Farewell Boston - It's been a blast.

So I decided not to write a blog last night, as I knew I would have some time to kill at the Airport.  I like to arrive a couple of hours early to get through security and allow for any time delays.  So I’m here at Boston Airport waiting for my flight to Vegas, via a layover in Chicago for about an hour or so.  Can’t wait to get there – Bright lights, big city, Bring it on!  Because of the time difference I should be arriving around midday local time, so my plan is to check in and go and take a few rides on the New York, New York Roller coaster, then cruise around the casino’s to check out the free shows they have outside.   Anyway, back to Boston.  It has been such a great city, I thoroughly recommend it to anybody planning on travelling through the states.   I woke up early, around 6.30am, and got myself ready for the day.  I then walked and took a subway to Fenway Park for the tour.  I arrived early for the 9am tour (Sunday morning remember) and there were about 30 people waiting in line for the store that sells the tours to open.  People kept streaming in and joining the queue and I would estimate there would have been 150 people by the time the store opened.   It was all good though, because they took two tour groups and everyone was able to get a ticket.  I was sweet, as I had brought one earlier.   It was a cool tour.  Fenway Park is the home of the Boston Red Sox and the oldest stadium in Baseball. 

 It has a great history, which makes the tour really worth doing.  Our tour guide was an expert on all things Red Sox.  The funny thing is that a lot of the tour is about how much they hate the Yankees, which cracked me up.  I learnt heaps of stuff about the stadium and the Sox.  The corporate boxes there cost $250 Thousand a year, and corporations have to take a 10 year lease.  So that’s 2.5 million over 10 years per box, and there are a lot of boxes.  They also have the highest outfield wall in America, dubbed the Green Monster, it’s pretty amazing.

The tour finished about 10am and I had to hurry down to get on a subway and mission across town to the Boston Common to meet Rob and Joan for a walking tour of the Freedom Trail starting at 10.30.  Fortunately my timing was perfect and I arrived just as the tour was starting. 

 It was lead by a guy all dressed up as an old British soldier, which was all a bit cheesy – as he was a little too into it -  but he knew his stuff and what was supposed to be an hour and a half tour ended up being about 2hours.    The Freedom Trail is a red (mostly brick) path through downtown Boston, Massachusetts that leads to 16 significant historic sites. It is a 2.5-mile walk from Boston Common to Bunker Hill Monument in Charlestown. Simple ground markers explaining events, graveyards, notable churches and other buildings, and a historic naval frigate are stops along the way. It details the history of America’s Revolution — and the events that led up to the historic break from Britain.  It was very interesting, even though I had limited knowledge of American history – I feel like I know a lot more now.

After the Freedom trail we took a taxi over to another exhibition, the Mapparium.  The Mapparium is a three-story tall glass globe of stained glass that is viewed from a 30-foot-long (9.1 m) bridge through its interior. It is a unique exhibit at the Christian Science Plaza.  It is pretty awesome, as it gives you a true representation of the size of different countries and their location on the planet, which you can’t get from looking at a flat (2D) map.  The acoustics are insane!  It’s really freaky because the voices of people bounce off the curvature of the glass and it’s like there are all these different voices flying around your ears – hard to explain, but it was a weird sensation.  After this we went and had a spot of lunch then did some more shopping.  I then returned to my accom to get my entire luggage packed and ready for the morning, before returning to meet Rob & Joan for a farewell dinner.   On the way back to them I went and brought myself a Jawbone Jambox Bluetooth speaker system.  My tech Guru friend Henny, showed me his one a month or two ago, and I was really impressed, the price was right so I had to grab myself one.  (Thanks Henny, you’re the man!! Love your gadget advice and recommendations.) I then had a lovely Thai dinner with R & J followed by a Ben & Jerry’s Ice-cream for dessert.  This is where I have to give a huge thanks to Rob & Joan, without them, this trip would have been much more difficult and probably a lot shorter.  It has been an absolute pleasure to be able to spend so much time with them, and I love them both very much.  They are LEGENDS!  They are off to Santiago and Easter Island now – and I wish them a safe journey, and hope they have a great time. 
I cruised back to my hostel, for final bag checks and watched a couple of movies on my laptop.  I had another terrible sleep last night, a combination of a shitty single bed and ratshit sheets, and a hot muggy evening with no air-con, so I’m feeling a little tired now.  All good though I will get some sleep on the plane and hit the ground in Vegas running.  I’m rolling solo again for the rest of my travels, and looking forward to some more good times before returning home.   Shout outs to all my budddies travelling vicariously with me through this blog – it’s been great having you on board.  Love to All.
NYD.