Boston

Acorn Street

We had a great time in Boston and loved exploring the city. We were staying in Beacon Hill - one of the oldest and most historic sections of the city. The street in the photo above is Acorn Street, supposedly the most photographed street in America. Beacon Hill has many charming little streets and squares and we spent our first morning walking around the neighbourhood.

Louisburg Square

Louisburg Square, in Beacon Hill, an exclusive square in which Louisa May Alcott once lived and where Senator John Kerry now lives.


This walk brought us down to the Public Garden and the Boston Common, America's first public park. The girls had just read the children's book 'Make Way for Ducklings' (which is set in Boston) before we left, so they were excited to see statues of these famous ducklings who were looking to make their home in the Boston Park. We spent the rest of the morning in the Common and the girls played in the playground and enjoyed yet another carousel ride!

The Library at Harvard

In the afternoon, we went over the river to Cambridge, where we did a tour of Harvard University. The tour was very interesting and was run by one of the current students. He led us around Harvard Yard, where most of the first year students live, and to many of the historic buildings in the campus. The yard was a very cheerful place, with coloured chairs set out all over the lawn.The library actually extends down about 6 floors under the ground and out the length of the lawn in front of it.

The Yard at Harvard

It was interesting to hear that out of about 35,000 applicants for Harvard each year only 1700 are accepted and that full tuition and board can cost up to $50,000 a year (although many students are eligible for fee relief, our guide explained). Most students live on campus for their full four years at university.

James spent the following day researching at the Kennedy Library, so the girls and I headed off to the New England Aquarium in the morning and then to the Boston Children's Museum in the afternoon. This was an amazing hands-on museum which the girls loved! They spent 4 hours running around it and playing with all the exhibits, without even stopping for a snack, and I could only convince them to leave when announcements were made that the museum was about to close!


On our final day in Boston, we spent the morning walking around Back Bay and Newbury Street, which has many expensive shops and boutiques along it (which we did not enter!) Again, the architecture was beautiful and we walked past many lovely churches, like the one above, as well as the equally impressive Boston Public Library, again the first in America.

James then did "his beloved Kennedy tour", as Pia and Ella called it. This was a one hour walking tour of many of the sites which where important to JFK in his political and private life in Boston. Meanwhile, the girls and I cruised the pond in the Public Garden on a Swan Boat.

The Old State House - Boston's oldest public building

That afternoon, we all did the Freedom Trail tour, a walking tour led by a National Park ranger, that took us to many of the historic sights in Boston, breeding ground of the American Revolution. The Bostonians at that time were very vocal in their opposition to being ruled and taxed by the British and many of the places we saw, such as the Old State House, Faneuil Hall and Paul Revere's House were where key events took place in the fight for independence against the British.

The steeple of the Old North Church.

Another was the Old North Church. This was where a light shone in the steeple to let Paul Revere know that the British were going to invade.

Our final meal that night was at a place that James had discovered on his 'beloved Kennedy tour' - the Union Oyster House. This was where Kennedy loved to eat when in Boston, so much so that his favourite booth is now specially marked with a sign, a plaque and the American flag. James, of course, was able to sweet-talk the manager into getting us a table there that night, so we all enjoyed dinner in the Kennedy Booth that night (I was the only one who had oysters, though!)

Dinner in the Kennedy Booth

I will finish off in our next post about the last few days of our trip in Portland, Vermont and Princeton. We are looking forward to having Mum and Dad arrive on Sunday. They have been experiencing a heat wave in California, while we are enjoying the first little bit of Fall weather in DC.

Providence and Plymouth

Well, we are back from our trip now and we had a really fantastic time. I'll spend the next couple of posts continuing to update you on what we did and saw.

On our way out of Newport, we stopped at the Norman Bird Sanctuary. There we followed one of their nature trails which led us through forest, over ponds, through a maze of trees and finally climbing up over rocks to reach a spectacular view of the coast. There were many birds calling and flying overhead and we did manage to spot a downy woodpecker, which added to the list of exciting animals the girls have been spotting on the trip.

Part of the Hanging Rock Walking Trail at Norman Bird Sanctuary

Our next stop was Providence, where we visited Brown University (you may notice as this trip progresses that there is a fair bit of visiting American Ivy League Universities!)It is a beautiful campus and some of the buildings were used to house troops during the civil war. The next morning we visited the State Capitol building - Providence is the capital of the state of Rhode Island. Its claim to fame is its huge self supporting marble dome- one of only four in the world - the largest being St. Peter's in Rome.

The State Capitol of Rhode Island

We were then headed to Boston, but stopped off at Plymouth along the way. Plymouth is known as 'America's hometown', the place where the English pilgrims first set foot on American soil. This is commemorated by the Plymouth Rock, which is said to mark the place where the pilgrims came ashore in 1620.

Plymouth Rock

We then stepped aboard the Mayflower II, which is an exact replica of the boat on which the pilgrims sailed.

The Mayflower II

Our last stop was the Plimoth Plantation. This open-air museum recreates several aspects of American history. First, there are the home sites of the native American Wampanoag tribes. We saw Wampanoag descendants making canoes, caring for their children in the winter home, making clothes from animal skins and they are able to be questioned about their life at that time and how they felt about the arrival of the English.

A member of the Wampanoag tribe burning a log to make a canoe

Pia and Ella look at animal furs and children's toys inside the 'winter home'

The next recreated village is the 1627 Pilgrim village. Here actors play the part of the pilgrims and talk to you in the English language of the day. None of them, of course, had ever heard of the country Australia! We saw their homes, vegetable gardens, barns and church.


Finally we saw a very interesting exhibition that was held in the Visitor's Centre at Plimoth Plantation. It dealt with the changing interpretation of Thanksgiving over time and its contested memory. We were struck by the similarities with Australia, especially with the way in which Native Americans view Thanksgiving as a day of mourning, seeing it as the day that marks the invasion of their country. This view was reinforced by some of the Wampanoag people we spoke to in the recreated village. So all in all, a very insightful and thought-provoking visit.

Next stop...Boston. I will save that for my next post.

Hyde Park and Newport

Pia and Ella contemplate the view from FDR's house and gardens in Hyde Park

Last Thursday we left for our road trip up North. We are currently in Boston but have taken about 4 days to get here. Our first stop was in Hyde Park, in the Hudson valley, New York State. The reason for our visit here was to see the Franklin Delano Roosevelt library, museum and family home. Hyde Park is a beautiful area, it is very lush and green (and much colder than Washington DC!) FDR's house is set in a magnificent estate and we toured the house and gardens. There are sweeping views from his house, Springwood, over the valleys and plains. He had a very privileged upbringing, but it was fascinating to hear of how, in his prime, he overcame being stricken by polio and losing the use of his legs permanently to still become President of the United States. That night we had dinner in Rhinebeck, which gained a lot of press here this summer, for being the town in which Chelsea Clinton got married.

The next day we returned to see more of the FDR museum. We saw items from his childhood, such as his first locks of hair, his rocking horse and early letters he wrote, through to his study where he gave some of his 'Fireside Chats' when he was President. He is also buried on the estate, with his wife, Eleanor and also his dogs.

FDR's house, 'Springwood'

FDR's study

Hyde Park was also where the girls spotted a badger wandering off into some scrub just near our motel. He could move pretty quickly - too quickly to get a picture of him. We also went to see Eleanor Roosevelt's private home, which she used to get some peace and quiet, and lived in once FDR died. In some bushes there, we also spotted some chipmunks, who also scurried away quite quickly. So the girls found these first few days very exciting for the new wildlife spotted!

From Hyde Park, we headed to Newport in Rhode Island. Rhode Island is the smallest of the US States and is well known for its lovely seaside villages and many lighthouses. Newport is famous for the America's Cup - this is where Australia won the Cup in 1983, as well as its enormous mansions. In the 1890's many New Yorkers built their 'summer cottages' in Newport and many are modelled on French palaces. They do not really resemble your typical 'seaside cottage'! We did the stunning cliff walk, along which many of the mansions are dotted. We visited one of them,'The Breakers' and the rooms inside could easily rival the opulence of Versailles in Paris. The girls enjoyed the grand staircases, the indoor fountains and the room in which the walls are covered in platinum panelling. There was also an enormous marble bath, which had 4 taps over it. 2 for normal hot and cold water, and 2 which ran sea water straight from the nearby Atlantic right into the bath!

The Breakers, the 'summer cottage' of the Vanderbilt family.

Part of the cliff walk, along which the mansions are set.

We stayed in a lovely B and B in Newport, which was actually the home of a former Governor of Rhode Island. We also enjoyed walking along the harbour, where the girls enjoyed climbing all over this wave sculpture.


We will fill you in on more of our travels (Providence, Plymouth and now Boston) at a later date. Until next time...!

Museum of American History

We have continued our tour of the sights of Washington this past week, walking around the Capitol and spending some time in the gardens, which are nice and shady. This past weekend was a long weekend here, with Monday being Labor Day. Traditionally this marks the end of Summer (even though Summer doesn't officially end until September 21 here). While the middle of the days are still hot, it has been nice to feel the first cool breezes of 'Fall' in the mornings. We are all looking forward to just a little bit of cooler weather for a change!

Julia Child's kitchen

The girls and I also spent quite a bit of time last week in the Museum of American History. We had already seen the exhibitions on Abraham Lincoln and on the American Presidency. This time we saw more of the American popular culture exhibits. I enjoyed seeing Julia Child's original kitchen, which was transported and recreated in the museum.
We also saw the ruby red sequined shoes that Judy Garland wore as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz. Ella, especially, loved these and would have loved to try them on!

The girls love the exhibition on the First Ladies ball gowns so we also went back to see Martha Washington's gown (their favourite) and they also like Michelle Obama's. They also love the huge classical statue of George Washington that was supposed to sit outside the Capitol. At the time, though, many people thought he was not appropriately attired!

There is also an excellent hands-on space for kids at the American History Museum, which focuses on science and invention. The girls watched a science demonstration on dry ice and got to try their hand at creating electrical circuits, lego creations and marble toys.

We also did a long walk this weekend from the Washington Monument, past the WWII Memorial and then up to the Lincoln Memorial. This area houses quite a few memorials to war, such as Korea and Vietnam, which I have not yet seen. The WWII Memorial was completed during George W. Bush's presidency and makes quite an impression. It is much larger than it seems from a distance and has many fountains and pools of water, which seem to balance out the sombre feel of a war memorial.

The World War Two memorial

Finally, the girls enjoyed a swim with their friend, Elena, at a pool party at one of DC's hotels. Each Sunday they open the pool to the public and sell drinks,hot dogs, hamburgers with cheese, pickles and ketchup and chips. Very American!

On Thursday, we are hiring a car and making our way up to Boston and then Portland, Maine to see some more of the, outside of Washington. We will keep you updated with photos and details of our trip while we are away.

Gardens, Memorials and a Rally

Last week we started off with a visit to the Botanical Gardens. There are outside sections to these gardens, but the main section of the garden is a huge indoor area that recreates different landscapes. We visited a desert, a rainforest, a jungle, Hawaii, as well as a prehistoric garden complete with enormous dinosaur footprints. There is also a fantastic Children's Garden, in which the girls could water plants, dig dirt, run though a bamboo forest and basically get as wet and dirty as they pleased! Needless to say, they loved it and we spent a long time there. Afterwards, we stopped at the Capitol Reflecting Pool where the girls fed the ducks.

Pia and Ella in the 'desert'

Later in the week we visited 2 more monuments to past presidents. The first was the Jefferson Memorial. Jefferson was the third president of the United States and was also the writer of the Declaration of Independence. Like so many of the public buildings, the monument is very classical in style and there is a huge statue of Jefferson in the centre of the memorial, with words from his speeches carved into the marble walls.

The Jefferson Memorial

Nearby is the Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial which is much more open and very different in style. Roosevelt was the only president to serve four terms in office as he was in power during the Great Depression and WWII. The Memorial is divided into four outdoor rooms and each one is dedicated to one term in office.

FDR, his dog, Fala, and James

Other highlights of the week included another ride on the carousel on the Mall, and this time Pia managed to ride on the one and only fire-breathing dragon!


And on Saturday, James went in to the Mall to get a feel for the different events being held there that day. Glenn Becks' 'Restoring Honor' rally was held in front of the Lincoln Memorial. This event attracted many Republicans and those from the 'Tea Party' movement who are unhappy with the direction of the government at the moment. Sarah Palin was one of the speakers. This rally clashed with an event also being held on the Mall, celebrating the anniversary of Martin Luther King's 'I have a Dream' speech and so there was some tension (although peaceful) between the two groups. James promises to write an update on this event for you all very soon! Meanwhile here are a couple of photos from the day.