Final Frolicks in the East

**Before this post I had actually written a whole blog about Elora and Toronto, which we visited before Boston however my life and computer hate me and have turned the entry into creepy computer codes I cannot understand sooooo yeah half a week or so of my life is missing but you get the idea**

A 17 hour coach journey began our final stop for the year on the East coast; Boston.  Much to Jenny’s despair I slept like a baby the whole way and we arrived to yet more sunshine in the city.  Our hostel was unreal, basically a hotel, and I got far too settled to leave by the end of the three days we spent there.

Steph and Laura met us at the hostel where they’d stolen bagels for our breakfast – favourite thing ever about HI Hostels, dossers like us can eat everything in sight for breakfast then steal food for lunch yaaaay free food.  Boston Commons and Public Gardens was our spot of choice for a morning chill in the sun – I don’t know if it was the incredible weather or what but that place is beyond stunning.  The gardens were pristine with so many colourful trees and flowers and intricate paths and bridges , complete with a lake with swans and boats SO PRETTY.  We took a wander round Back Bay, a cool shopping district that runs from the rich to the poor; Chanel to Forever 21.  The shops were all like little converted terraced houses with two shops above each other, crammed with countless quirky cafes and eateries.  Laura had to catch a flight home so me and Jenny explored some more before meeting Steph for dinner.  Boston is cool, bustling and exciting with the most gorgeous architecture.  I feel like if Washington and NYC were to have a love child it would inevitably be Boston – Washington’s looks with NYC’s personality.

What was weird was to pass the actual bombing site from the marathon, you couldn’t actually see any structural damage apart from a couple of boarded up windows, and no sign something horrific had occurred so recently, save for a single bunch of flowers and ‘Happy Birthday’ written on the pavement in gltter.  Further along was a huge memorial site where hundreds of running shoes, countless caps and candles, bunches of flowers and signs emblazoned with ‘Boston Strong’ adorned the square in the centre of downtown.  The support from the people seems to be extraordinary and you can really tell how much it has affected the citizens of Boston.  Our dinner was a short but sweet panic visit to Cheesecake Factory (shock horror) to satisfy hunger from a lack of meals for over 24 hours.

Since the blue skies had stuck around, the plan for day 2 was the historic Freedom Trail, taking you all over the city learning about major historic events.  We are not in any way slightly into history or all that, but aside from actually learning some educational stuff it was a really nice way to actually see the city and its districts, especially on such a beautiful day and by foot.  It’s easy to miss a lot when taking buses and riding trains and for sure I enjoyed myself far more this way.  My favourite part was Faneuli Square and Quincy Market – basically Covent Garden in America.  And who should we bump into watching some street performers but Jess? WEIRD I am literally psychic these days, just half an hour before I kept saying we were gonna bump into someone we knew and we DID potench business venture after graduation.  We met again next morning at Harvard for a tour, where we stuck out like a sore thumb and felt distinctly inferior.  It was cool to see, especially after recently watching Good Will Hunting etc., and after seeing boys playing croquet in the sunshine rather than day drinking as we would in Leeds it’s fair to say it was good to be there for an hour and that was enough!

Bargain hunters we are, and we’d already got $12 tickets to a Red Sox baseball game which was VERY EXCITING WAAAA so I decided to top off the ultimate tourist couples trip and get matching shirts for the game.  Since we’re stingy as hell we spent the best part of an hour hunting and haggling to get a couple, then spent the afternoon sunbathing and drinking half price frappucinos in the park and wandering round millionaire’s homes.  The game was everything I expected, if not more American than ever.  We sat in the bleachers, known for its rowdiness which did not disappoint.  Everyone basically gets drunk and lairy and fights and throws stuff around, getting way too excited over a sport which literally is just glorified rounders.  Watching a drunken fight between a couple of groups of lads sat a few rows apart was a welcome distraction from the game, and just as we were leaving the park we somehow walked right into the middle of them having an actual fist fight, glasses flying and ripped shirts and all.  And with that we said farewell to Boston, as I’m just waiting to board a flight to the West coast!  Califorrrniiaaaaaaaaaaaaa, here we cooooommmmmeeeee.