After the long trip to Boston from Canberra, we were all looking forward to a full nights sleep in an actual bed, and then a day of exploring Cambridge and Boston. We’d arrived at dinner time the night before and aside from getting some supplies for dinner and breakfast, we were mostly focused on all getting some sleep.
It was now 26 October and we had 2 days of sightseeing time, and hopefully de-jetlagging, before the Saturday wedding, our primary reason for heading half-way around the globe.
Hello Cambridge…..
We were staying in Cambridge, across the Charles River from Boston, as it was cheaper than staying in Boston itself (but still rather pricey for an Airbnb big enough for 6 of us). We’d found a place convenient enough to public transport and the things we wanted to do that it made little difference. Cambridge is a beautiful neighbourhood and it turned out to be an excellent place to base ourselves for the 8 days.
Quite a few of us were awake at 3am due to the time zone change, but sleep in a bed is always vastly better than a plane. Once we were all up and breakfasted, it was time to head out and see a bit more of where we were staying, get some SIMs and a wedding present sorted out.
It was Autumn, sorry ‘Fall’, in this part of the world, and it was indeed very colourful. Like the weather upon our arrival, the evening before, the temperatures seemed very mild. We were originally anticipating a cold stay during our time in Massachusetts, but had luckily checked the weather forecast just before departing Australia and decided to all through a couple of extra T-shirts in the bag because it was going to be in the mid-20s (in Celsius, not Fahrenheit!).
Having seen very little of Cambridge the night before, between the dark and extreme tiredness, we all enjoyed our casual stroll down to Central Square. All excited to see the very distinctive architecture of the area, pretty houses, and the US school buses. Which the kids declared looked ‘not that comfy’.
With Halloween rapidly approaching, there were plenty of Halloween decorations around. It made our walks around fun for the kids and got us into the Halloween spirit.
In Central Square we sorted out travel passes for the adults and caught the T, off for our morning of admin; a SIM for me as my phone is doesn’t support eSIM and Mikl, whose eSIM decided not to work. With that taken care of, it was off to a Macy’s to purchase the remainder of the wedding present for the weekend’s festivities. For some reason, we didn’t trust airline baggage handlers not to smash glassware enroute from Australia.
Our morning wanders in the sunshine did blow out some jetlag and racked up a good 12,000 steps to stretch the legs.
Boston Common
With the boring bits out of the way, it was time for some actual sight-seeing. Although the kids had spent a fair chunk of the morning watching (and counting) many police cars with lights and sirens on, streaming past, followed by ambulances. We eventually found out there had been a massive traffic accident in a motorway tunnel.
With Zinnia’s 4 year old legs a bit weary we caught the red line over to Boston Common to check out the famous park.
Boston Common is the oldest city park in the US, which opened in 1634. The park is 20 hectares (50 acres) in size and is in downtown Boston.
It was a beautiful Autumn day (the weather did not stay this good for our entire Boston trip!). So we had a bit of a wander of a section of the park, checking out a few of the fountains and sculptures.
The distinctive gold-domed building is the Massachusetts State House, on the Northern edge of the Common. We did investigate all these landmarks on future trips to the Common, but today the kids were happy to run in the sunshine and chase some squirrels…….
The Halloween pumpkins were everywhere, much to kids excitement! Squirrel, pumpkins and then people walking dogs in the park, that needed pats. What more could you want?
Coming from an Aussie Spring, Zinnia was back into full ‘leaf collecting’ mode and was determined to find a variety to add to her collection. Taking advantage of the beautiful weather we decided to have lunch at one of the pop up restaurants in the Common. Mexican and local beer, for Anto and Mikl.
We were all quite impressed with this statue, which is called ‘The Embrace’ a memorial honoring Dr. Martin Luther and Coretta Scott King.
We’d only managed to cover a fairly small section of the Common but had plans, and plenty of time, to return.
A bit of Nepalese…..
With everyone a bit weary from the jet-lag and a big morning of walking. The kids had rests and caught up on schoolwork (the benefits, or perhaps downsides, of everything being in google classroom), while Mikl and Anto headed out to sort out a suit hire for Mikl.
All up for a dinner out, we found a well-rated Nepalese restaurant a very short walk from our apartment.
We enjoyed some lovely evening weather, and yummy food. The evening commuters zipping by on bikes kept us entertained as we ate.
Up next…..
All finally on the right time zone (mostly) we enjoyed the amazing Autumn weather and explored plenty of Boston, with a Duck Tour, a visit to the USS Constitution and exploring Charlestown and the Bunker Hill Monument.
