trip to Boston: gottalovev

gottalovev

Aug 10, 2004 08:38

Thurday :

Friday 6th (cool, rain in Quebec, sunny in USA, max 75F):

at 10:45am we are at the state’s line (Vermont). There is only 4 cars before us in our lane, and with the guy’s question (where are you going, where are you from, what is our relation to each other, how did you knew each other, how long will we be…) the crossing of the border takes a mere…. 7 minutes! Allright! And someone had scared us with a story of a 2 hour wait 4 days before, because of the terrorist alerts…. I suppose we don’t look too dangerous!

We stop to eat and put gas, but we are in the Boston area at 2:30pm… 6h30: not too bad!

Instead of going to the Hotel, we go to Salem, that is less than 30 minutes away. Its a very pretty little city, a lot of tourist traps with witch museums and haunted houses, but we don’t go in anything, only walk in the streets. There is almost no-one in the streets, pretty surprising for us.

We go back to the hotel to cook supper, as our rooms are equipped with a little kitchenette. They even have a dishwasher, yay!

That night, we relax and watch some TV as I begin to write a diary of the trip. You know those LOTR journals that I bought and I didn’t knew what to write in them? Chose the red book of Bilbo/Frodo, with the "there and back again" to write the description of this trip. I thought it was appropriate. I left some blank pages to glue pictures and maps.

Saturday 7th (cool again 75F, perfect to walk, clouds and sun):

the hotel furnishes the breakfast (fruits, muffins, bagels, coffee and juices) and we eat as we plan our day

at 9h20am we are in the old part of Boston, near the Quincy market. Very very nice, and lots of little shops (it opens at 10! That is late, no?). there is the bar where the "Cheer’s" show was taped (oh, did I watch that one!) and we walk around taking lots of pics. We tour also a bit of the piers (nice boats! Whoa! Lots of money in Boston, huh?)

we change parking (btw, they are soooo expensive!!!) to go near the Museum of science, eat our sandwiches and at 12h30 we are at the museum.

We tour an other part of Boston, near the Charles river, then the parks, the real hip place with very very expensive stores (Gucci, Armani, Louis Vutton, etc), and begin looking for a restaurant. We were a street away of several ones, but were directed instead to a shopping mall (again with very expensive stores). Luckily, we found there a great restaurant.. maybe you know the chain? Legal sea food… I ate crab cake combo, with scallops and shrimps…. Beer was most welcome as we had walked a lot.

After supper, we walked back to the car, going around the parcs, in the theater district, near the State House (very beautiful), the Bacon hill area (loved that part) and finally we were back, feet hurting. The time to go back to the hotel it was like 9:30pm, and a rest/bath was welcome!

Sunday 8th (same weather while in US, rainy and very cool, almost cold with the rain near the border)

Harvard in Cambridge is just lovely. Beautiful old buildings, lots of trees in the interior of the campus (some of it because we only toured a bit of it). We walked around for about 2 hours. Everything was closed because it was Sunday, except from magazine sellers that had some little souvenirs…. Brought back a book of pictures of Boston plus some postcards for me, a Harvard mug to my mom for keeping the kids, 2 little stuffed animals for the kids, plus some shot glasses of Salem we had bought on Friday.

We left Boston at noon, where at the border at 4:10pm (it was pouring rain! Welcome to Canada! To be fair, it had started in Vermont!). again ritual questions by the Canadian border officer, asking if we bought something. I declared it all and said we had bought some liquor in new-Hampshire (no taxes there… and here taxes are very high, so I am sure we saved, but will have to convert and check to know how much!). that was it. This time for 8 cars including our own, it took 8 minutes…. Yippy! As my friend G said, "that is how it goes when you look honest…."

Another 3 hours to come home from the border…. At least the rain stopped!!! And we where glad when did arrive (a total trip of 1 450 km… I don’t know in miles…). We left my friend at her place (she was thrilled by the whole trip and very thankful we had brought her). Then went home to eat (it was 7:15pm). The kids had lots and lots to tell us, as they had celebrated my nephew’s b-day on Friday. My mom and brother gave also gifts to Nicolas, as his b-day is next weekend, the 14th.

It was a marvellous trip and we had a lot of fun. GREAT experience! I loved the Boston area, would definitively go back if I could!

Once the kids in bed, I showed my mom my pics on the TV… that is what is left to do: download the pics, chose a couple and show them/glue them in my journal….

I was there…. And I am back again…..