Day 17 | Boston and around
Late start this morning as a bit of a day of welcome recuperation.
We made our way out to Gloucester, just past Salem up the Massachusetts coast. The weather today is crystal clear but several degrees below zero.
One of the stops was Hammond Castle – a 1920’s home now used for a small museum and available for functions. We passed through the picturesque Magnolia and Gloucester. All the coastal stops were very exposed, and a constant breeze found any chink in your clothing choices. After the first stop the boys thought they were experiencing it just fine from the van. Many of the homes are large and magnificent with spectacular Atlantic views. It is pretty and hilly here and Brenda from the Salem tour mentioned that this was the first settlement but those that were farmers had to move to the flatter land around there and left this area to the mariners. We wanted to get to a couple of lighthouses but they seem to be on private property.
Sunset is early this time of year, about 4.00pm, so we thought we should go down to Boston to check out a couple of areas as it is our last day before going down to Jersey tomorrow. We arrived and parked up on the north side of the Charles River in front of MIT. So cold but there is still people jogging past us, we were cold in our gloves and hats and shivering.
On the way we were in a stream of traffic that had halted. Out front a long convoy of stretch Hummer limousines and other cars with a police escort with outriders. It wasn’t until later that we learnt that this was the 7th Annual Grand Chanukah Hummer Parade. A fun kids event that involves the convoy around Boston and attending the lighting of the big Menorah that we watched being erected when we visited on our walk the other day. They were pounding out the music. Looked like a great time – who wouldn’t want to zoom around with a Police escort.
We took a quick run through North End Italian restaurant area. It was so busy we couldn’t find street parking and so cold we couldn’t face walking back to the restaurant strip before choosing which one to go to. We thought it was best to make our way back and had dinner at the Olive Garden again as we were all a bit weary.
Highlights:
Angus | The picturesque coastal roads
Rosie | The big homes of the Gloucester coast
O’Regan | Visiting MIT
McKay | The massive Hanukah procession
Jemmz | Becoming the favourite child - the others wouldn’t get out the van in the cold
