Day 12

Boston Harbour, on our way to George’s Island. The Boston Harbour has 27 islands situated within it, and today we are visiting one right on the edge that used to be a fort during the 1800’s (mainly).

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A plane flying over from Logan Airport.

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One of the islands is Long Island. And apparently there is a Thompson Island in there somewhere…

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The very manicured, George’s Island.

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A strange seagull.

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The shore.

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Where the guns used to be.

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An old cannon.

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There are clearly a lot of Supernatural fans around here…

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Some spooky tunnels.

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The lime leached so much through the stone it actually created stalectities.

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The view on the way back.

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Boston definitely is a very beautiful place.

Day 11

In the morning mum and I set off to Nordstrom Rack to find some discount jackets. This is our bounty:

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Seriously, they were so cheap for such nice jackets!

Being our lazy Boston selves, we sat around watching Netflix and doing nothing until my brother Matt and his friend Sam (who also happened to be in Boston) got back from their brewery tour. We took the train to Alewife. Alewife. What a strange and historic place Boston must be to have a place called ‘Alewife’. Apparently it is named after a fish which was in turn named after women in medieval England who made ale.

Anyway, we got off at Harvard to go and look for ourselves at the prestigious campus.

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This, is Harvard.

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All these old buildings may ooze history and authority, but the campus itself doesn’t really ooze airconditioning (and Boston gets humid!). To be honest, I feel institutions like Harvard are out-dated and are lasting only in name and the types of people that name still draws in. Younger institutuions are growing.

And this, is Harvard Square. A very nice place that reminds me of a quaint little village (wow, I’m using the word quaint a lot for Boston, aren’t I?).

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After a good dinner in Harvard Square, we went to Mike’s Pastry, not only because they have the same name as my dad (he actually asked if he could get a discount, like he does at every pastry shop. That was a really bad pun…). But in all seriousness, they have the best canollis and macaroons around.

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The food here is seriously amazing, as are the buildings and the history. It feels like the whole city is stuck in the 80’s (the 1980’s, not the 1880’s, which gives a really nice pace and vibe to the city).

Day 10

Boston Public Garden. This place is very quaint and beautiful, and reminds me very much of old nursery rhymes. There’s even peddle powered swan boats and a statue of a paddling of ducks (this is technically the plural for ducks while their swimming, but I don’t care! Like I’m going to call a cute group of ducks a raft…).

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The smallest suspension bridge apparently…

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It’s surprisingly well manicured, like most parks I’ve been to here in America.

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Another paddling of ducks!

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A statue of George Washington (these are everywhere apparently, even where there is no historical significance, which is rare in Boston. Seriously, they say you can throw a dead rat and it’ll probably land on something historic).

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A pretty church.

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Boston Public Library. Thse chandelier things were crazy!

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That church again…

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After having lunch at Wagamama, we wandered our way up to the top of the Hub, to the observation deck and we got the best views of Boston.

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Fenway Park. The Red Sox were actually playing the Houston Astros while were up there.

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On the way home we went back via Newbury Street, where all the shops are in the fronts of old houses. As you can see, this is where all of the designers live.

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Including Vera Wang Bridal.

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Boston is so layed back, it’s really nice. But the more time I spend here, the more time I waste watching Naruto and other TV shows on the American version of Netflix, instead of blogging…

Day 9

Independence Day. The day we’d all been waiting for, for the crowds, the fireworks and of course the seafood. Why seafood? Because it’s Boston, and Legal Seafood is everywhere. They have the best seafood around and they aren’t overtly expensive. However, me being a vegetarian (who doesn’t mind being a pescatarian every now and then) decided to opt out of the seafood and go for the only vegetarian dish on the menu. Big mistake for someone who doesn’t like chili very much! I asked the server if she thought it was too hot or not, and she said it wasn’t hot at all. I get the dish and I can barely eat any of it. Just proves how different America and Australia are in terms of heat in their foods. At least when it comes to vegetarian food. Seriously, everything I’ve eaten here has had some form of chili in it, because they think it would be too bland for me otherwise. They obviously don’t know many vegetarians. I’d be happy with rabbit food.

Anyway, enough ranting about the dinner (I jumped straight to dinner, because seriously, we did nothing all day, except walk along the harbour, which was actually very pretty). We walked along Longfellow Bridge to get to Cambridge for a good view of the fireworks (and to get to our booking of Legal Seafoods).

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The crowds at Cambridge were crazy! At the end of the night there was an ambulance, which was surprising. Given the crowds I would’ve expected more casualties.

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There was a blimp floating around with a giant eye on it, staring down at everyone. Funnily enough, it was advertising Hendricks Gin (the only gin made and served with cucumber).

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After a lot of waiting and listening to the Boston Pops (the popular orchestra, whioch was actually pretty cool) and a lot of teases with the fireworks, the showfinally started at 10:35 and then proceeded to go for 25 minutes straight. There was music as well, but the only time the fireworks went in time was when they played ‘ode de triumph’ and ‘beautiful world’, which was actually pretty cool. They also had a lot of star shaped, smiley faces, love hearts, and USA shaped fireworks at varying points throughout (although the USA ones only happened twice). It had its moments, but overall the show wasn’t as ‘spectacular’ or as well thought out as we were expecting. I mean, you could at least theme and launch the fireworks to each respective song.

Anyway, PRETTY FIREWORKS!

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I couldn’t hear the next day and I had pain in my ears for a while. It was worth it… sort of. The experience was definitely different and more hyped up/extravagent than back home. They actually said that the fireworks presentation would be “brought to you without commercial break”. In what circumstances would there be a commercial break?! It’s freaking fireworks!

Day 8

The Freedom Trail. Proving that Boston is probabaly the most historically patriotic place in America, and that this city is the best place to be for the 4th of July celebrations. Today was also probably one of the worst days to do the Freedom Trail, as pretty much everyone else was too, as it is a pilgrimage of sorts here.

Anyway, this is the beautiful old State House. Originally designed by Charles Bulfinch, the dome was first made from wood, themn coated in copper by Paul Revere and then finally coated in 23-karat gold leaf in 1874. The original tennants were John Hancock’s cows. The building is now used today, like Melbourne’s parliament house is.

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The Boston Common. I wish we had commons, that is parks in the center of a specific area, as opposed to on the outskirts. They provide fantastic views. The Boston Common is also America’s oldest public park.

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The streets of Boston.

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Old City Hall. Now a Steak House!

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The old South Meeting House. Where protesters gathered to rally against the English rule (the Boston Tea Party for example).

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Boston architecture. The amount of copper around here is just beautiful.

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The old State House. This building housed the colony’s government.

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Around Quincy Market.

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A very non-descript building with a LOT of American flags hanging from the facade, had this in the window.

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Rose F. kennedy Park, named after JFK’s mother.

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The Paul Revere House. The biggest and most intact colonial house, it was built around 1680.

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Lunch! We ate at Gennaro’s in North Square (right next to Paul Revere’s House). I had vegan ravioli with antipasto. It was beautiful! Highly recommend.

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Boston has some very pretty streets.

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This church stuck out so much mum thought it was the one used to signal the rebels, “one if by land, two if by sea.” Turns out, it was the next block over. But it looks nice, and there was a pretty interesting looking pharmacy on the corner. What is with that old timey mortar and pestle?

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This is the correct church spire. With the statue and everything.

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And also, Boston has corner buildings as well. I guess they’re more a form of architecture unique to America more so than just New York. That being said though, this type of building is very common in New York.

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Boston Harbour.

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Charlestown. Filled with quaint little houses.

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Beacon Hill monument. Which funnily enough is actually on Breeds Hill. The leader of the rebels was supposed to fortify Bunker Hill, but instead decided to fortify Breeds Hill.

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The USS Constitution (and museum). A very old, very cool, copper plated (at least on the base) old American navy vessel. Inside the museum you had the option to carve your name onto a copper plate that would go onto the new hull of the ship. My dad engraved it with ‘The Thompsons’. Take from that what you will.

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And finally, I thought I’d share this image I captured on the way home of a statue outside the ice skating stadium.

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Being in Boston, seeing the sheer number of American flags, and completing most of the Freedom Trail, I can really understand how Captain America (or at least the actor who portrays him) comes from here. This is a very partiotic place. So partiotic we’ve already seen a great deal of people in reanactment costumes. That being said though, it is a lot like home and a really nice place to be. The whole town is just seeping with history.