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.