Sincerest apologies for the delay…
April 19: (“Yeah, he definitely jumped in front of the train”)
I was staying a little bit outside of Boston so I hopped on a train into central Boston early Monday to set off on the Freedom Trail, a 2.5 mile red-brick walking trail that leads through 16 historic sites, related to the American Revolution. However, having boarded the train, it didn’t take me long to realise that the train wasn’t moving. After 20 stationary minutes, the driver told us over the intercom system that there was a medical emergency being dealt with on the train in front of us. After just over an hour or so, the train eventually started moving. As we approached the next stop, looking out the window on the line next us we saw a orange evidence cone, followed by another evidence cone, followed by an empty show, followed by another evidence cone, followed by a body half covered by a body bag, followed by another empty shoe, before eventually reaching the stationary train. “Yeah, he definitely jumped in front of the train” the lad beside me said. Having arrived at North Station, I walked to the TD Garden box-office to see if there were any tickets remaining for the NHL play-off match that night between the Bruins and Sabres, and luckily for me there were. Tickets were steep, priced at $70, so I was hoping it would be worth it. After that, I set out on the Freedom Trail, which included USS Constitution (the oldest commissioned warship afloat in the world, affectionately known as Ironsides), Bunker Hill Monument, The Old North Church, Copp’s Hill Burying Ground, Paul Revere House, Faneuil Hall, Site of the Boston Massacre, Old State House, Old South Meeting House, Old Corner Book Store, Benjamin Franklin Statue/Boston Latin School, King’s Chapel, King’s Chapel Burying Ground, Granary Burying Ground, Park Street Church, The State House and finally The Boston Common. In the late afternoon, I made my way back to TD Garden for the Bruins Sabres game. It turns out, I had absolutely no need to worry whether the ticket was worth $70 or not. Having attended various sporting events, I can honestly say NHL provides the best at-game atmosphere – from cheering injuries to screaming “fight, fight, fight!!!”, I had a fantastic time. Boston won 2-1.
April 20: (“Will any of the cast be here?”)
Following day I made my way back into Boston, first stop being Cheers for lunch. However, having reached it, it was packed and there were long queues forming (full of people asking stupid questions like “will any of the cast be here?”). Having seen the inside on TV so often, I decided to forego going in. Making my way through the Public Gardens, I ended up at Trinity Church, before hopping on a subway to Harvard. After walking around the Harvard grounds for a while, I stopped into the Museum of Natural History before making my way back to my hotel.
April 21: (“aawwwwwwww”)
I set out early Wednesday morning to do Whale Watch – where a high-speed catamaran whisks you 30 miles east of Boston into the Atlantic Ocean to whale feeding grounds. The trip lasts around 2 1/2 hours. We were lucky – scores of dolphins (cue the gushing “aawwwwwwww” from the kids) followed us for the most part, we spotted several Humpback and Fin Whales swimming around and even managed to come across three Humpbacks open-mouth feeding, which is apparently a rare sight. After finishing Whale Watch I toured around the New England Aquarium, which I quite enjoyed actually – Penguins really are fascinating creatures, while its pretty cool getting up close to rays and sharks – before returning back to the hotel.
April 22: (“The good professor went into the tomb and never came out”)
First stop Thursday morning was Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox. I’d planned to see if there were any tickets available for that evening’s game but upon arrival learned that tickets only go on sale a few hours before first pitch, meaning I had to put in 6 hours. So, I made my way to the Museum Of Fine Arts. The museum is huge, holding 450,000 works of art from all over the world, Asia to Africa, Europe to America. Having finished at the museum, with a couple of hours to spare and with it raining pretty heavily, I decided to stop into TOMBS. It is basically a blend of a haunted house, a theme park attraction, a Hollywood movie set and a traveling museum exhibition – a mix of Indiana Jones, Mummy and Relic Hunter. You are told, “Ten years ago the tomb of a lost Pharaoh was discovered by an expert archeologist. The good professor went into the tomb and never came out.” So, as a group, you enter the Pharaoh’s tomb to solve the mystery behind the professor’s disappearance – however, once inside, the spirit of the ancient Pharaoh is awoken and, as a group, you must work together to solve puzzles and whatnot to get out alive. While it is possible to “die”, you will be delighted to know, we made it out alive. Returning to Fenway Park, I picked up cheap centre field tickets for the Red Sox – Rangers game that evening. The previous two games had been high scoring Boston victories, so as fate would have it, I was there for a low scoring Texas victory. Oh well! During the game, I got to prove my baseball knowledge to a couple of local Bostonians who asked me why a few days beforehand, all baseball players wore number 42 jerseys. I reliably informed them that it was for Jackie Robinson day.
April 23:
I was getting the train to New York on Friday, so I slept in late and went straight from the hotel to the Boston South train station.
Photos can be found here.
