Mon 7th: Our last day with friends, and it feels like we've known Ted & Marilyn for a long time, especially as they will now be planning their trip to the UK next summer. I call Alamo and delay collection of our rental car, as it will be of no use in downtown Boston, and will in fact cost us money to park it.
Our touring with Ted & Marilyn is not complete however without the planned trip to Harvard, which we do for the morning. A visit to the Harvard National History Museum is an unexpected WOW, as we see an archive of "glass flowers" created in the late 1800s by a German family.......... They signed a contract to provide Harvard with an archive of 400 flowers and completed most of the work in five years, it is astounding. The quality of the work belies the simplicity of the tools that were at their disposal in Dresden in 18..., it is impossible to tell between these glass flowers and the real thing that might have been picked this morning, they have to be seen to be believed.
So just where will the people end up that graduate from Harvard Law School end up, I ask Ted; well Barack Obama was here in the 1980s, and look where he got to was the reply. We also see the statue of John Harvard, or so we think, until it is explained that the famous statue is also known as the Statue of Three Lies. John Harvard was not the founder of Harvard, he was in fact a benefactor, the statue is not of him, but a student that posed as him with the sculptor, and the year is incorrect. So just how many tourists will pick that out without a prompt from their guide.
A further stroll takes us through Harvard Yard, pronounced as if you were a Scouser, to the square containing the Harvard library, the second largest library in the US, and also where the famous graduation ceremony takes place every year; apparently it is always in the open air as it never rains on Graduation Day. A final coffee at Peets Coffee Shop and we say our farewells after which Ted transfers us down to The Constitution Inn, and we are not sure whether it is a YMCA hostel, or just a hotel, time will tell.
It turns out that the hotel is run by the YMCA as a non-profit-making organisation to help young men and women get back on their feet, especially those returning from the military after serving in Iraq or Afghanistan. It later transpires that it is also shelter for women in trouble. Lorna meets a lady in the laundry, now there's something new Dava, and she explains that she is staying here in respite and that they are allowed to stay here for two years, sometimes longer. They also run a gym which is the busiest I have seen, there must haver been in excess of 40 people last night, very popular.
We hop on a town tour with tickets for today and tomorrow; this includes a harbour tour, so we'll develop our knowledge of the former British colony before moving on. I leave Lorna to return to the hotel whilst I follow the Freedom Trail up to Breed's Hill where the bloodiest of the Independence War battles, was fought; perversely it was called the Battle of Bunker Hill. The small museum adjacent to the large monument is closed due to the Government Shutdown. After an hour of watching CNN on my return, my ears start to bleed as presenters, pundits and politicians from both sides bicker constantly, talk one another down, and generally behave like unsupervised children in a playground; there is no end in sight, and it's affecting the little people, tourists included.
Dinner at Bistro, just down the road from the hotel is average, but saves a trip downtown.
Spend today: Coffee (card); town tour (card); dinner (card)
So just where will the people end up that graduate from Harvard Law School end up, I ask Ted; well Barack Obama was here in the 1980s, and look where he got to was the reply. We also see the statue of John Harvard, or so we think, until it is explained that the famous statue is also known as the Statue of Three Lies. John Harvard was not the founder of Harvard, he was in fact a benefactor, the statue is not of him, but a student that posed as him with the sculptor, and the year is incorrect. So just how many tourists will pick that out without a prompt from their guide.
A further stroll takes us through Harvard Yard, pronounced as if you were a Scouser, to the square containing the Harvard library, the second largest library in the US, and also where the famous graduation ceremony takes place every year; apparently it is always in the open air as it never rains on Graduation Day. A final coffee at Peets Coffee Shop and we say our farewells after which Ted transfers us down to The Constitution Inn, and we are not sure whether it is a YMCA hostel, or just a hotel, time will tell.
It turns out that the hotel is run by the YMCA as a non-profit-making organisation to help young men and women get back on their feet, especially those returning from the military after serving in Iraq or Afghanistan. It later transpires that it is also shelter for women in trouble. Lorna meets a lady in the laundry, now there's something new Dava, and she explains that she is staying here in respite and that they are allowed to stay here for two years, sometimes longer. They also run a gym which is the busiest I have seen, there must haver been in excess of 40 people last night, very popular.
We hop on a town tour with tickets for today and tomorrow; this includes a harbour tour, so we'll develop our knowledge of the former British colony before moving on. I leave Lorna to return to the hotel whilst I follow the Freedom Trail up to Breed's Hill where the bloodiest of the Independence War battles, was fought; perversely it was called the Battle of Bunker Hill. The small museum adjacent to the large monument is closed due to the Government Shutdown. After an hour of watching CNN on my return, my ears start to bleed as presenters, pundits and politicians from both sides bicker constantly, talk one another down, and generally behave like unsupervised children in a playground; there is no end in sight, and it's affecting the little people, tourists included.
Dinner at Bistro, just down the road from the hotel is average, but saves a trip downtown.
Spend today: Coffee (card); town tour (card); dinner (card)
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