Friday 23rd June
It was a beautiful sunny morning for our drive from Portland down to Boston. The journey was about 2 hours but we were stopping near the half-way mark to do some Outlet shopping. I had thought it would just be Mark doing the damage but I joined in as well. The Kittery Outlets even had a Lululemon shop but it was sadly just filled with merchandise that clearly had failed to sell in their main stream stores.
Our accommodation for our two nights in Boston was right in the middle of downtown at Omni Parker House where we had a huge room and a lovely big bed. We arrived near 4 pm and dropped our bags but headed straight back out to walk the streets and down to the harbor front. It was so lovely to be back in a town filled with people and bustling with energy. We stopped off for one beer at the Samuel Adams brewery before heading for a light meal at Zen Sushi and then back to the hotel for a nightcap and early evening.
Sat 24th June
It was drizzling this morning and so we decided to go to the hotel gym instead of venturing out for a walk. Unfortunately, Mark now has another bike that he wants to add to his growing collection; a Peloton 🙁
The drizzling rain was forecast to last much of the day and so we dug out our raincoats and umbrellas and ventured out well prepared. Our trusty Action Tour Guide folk had a few walks for the Boston area and so we chose to do one this morning, The Boston Tea Party Harbor Walk, and the other, The Boston Freedom Trail Tour, tomorrow morning when the weather was forecast to be more favorable.
The Tea Party tour was great and it got us walking further south along the harbor than we had been in the past. The tour commentary gave a good overview of the history of the Boston Tea Party and is a walk I’d highly recommend if you’re ever in the area. The Boston Harbor walk is such a wonderful asset for the city and extends almost 43 km! If only they had thought to do something like this in Portland it could have gone a long way to boosting the tourism potential of the city. We encountered a few more cows along our travel today and I found out that there are 75 of them around the city with the aim to raise funds for cancer research.
We were down near Chinatown at the end of our walk and decided to visit the area for Yum Cha, something we had done on our last visit. We ended up at The Great Taste Bakery Restaurant which makes it sound rather grand but it was really just a small shopfront crowded with laminex tables. The place was full though and Mark and I were the only non-Asians in the place so we felt sure we’d come to the right spot. The food was nice enough but check the photo of Mark’s top at the end of our lunch!
We walked home via Washington Street which seemed to be quite a thriving thriving area and in better condition than we when we were last here. We kept remarking how glad we were that we’d left Portland early to come to Boston. It was so much more pleasant walking around Boston than it was around Portland, Burlington, Jackson or Albany and nice to be finishing our time in the USA on a slight high.
It was a lazy afternoon after that, more so for me than Mark as he at least went in search of a book and for a walk to Boston Common, and we didn’t both venture back out until after 5 pm. Dinner for this evening was booked at Bin 26 Enoteca in Charles Street. Charles Street in Beacon Hill is a favorite destination in Boston for us both and we chose the restaurant based on its address and that it wasn’t a pub or pizza joint. The search for restaurants that serve vegetables with their main meals is an ongoing endeavor for us and a much harder one than you might expect! We took a stroll up and down Charles Street and stopped off for a drink at The Sevens Ale House, another pub we’d been to previously, before heading on to dinner. Our meal was ok but not quite up to the standard we are lucky to enjoy back home so we thought we’d spent just the right amount of time here. It was then back home for an early night as we had a full day tomorrow with our departure for Helsinki at 6 pm.
Sun 25th June
It was our last day in Boston and last day in the USA as our flight to Helsinki departs from Boston at 6pm this evening. We had a late check out for 1 pm so that gave us plenty of time to take The Boston Freedom Trail Tour after breakfast. It was a beautiful warm and sunny morning which was a good thing as the Annual Boston Athletic Association 10 km fun run was on today. We went out for a walk before breakfast and found ourselves mingling with runners on their way to the event.
It was 9 am by the time we got going for our Freedom Trail walk and we strolled along the paved stones marking out the Trail as so many others, and of all nationalities, were doing. The only issue was that we ran out of time to finish so we may have to come back to Boston. The guided tour provided a great overview of the history leading up to the Declaration of Independence and is one I’d highly recommend if you’re ever in Boston. Unfortunately, we had to wind up at about the 2/3 mark and head back to the hotel to check out. We had loved our short trip back to Boston and it was nice to finish up this, almost, month of New England travel on a high as there were certainly a lot of lows to counter.
Next stop: Helsinki!
