortunately whilst looking for somewhere to park, we missed the boat so we had lunch in Woods Hole.

Then we caught the 1:15pm ferry to Vineyard Haven which was a 45minute journey. 

Then we caught the bus to Edgartown

Lots of white weatherboard houses and trees dripping with green leaves.
 
Then it was another bus trip, this time to Oaks Bluffs. 

 

We had a walk around the town and then we caught the 6:15pm ferry home.  The wind had picked up and the temperture had plummeted - why did I wear shorts?

Katrina and Greg went out to get dinner whilst Steve and I put Julian to bed, so we had local pizza which was really good.

It is getting late and we are very tired, hence the short post.  Tomorrow the plan is to head up to Provincetown at the tip of Cape Cod.  The weather forecast is for rain and thunderstorms...

Day 10 - Woods Hole, Newport

After Flo's, we went for a drive up Bellevue Avenue to look at all the fancy mansions - and there were many:

 This one is for sale (above)

There were so many and the styles were varied, something that these photos didn't capture.  I would have had better luck photographing fences and fancy gates such as this:

Anyhow, this was a worthwhile stop.  Even Steve was impressed (how could you not be?)  He forgot until after we left that Newport was where Australia beat the US (and our mate Dennis Connor) in the Americas Cup.

And then there was more driving - another 1.5hours to Wood Hole.  This wasn't too bad and we found our rental quite easily.  We met the owner and he gave us some recommendations for dinner and then he left us to it.

Tonight Julian had half of what Mr Heinz offered but surprisingly refused the blueberry yoghurt.  So we gave up and headed to Woods Hole, a very small township (10 or so shops and restaurants) about 2miles from our rental.  It is the launching point of the Martha's Vineyard ferry.

This is Woods Hole:

 Looking out towards Martha's Vineyard.

 The view from our restaurant balcony.

On our owners recommendation we went to Phusion.  He warned that it was expensive but the food was worth it.  We couldn't have summed it up better.  Steve and I had the same thing - Kobe beef burger with lobster tails and a Martha's Vineyard brewery Indian Pale Ale.  The burger was magnificent, easily the best thing we have eaten in the US - perfect in every way.  The beer was really good too.  We did need something to go right for us today.

However as we were enjoying the view too much, the market/shop next door closed and we needed milk for Julian.  So we went to Falmouth 5miles up the road to get it - another visit to a Rite Aid and bought a gallon of milk for $3.69.  We will go back as the houses there are perfect little dolls houses!

Tomorrow Katrina and Greg are arriving from Montreal.  I haven't seen them in 5 years and Steve saw them in February when he was over there.  They are staying with us until Sunday.  The weather is good for tomorrow but thunderstorms are predicted for Friday night/Saturday morning so we will play it by ear to see what we do.