15. Boston, Massachusettes

Four cities in four different states is our itinerary for the next two weeks and we were kicking off in Boston. Driving back through the city to return our hired Jeep was fun (not!) and made us feel so relieved that from now on it was public transport all the way.
Hotel prices are very high in Boston and so we had booked a 'home stay' in a suburb just a bus ride out from the centre. It was an interesting ride in and back each day and we stuck out a mile as the only tourists on this route through the largely Latino quarter. We also got to use the subway a few times too, the oldest one in the US, which was easy.
Most visitors come to Boston and follow 'The Freedom Trail', a self guided 3 mile walking tour around some of the key historical sites of the city, which conveniently has a red line to follow on the ground. We did find that we were seeing familiar faces as we all follow each other round the route but the 'segway family' were doing it in style. There were plenty of churches, old state buildings and meeting houses but of course to us Brits nothing is really very old at all. We bravely climbed the 294 steps of the Bunker Hill monument but the viewing area at the top was a little disappointing with just a few small glass windows in a limited space; it was a good work out though.
Steve, being a tad nautical, was very excited about the final stop on the tour - the Charlestown Naval Shipyard - which has a destroyer and the oldest sailing ship in the world still afloat, the USS Constitution. To be allowed on board you had to show official photo ID, which unfortunately I wasn't carrying. Luckily the young naval officer on the gangplank entrance took pity on my sad face and winked at me saying it was a good job I was under 18! I had lots of fun in the terrific child-friendly museum playing with all of the hands-on exhibits and lying in the hammock. Returning on the little ferry boat in the dusk across the harbour to downtown was nice and saved a long walk back.
The North End district of Boston houses many Italians and Hanover Street was lined with restaurants, mostly very busy and extremely loud. We found a nice one and I had a scrummy clam pasta dinner.
It poured with rain in the night and our second day was promising drizzle and showers but undeterred we set off to Cambridge and the mighty Harvard University, home to many fine buildings on a huge town campus. Steve and I even studied at the famous Law School - well, we sat on a bench in the entrance to shelter from a downpour whereupon I studied the map and Steve studied the West Ham result on his phone! Back into central Boston and the afternoon was spent exploring the Back Bay district with its parks (we have never seen so many squirrels in one place together), churches, swanky hotels and shops and some lovely varied architecture; the Commonwealth Building which houses the city public library was like a palace.