Last note from Boston

So, this morning turned in a slow sart. We left at 12.30 from the hotel, only to realise that it was 11.30. The time change had happened overnight and therefore had given us an extra hour. We first went to the sight of the Boston Tea Party. Which, is now a park! Here I was expecting to see a boat, a plaque, a museum, a statue- I don't know, something! But instead it was a park. Nothing mentioning that it was the sight of the event. It's a pretty park, I wont disagree, but you'd think they'd have put something. Americans are usually really good at that kind of stuff, so you'd think they'd do SOMETHING! Afterwards we stopped at Dunkin Doughnuts so that I could have a Boson Kreme. I was wondering if it would be different in Boston.... but it wasn't. Still good though.

Then we took the boat shuttle to Charlestown. It wasn't as cold as I thought it would be. That doesn't mean that it wasn't cold, becuase it was. Today was a whopping 3 degrees, and with wind chill it was noting but freezing. We took a bunch of nice pictures, I saw buildings from Boston Legal, and all out enjoyed the 20 minute ride. They dropped us off at the USS Constitution, which is exactly where we wanted to be.

The USS Consitution is a 1797 frigate which carries anywhere between 44-60 guns, both short and long range and had a crew of about 450-500 people. During the war of 1912 it won 3 battles and at the 'end' of it's carrier had a count of 53-0. The ship was built specially and was designed such so that cannonballs literally bounced off it. I put end in quotations because technically it hasn't been retired. Needless to say if they were to send it anywhere, by the time it got there the battle would be long over, but it's still in use and is taken out about 2 times a year. It's manned by the US Navy, who not only give tours (our tourguide was guy that looked like Sammy Davis Jr. but had pants on which made him look like he was wearing a diper), but polish, do upkeep, and do the necessary repairs to it. It's under parital reconstruction at the moment, but none the less very intersting. Fun Fact: The word scuttlebutt comes from these ships. Nowerdays the word means gossip. Back then the only place that sailors were allowed to talk was near the water tank (Go figure people back then were talking near the water-cooler ;p) and the hole that you reached through to fill your cup was called the scuttlebutt. So, scuttlebutting was talking near the water tank.

After, we headed to Bunker Hill. Bunker Hill is where the turning point of the war of independence happened. 3 scermishes occurred here, and ended in a slaughter of the loyalists. There's an obilisque you can climb of 535 steps (some of the most uneven ones I've ever seen... it makes mount Sinai look easy) but we made it up and got a spectacular view of the surrounding city.

This concludes Boston actually. We'd seen everything by this point. So, we went to Macy's where I bought a really nice black dress and a thicker pair of PJs. The heating didn't work last night, so I thought it might be a better idea NOT to freeze, like I did last night.

And in a moment we're going to head to dinner near the hotel. Tomorrow we'll be taking the bus to NYC, where we'll be until saturday. I'll be home sunday afternoon.

So, my final opinion of Boston... I don't think i'll be back here. It's interesting, and historical (I'm glad I came) but now having seen it I can say that there's nothing here for me. It's pretty in it's own way, but not my kind of people. It's too expensive, too small, and too student-like. Philly is still my favorite.