Day 18 - Boston, Boston Common, USS Constitution

OMG what a night!  Julian woke every 1.5hours (FOUR times total) and was awake from 1:30 to 4:08am.  The damn light woke us early again and we were all a bit grumpy this morning.  We have no idea what was up with him as he seemed fine.

Thankfully we had a very cruisey day planned and made it out of the house just before 10am.  It is actually only 1.5blocks walk to Boston Common for us and Julian loves every minute of it.

We walked around the Common at bit but Julian was already taking standing breaks.  Soon after we started the walk home, he wanted to be carried.

We gave him an early lunch and then put him down to rest.  He slept for 3.5hours!  Steve and I finally had a chance to read and I started The Hunger Games (Thank you Faye) and it really is a riveting read. When Julian woke, he was in an excellent mood as it was 3pm and we wanted to see Old Ironsides (the USS Constitution sailing ship) today.  We decided to take a taxi instead of walking, to save time and this turned out to be a wise choice as a thunderstorm began halfway there.  When we arrived we threw Julian in the stroller (with rainhood) and made for the USS Constitution museum.  We had look around in there and thankfully the skies cleared to allow us to go and look at the ship.

 A World War II US Navy destroyer in dry dock.

 The storm as it rolled past the dock.

 The USS Constitution

 Julian and Steve on the gun deck.

Julian standing at attention in front of his gun - this cracked me up!

Julian and Steve in the TIGHT sleeping quarters.

 The pots which held the embers to light the wick of the cannons.

We then hopped off the ship and had a look at another museum dedicated to the Charleston Naval Dockyards.  Then we were going to walk home but another thunderstorm was visible and we spotted a taxi outside, so we grabbed it.

 I took this photo of the Bunker-Hill monument as I was climbing in to the taxi.  It marks the spot of a battle between some Bostonians and the English during the War of Independence (which the Brits won but lost 1200 soldiers in the process).

Once again the taxi ride was worth the cash as the heavens opened and it BUCKETED down - it was like a downpour in the tropics!  We were so happy to be inside a car as everyone outside was soaked!

We got home and gave Julian his dinner.  We had decided on Pizza again from Upper Crust as it was pretty good.  They screwed up this time and even though Steve was sitting right there, they lost the pizza and when they found it, it was cold.  Yay. 

This is it halfway through - look at all that oil!  It may have tasted good hot...

Fingers crossed Julian sleeps tonight.  Tomorrow we are leaving and that will take up all of our energy!  Flight leaves Boston 4:50pm and we arrive in Melbourne 8:00am Monday.

Day 17 - Boston, Freedom Trail

Julian had a nice nap of nearly 2 hours which rejuvenated everyone.  We popped him in the pram and he didn't protest, then we walked to the information centre in Boston Common where the Freedom Trail guided walks begin.

The walk started at 2:30pm and the rain started at 2:30pm.  Bob, our guide asked us if we wanted to have a quick walking tour and then the explaination in the pub at the end - of course everyone agreed!

First stop was the Granary Burial Ground near the top of Beacon Hill.  People like John Hancock, Samuel Adams and Paul Revere are buried here (these are VERY important people in the early days of the American Revolution).

 The white obelisk in the distance is where they think John Hancock is buried (next to his manservant/ slave Frank).  There are approx 18,000 people buried here and about 2000 headstones.  The headstones were rearranged in the 1920's into rows as part of the New Deal make work program!

This is the Kings Chapel and on the left of the pillars there is a small obelisk.  This is to commemorate a French Aristocrat.  He was coming to Boston as the French Kings Chamberlain and when he first arrived he decided that after 4months at sea that he wanted bread.  He had the ovens set up on the foreshore and set the bakers to work.  At the time Boston was in famine and had no grain.  The smell of the baking bread set the locals off and being a French noble, he refused to share.  He died from a stab wound to his left eye approx 5 hours after setting foot on shore.  Sam Adams told the French king (Louis 16) that they would erect a monument in his honour to smooth things over.  They didn't get around to it straight away and only erected it in 1917 when they were reminded about it just before a visit by some French diplomats! (This is why you pay the $13.65 and do the tour).

 This is the old City Hall.

 This is the Old South Meeting House where the famous Boston Tea Party was organised.

This is our guide, Bob.  All the tour guides wear period dress, so are easy to spot around town.

 This is the Old Corner Bookstore.  It was a place which originally used to print litertature, then was a meeting place for famous authors such as Mark Twain, Woodsworth (can't remember more) and then it was a "first edition" bookstore which once had a signed copy of The Scarlet Letter.  It was a bookstore until the 1960's.  Now it is a chain restaurant (much to our guides dismay).  Also of note is that they have a 10 year lease, with an annual rental of $346,000!  That is a lot of Burritos!

 

This is the Old State House which is the site of the Boston Massacre.  Our guide preferred to call it the site of the Riot on Kings road which is the event which set everything in motion.  It was about an officer who had bought a wig and the wig makers apprentice who thought he hadn't paid for it.  The short of it was that a soldier clobbered the kid with his musket for bad mouthing the officer.  The locals then clobbered the soldier and things got worse from there.  The Massacre is the result of this and only about 5 people were killed. There is a whole lot more to this story and it involves more fights and riots between soldiers and Bostonians.  Our guide is going to write a book about it and I think it will be a good read.

 This is Fanieul Hall - there is a market on the ground floor and an meeting hall on the first floor.  This is where a lot of the organising was done for the Revolution and riots.

 This is where the tour ends - a small street which is all pubs.  The most modern is from the 1870's and the small one on the right of this shot is one of the earliest from the late 1700's.

This is a dolls house in the window of the one above.

We walked around the corner to the Green Dragon, est 1630's but has moved a few times, for a pint with the guide and the tour group.

 Julian making friends.
Our guide had one degree in American History and another in early American woodworking which included furniture making.  He showed us some of his work and it was beautiful - inlays, carving and joinery.

We walked back home via Whole Foods Market to stock up on milk, bread, ice cream, brownies etc.  We got home and gave a starving Julian dinner (it was past 5:30pm).  Then it was back out to feed us.  I had seen a couple of good reviews on Yelp for The Paramount which is about 100m away.  We walked in and got a table straight away, thank goodness.  Steve ordered the Paramount burger and I ordered the Buttermilk deep fried chicken.

Mine is at the front and is swimming in a creamy corn soup and Steve's burger is hiding under that pile of onion rings.  Don't people eat greens here?

Then we came home and put Julian to bed.  We are currently drinking more beers and will have some ice cream with Brownie very soon.  We did lots of walking today and we feel tired but not overly.  The jeans are getting looser too, so all this carb-rich food isn't packing it on the hips/tummy.

Tomorrow we are going to visit the USS Constitution in the afternoon, the morning will be similar to today to give Julian a fair break from the stroller.

NOTE: I have updated Day 15 with more photos etc

Day 12 - Woods Hole, Provincetown

Our bedroom has a couple of high windows which don't have curtains and we think this is why Julian is waking early. Thankfully today he played in his cot until 6:10am, so it was semi-bareable :)  It was already raining outside, as forecast, so we didn't hurry to get out of bed.

At breakfast Julian noticed Steve had a banana and wanted it.  This is not unusual, however this time instead of screwing his nose up in disgust when he tried to bite it, he ate some.  He ended up eating 1/2 the banana.  He has never liked banana, so maybe this is a turning point!  Not too much as we don't want to block him up again.

We were very pleased to have been to Martha's Vineyard yesterday which meant today we could do the drive up to Provincetown in the rain. First we stopped in Falmouth (5km up the road) Vistors Centre and asked what wet weather activities could be had in the area.  The lady suggested taking the scenic route to Chatham before heading up the highway to Provincetown.  We did as advised and there was nothing scenic about the drive, unless you consider abandoned motels and restaurants scenic - maybe "scenic" means something different over here?

Chatham was a nice little town and it has a lighthouse which we went to look at. Julian and I stayed in the car as it was REALLY windy and spitting with rain.  These are Steve's photos:

The Chatham Lighthouse

Looking out to the Atlantic ocean - it looks blurry because of the bad weather.

We only stayed in Chatham for lunch - Clam Chowder and sandwiches - before heading north up the main road to Provincetown.  Provincetown is the place where the Pilgrims first landed in mainland USA. They only stayed a month before moving onto Plymouth (just south of Boston).  It was a small town which reminded me a lot of Akaroa but the houses were all the same and the roads narrower.  There was no parking in town, so we drove up the rise to the Pilgrims monument.

 It is something like 100m tall.

 

This is looking down the stairwell 

Julian looking up at the monument.  It was so windy up there that he was getting blown backwards!  He thought it was great fun, most of the time.

We walked up the many stairs and there was a spectacular view when we got to the top.

 

Unfortunately because we took the "scenic" route, we didn't have much time to spend in Provincetown.  It looked very pretty and had many art galleries to explore.  It would have been magnificent in better weather.

So we drove back to Woods Hole to give Julian a late-ish dinner, which he wasn't interested in.  Katrina and Greg kindly went out in the rain to get Indian take-out for our dinner.  Julian had a spoonful of rice and butter chicken and then gave up eating for the night.

Tomorrow is meant to be nicer weather, so we are going to walk down our street to the beach in the morning with Katrina and Greg.  Then once they have left for Montreal, we will go to Falmouth for a proper look around.  Julian deserves a day out of carseats and strollers!

Day 8 - New York Cruise, Intrepid Museum

Julian slept through the night - yay - and woke us at 6:50am.  We did the usual routine and were out of the apartment at 9am.  We decided to get Subway for our take-on lunch for the cruise which is on the corner of our block and then we caught a cab to Circle line cruises on the corner of 12ave and 42nd st.  The temperatures was already in the mid-twenties and climbing fast - it was 31degC by lunchtime!

We had decided on the 3hour around Manhattan cruise and grabbed a seat in the airconditioned section. Julian was a bit fidgity but it was better than the plane!

 This is the best family shot of us and the Stature!

Notice the lack of thunderstorms - we are still waiting for the rain and it is 8:30pm.

 Claire, Julian and downtown Manhattan

The Brooklyn bridge and the Freedom Tower under construction (One World Trade Centre).

The boat trip was quite good and we got to see a lot of the top end of Manhattan and there is a lot of greenery up that end.  I wish there was some of it around here!

After the cruise, we walked to the next pier which is the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum all located on a decommissioned Aircraft Carrier.

 The Flight Deck

The original Space Shuttle is coming here but the exhibition hadn't opened yet :(  Julian sat this experience out and managed to sleep despite the searing heat on the flight deck.  This was a really good museum except for the gift shop which was extremely overpriced - $16 for a coffee mug!

Because of the heat and the lack of public transport over this side of the island, we caught a cab to B&H - the world's largest camera and video superstore on 9ave and 34th st.  And it was HUGE.  And surprising for me was that all of the attendants were orthodox Jews - I wonder who runs the place on Fridays?

Steve bought a flash (part of his birthday present) to go with his new camera (also a birthday present). 

This is the product pickup area.  You may be able to see the conveyor system above left and the glass elevator box on the right.  The items purchased are whisked from points of sale all over the shop using this system to this location for pickup.  You pay for them at the checkout on the left, outside of this photo.  Very efficient and very cool!

(LIVE update - the rain has arrived!)

We then walked down 34th st and caught the subway home.  It was too hot to do much so we bummed around playing with Julian and Steves new flash:

Using new flash - Julian pretending to talk to someone on my phone! (He is hot, hence the red cheeks).

After Julians dinner we walked once again to Union Square.  We had given up the idea of going to Miss Lily's, a creole restaurant in Soho, so we headed to Taco Bell instead! I had no idea that Taco Bell was so low market - $2.19 for a chicken burrito, the drinks were nearly as expensive!.  I didn't take a photo as the clientelle didn't look that friendly.  It definitely was an experience!!!!

Then I tried to do some shopping:
Nordstrom Rack - sales outlet of Nordstrom department store, lots of crappy clothes for woman and awesome suits for men - Ted Baker suits for $190!, no kiddies stuff, didn't buy anything;
The Strand Bookstore - 18 miles of books apparently, "very overwhelming" says Steve, didn't buy books bought little things like an iphone case and some cards (Thank you Ilana for the recommendation).

That was all.  It is our last night in NY and truthfully we have no idea how people live here, well not with toddlers anyway!  We are very sick of lugging the stroller up and down the stairs to our Brownstone and the subway steps.  Most shops have steps in them, a lot do have lifts but you can't rely on it.  Also the parks I checked out on Google maps before we arrived looked good but in reality, all the grassed areas are out of bounds.  Julian is rightly sick of the stroller!

Tomorrow morning we are going to Soho to check out the Frye boots Flagship store (Sam - we shall see about only one pair!) and purlsoho (fabric shop) and then that is it for New York.  We have organised a rental car from Avis a couple of blocks away for 1pm and then we are off to New Haven, Connecticut (home of Yale University).

Wish Steve luck for the drive...
 

Day 7 - New York MOMA

And more photos

 Vincent

 No idea who painted this but Julian pointed to the head and said "Baby" :)

 Mondigliani

 Monet of course

 Two screaming baby heads and one smiling baby head - minutes later when he wanted out of the pram, it would have been Three screaming baby heads!

 Dali

Calder, again

 The Two Steves

 Outside in the sculpture park.

We thoroughly enjoyed MOMA and in some ways we were happy that it was left until last.  From MOMA we hit the shops along 5th Ave (Steve rolling his eyes yet again).
Banana Republic - upmarket, business version of GAP, bought work trousers, shirts and sunglasses, 40% off thank you very much;
Ann Taylor - older sister of LOFT, bought more work trousers, also 40% off  :)
And that was it. 

Julian was cracking it big time and really needed a nap.  Yet another subway ride and this calmed Julian right down.  We were hungry and time was limited so we hit Rotten Ronnies (Mcdonalds) for lunch!  Burgers for us, a nibble of a "Chicken"nugget, a couple of french fries, apple slices and water for Julian.  He had already eaten half a bagel, so this was a top up.  So Julians first McD's was in New York and mine was in Frankfurt.  I wonder if it will be 10 years before Julian has it again?

We managed to get home and get Julian to sleep.  He slept for 2 whole hours in the cot - hoorah!  When he woke, he grumpily ate the main of his dinner and loved his prune yoghurt for dessert!  We then walked down a couple of blocks to Sammy's, an asian restaurant, for our dinner.  It came out so fast we only managed a photo at the end showing the left overs.

Look at that plate of fried rice and that was after we had eaten!

We came home and for the first time Julian put himself to sleep in the cot.  We could all use a good night of uninterrupted sleep but I am not holding my breath.

Tomorrow will be a full day as we are going a 3hour cruise around Manhattan at 10am and then hopefully a look at the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space museum (on an aircraft carrier) in the afternoon.  Forecast is for thunderstorms...