"Boston is awesome!" Junior.
We stayed at a nice hostel just out of Boston in a town called Everett. Metro system is real easy to navigate so we were only a 15-20 minute ride from the city. We ventured to the sight of the Boston T Party only to find that it was closed for restoration and renovations. So we continued walking in search of Boston Common and the Cheers Bar.
We continued to walk across the bridge to Cambridge and the home of MIT and Harvard (which we soon learned is pronounced Hahvahd as Bostonians do not pronounce their r's). Our tour guides were 2 current students, 1 a senior and the other a freshman. We heard stories of the famous names who had attended Hahvard and were able to see the dorms they stayed in and hear some of the stories both past and present that made Hahvard what it is today. Fascinating that a school could have a bank account of 29 billion dollars and such a rich and diverse history from students such as ex-presidents of the United States, creators of the Simpsons and microsoft to the Uni-bomber. Harvard hosts over 5 million visitors per year (don't think uniSA would do quite as well) and although it is a "free" tour that we took, when the guys asked for money into a hat at the end even we donated a couple of dollars (left over change in our pockets) for the 1 hour tour.
We walked a huge distance again that day and covered almost all of Boston. We walked part of the Freedom Trail where we learned of Paul Revere a Bostonian famous for riding his horse to alert other colonials of a way to signal an attack from the British at night, we passed through the Holocaust Memorial. The glass panes that you see in the photo have qoutes on either side of the walkthrough from survivors telling part of their story. While you walk through smoke rises from underneath you to give a really eerie feeling.
We walked underneath the Boston Garden (home of the celtics). On our way there a guy was darting towards us with a bag on his shoulder and another dude in hot pursuit. We guessed that he tried to steal from a shop and the guys ran him down. He was only small so Nat gave me heaps for not tackling him and being a hero, but I'm not keen on getting involved when most people in the states are probably "packing heat" (carrying weapons). Junior had to visit an Irish Bar whilst in Boston so we had dinner there and a few beers whilst the Kentucky Derby ran (similar to the Melbourne Cup for Yanks).
One thing you find is that every city has a story and Boston was no different, it was great to walk and learn about the cities history and how it has developed into what we experienced today.
