Boston......

......started off pretty relaxed, the city has a much different feel to it in comparison to NYC, everything runs a little slower and there's generally more space and more plantage. The first night we got some Chinese take out that would have fed 5 people. Kathryn was feeling poorly on the first full day (thanks to my cold, which is now Kathryn's cold), so we slept in, went for a little walk along Newbury Street which has a lot of upscale shops and places to eat but very little in the way of things to do, then Kathryn went back to the room for a mid-afternoon nap and i went for a walk around Boston Common and walked a little of the freedom trail.

on my travels i saw this crazy guy on the left stood atop a pole juggling knives with a rotating blade in his mouth. he was australian and to be honest i felt like the people standing around him were taking the real chance and the tips should've gone to them.......
early in the evening Kathryn was feeling better and we decided to bite the tourist bullet and had dinner at a Cheers bar just behind where the knife juggler was endangering trusting Yanks lives.

the following day (day 7 i think, i'm losing count) was our only full, illness-free day in Boston and we wanted to make the most of it. we got up fairly early (we're well and truly adjusted to the time now, no more waking up at 6:45) and headed out. We picked up the freedom trail, visiting the Massachusetts State House and the Park Street Church before getting way-laid and heading off to the New England Aquarium. This place is awesome, it has one of the most creative layouts i've seen. It is centered around a giant cylindrical ocean tank containing a mock coral reef, full of crazy looking and very large fish, as well as a few giant turtles. the rest of the aquarium goes up in layers around the tank, and there is a walkway tracing around the edge of the tank from top to bottom. At the bottom is a penguin tank full of crazy penguins, most of whom are content to stand around staring at their own wings or attempting to make nests using tickets that have made their way into the tank.

















From there it was back on the freedom trail, and a lot of walking. we managed to miss out some of the stops and pick it up at the Old South Meeting House, then the Old State House Museum, Faneuil Hall, the Paul Revere House, the Old North Church, Copp's Hill Burying Ground. Then after a walk over a bridge into Charlestown we saw the USS Constitution and finally the Bunker Hill Monument. by this time we were pretty tired but decided we'd come this far (2.5 miles) so we may as well walk the 294 steps to the top of the monument. i wouldn't say this was a bad idea, the view from the top is amazing, but my calves might have a thing or two to say about that.























We somehow managed to make it back to the Boston Common which was located conveniently about 2 minutes from our hotel. We sat around here for a while, watching a little league game for a while, then went and ate some more chinese and turned in for the night, well and truly knackered.