Our short visit to Boston

Yeah I know I’m delivering this post late, fight me on it. 😎

A lake in a park, filled with green trees and green grass. There is a city in the distance with brown buildings. Some boats are on the lake.
The historic city of Boston as seen from an intersection

If you missed our adventures, my last post about our trip was about our road trip from San Francisco to Las Vegas, and the time we spent in Vegas. The views we came across while driving were incredible and like nothing I had seen before!

We weren’t going to drive all the way to the other side of America, so we flew from Las Vegas to Boston. The flight was several hours, and it felt similar to flying from the west coast of Australia to the east coast. (A Perth-to-Sydney sort of flight, if you are familiar with my home country.) We were leaving in the late morning and we’d be arriving at around dinnertime because of the timezone being ahead.

A view of a city from wing of a plane. The view is mostly green, with some major roads, and a couple of small lakes in the distance
Coming into Boston!

I didn’t realise that we had free internet access on the flight until we were more than 80% through with the flight. I feel like I might have been a bit more productive if I noticed earlier. Or, I might have just been surfing the internet and being on social media!

My online friend Tiffany currently lives in Boston, and I hit her up shortly before we left Australia. It was a bit short notice (I have not been very good with organisation lately) and we hadn’t spoken in a while, but I was hoping she’d be around. She replied to my email just days before we arrived in Boston and said she would be free to meet up! She linked me to a Google map of restaurants and bars to check out, and gave us some suggestions for our stay.

An early evening photo taken from the intersection of a street. Two crosswalks can be seen, and in the street ahead some cars can be seen as well as some historic-looking brick buildings
The view down Tremont Street, where there are some good restaurants.
A street in the city of Boston, with adequate shade provided by the many trees on the footpath. The footpath is brick paved.
The street we stayed in

When we arrived we managed to find our Airbnb apartment fairly easily, and as we were walking from the bus stop someone asked us for directions and thought we were locals. 😄 Before we arrived, we were a bit worried we got on the wrong bus from the airport because it started going past our destination. Turns out it was just doing a u-turn (or in Australia, we call it “chucking a u-ey” – rhymes with “gooey” 😂) further up the road. It gave us a huge shock though, I can tell you that. Nothing quite like something going wrong in an unfamiliar place while you are supposed to be having a holiday. 😰

On our first night we visited a french restaurant called Frenchie, which was recommended by Tiffany. It was a nice start to our visit, close to where we were staying, and the food was really good.

Walking the Freedom Trail

The next day we got up as early as possible, and had a quick breakfast and drink at Starbucks, which wasn’t too far from where we were staying. We walked the Freedom Trail, a route that takes you through different historic sites. The trail is marked by a red line down the sidewalks of the road. We didn’t do a tour, but you can get a lot of historical background if you do one. We chose to just walk the trail ourselves. It’s only a few miles, so not a lot of intense exercise.

You’ll see a lot of historic sites and buildings on the trail, including the site of the Boston Massacre that happened in 1770. We passed the Quincy Market, which looked lively with restaurants, market food and a street performer outside. Inside the market we tasted a sample of clam chowder, a dish that Boston is famous for. Had it not been in the middle of summer, I might have been more keen on having it at a meal. 😋

A long building with a pillared entrance. Above the pillars are the words “Quincy Market”. There are many people gathered around the front of the building.
There was a street performer or someone entertaining the crowd in front of Quincy Market
A low angle view of the inside of a building, showing upstairs seating. Some people are sitting at small tables and chatting. Hanging from the dome ceiling is a series of fairy lights.
Inside Quincy Market there was a nice seating area upstairs and some fairy lights hanging from the ceiling
A statue of a man on a horse, in the middle of a path that is well shielded from the sun by very tall trees on the side.
A statue in a park that we passed through on the Freedom Trail
A shallow water fountain. In the background is a white chapel. The sky is very blue
A water fountain
A red brick path through a cemetery, where headstones sit in lines on green grass
We passed a cemetery
A daytime photo of a river, with a harbour of boats to the left
The Charles River during the day
A man in shorts and a white shirt, taking a photo on a camera over the railing of a bridge. He is photographing some boats in a harbour
Nick taking photos over the bridge
A group of colourful boats closely parked in a harbour
This is likely the photo Nick got… and I took the same one 😋

We also walked across Charlestown Bridge, which passes over the Charles River. The harbour had some lovely views. Towards the end of the trail was the USS Constitution ship. We were allowed to explore inside, which was really interesting. Some climbing was required but nothing too strenuous. Watch your head!

A large ship as seen from the side
The USS Constitution ship
The interior of a ship, with low ceilings. There are black cannons down the left hand side
We climbed down inside. Here are some of the cannons down the side
An area inside a ship with low ceilings. Some children and their parents are walking around with their necks bent to avoid hitting their head.
Watch your head
hammocks hanging from the low ceiling of the inside of a ship
Some hammocks
The same large ship from an earlier picture, seen from a different angle
Another view of the ship

Red Sox vs. Blue Jays at Fenway Park

In the evening we went to the Fenway Park Stadium to watch a baseball game. The Red Sox are based in Boston so they were playing on their own turf. I hoped it would be exciting but it actually wasn’t as exciting and hyped as I expected. Nick has seen a Yankees game before and he said he enjoyed that more than the one we watched.

There was some music playing every now and then, and at some point, Sweet Caroline by Neil Diamond was playing, and the crowd sang really loudly and I was really amused by their enthusiasm for that particular song.

We bought some food after we found our seats, but we also bought lemonade from one of the sellers walking around in the stands. I observed them every now and then and they look like they work pretty damn hard, walking far and wide throughout the stands to sell whatever they were carrying.

The outside area of a stadium, with many spectators lining up for food stalls and watching a man on stilts in the background. Many people are dressed in red, showing support for a baseball team.
Once we entered Fenway Park grounds we saw lots of food stalls and some entertainers
The inside of a baseball stadium with many seated spectators. Some media and other personnel are on the pitch, and the game has not yet commenced
We got pretty good seats. We were first row behind a walkway but the people walking by didn’t bother us
A scene from a baseball game, taken from a spectator’s point of view. A baseball player is holding a bat, ready to hit a ball. Other players and the scoreboard can be seen in the background
In-action shot. Nick took this photo on his camera, fully zoomed in

In the end the Blue Jays won, which was a disappointment haha. There were people around us cheering for both teams and making friendly competition – in front of us were a group of young men who were cheering for the Red Sox, but then disappeared over halfway through the game. I think they were seeing that their team was going to lose and that there wasn’t much point in sticking around. We were going to leave ten minutes before the end as well, but decided to stick it out. 😆

Exploring Cambridge & meeting Tiffany

The following day, we visited Harvard University and had a look around the campus before meeting up with Tiffany. There wasn’t much to see there – they had tours available but I really didn’t find that necessary, and we were really just sussing everything out.

A stretch of river with land on the left and right. A bridge can be seen in the distance.
A view over the Charles River
A brown squirrel in green grass
Nick took this photo of a squirrel – yes, us Australians love squirrels because we don’t have them, and we think they are cute!
A tall building set with pillars and a triangle-shaped roof. The front is made up of tall glass windows and there is a large, tall green door in the middle
One of the buildings on the Harvard campus

The original place we were going to grab sushi at was temporarily closed that weekend, so we went to a place called Pagu. It was just as delicious though, kind of fancy but really nice. Nick and I ordered the same dish – salmon – and I was so excited to see all the green vegetables in it!

Tiffany and I have been close online friends for many years. Although we both spend less time blogging, online, and on social media, we did start a forum called Skeletons MB several years back. I don’t think we anticipated it would become so popular, or that we would create a community like that. It’s a bit bittersweet looking back on it now, because I know some people in that community really liked it, and liked it a lot more than I realised.

It was lovely meeting Tiffany and she was pretty much the same person I imagined from all our emails and texts. 😆 I mean, nothing about her surprised me and she was just hilarious in person as much as she was in her writing.

Two women, smiling, wearing summer clothing and sandals with an arm around each other. They are standing in front of a large sculpture resembling a person’s head and hands, made out of white-painted steel numbers and letters
Me and Tiffany in front of this cool sculpture she knew I’d like
A woman and man smiling, with an arm around each other, in front of a sculpture made out of white-painted steel letters and numbers melded together
Tiffany took this photo of me and Nick
A wide path leading towards a building with many pillars and a slightly dome-shaped top. There are green trees to the sides. On the building is engraved “Massachusetts Institute of Technology”
One of the buildings in MIT

After we parted ways we headed for a walk through the Boston Common gardens before going to the shops. The Prudential Centre is a large shopping centre in Boston, and we stopped by there, as well as walking down the street of shops known as Newbury Street. It was picturesque, walking down the street and seeing the aged but beautiful architecture, embraced by shopfronts.

Boston Common Gardens

I decided to just bundle all the photos from Boston Common here, as we went on two separate occasions. It looks like a beautiful place to just relax and people-watch. And see ducks!

A footpath through a rather empty park, with a city in the distance. The sky is quite cloudy.
This is the park that leads to Boston Common – this park is a standard park, but Boston Common is prettier!
A path in a park, with some people walking on it. On the sides of the path are trees and shrubs
Boston Common can be described as a park with gardenlike features
A large lake inside of a park with many weeping willow trees. One small tree with red leaves can be seen
This was the view on one side of the bridge
A large lake inside of a park. Down below in the foreground is a boat on the water, with wooden seats that look like benches. In the background are more of the same kind of boat. Beyond the park and its trees is a city with primarily brown buildings
You could ride across the lake in a boat!
A man and woman smiling, with a lake in the background. Both of them are wearing sunglasses. The woman has short dark hair and is wearing an orange top, and the man has short brown hair and is wearing a white top with a light blue pattern.
A selfie on a bridge
A pathway bordered on the sides by short poles with chains between the poles. There are groomed shrubs and green grass on the sides of the path. In the distance is a tall statue of a man on a horse.
A pathway in the park, leading towards a statue of George Washington
A mowed, flat green grass area in a park. In the distance are large green trees and a pond. Some people can be seen sitting on benches.
The park was so lush and green!
Three brown ducks in a green-coloured body of water
No post is complete without ducks 🦆 Nick took this photo.
A close shot of a woman wearing a black top and a white skirt, looking over the railing of a bridge
Me with an inquisitive look, peering over a bridge in the Boston Common

Waiting for a flight to New York 😴

The next day we rose early to head to the airport and make our way to our next stop – New York!

Our flight was due to leave at 11:05am, and we boarded the plane successfully, but unfortunately had to deplane. There were reported thunderstorms in JFK airport in New York earlier, which caused delays. It was the first time I’d been on a plane, waited, and had to completely get off and take everything with me. However, if we checked in our luggage, it still stayed on the plane. 🤔

We later found out that the flight was delayed by four hours, but we would be kept up to date. A woman for Delta Air Lines was extremely helpful and she communicated very well over the announcement system. She was so patient… I can imagine she must have gotten some angry customers, though.

I wasn’t sure how I could stand four hours in the gate lounge of the airport but I kept myself occupied by reading blogs and writing some blog posts. It was really hard to focus, though, and we were talking about how the flight was only an hour or so, and with the four-hour delay, we would be able to drive and get there at the same time. 😆 Thankfully we had nothing booked in for that evening in New York, so it didn’t ruin our plans.

Finally, we boarded the plane again, although after sitting on the plane for some time, we were informed that the departure time would be in an hour. Ugh. I fell asleep during that time because I had nothing better to do. An elderly gentleman was on the phone to presumably his partner, telling her he was “still in Boston”. 😂 Shortly before we took off, he was on the phone again… hahahah. And also, shortly before we took off, we received information about a ground stop at JFK again…

However, we were third in line for takeoff, so I think we all had our fingers crossed it would go ahead and we would finally get the heck out of Boston. 🤞

We finally took off. ✈️

Stay tuned for the next instalment – our time in the big apple, New York! 🗽 In the meantime, check out the hastag #cookesUSA2018 on Twitter or on Instagram for some highlights of our trip.

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Your pictures in Boston brings back so many memories! I went there back in 2016 for about 4 days and fell in love with the city… I think my favourite thing about Boston is the amount of history contained in one city but still feel so modern. I followed the same route and made a quick detour to NYC before heading back home :)

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You and Tiffany’s outfits look like you totally planned it. And then you have Nick, only matching with his shorts. But also, Nick looks like Torrance Coombs in that picture, and it’s really throwing me off, even though Nick’s eyes don’t sparkle like Coombs. I can’t figure out how I feel, but this GIF does a pretty great job.

Fuck, now all I see is Torrance Coombs. FML.

When I think Boston, I think “Civil War”, but also “Boston, Mass! 0-2-1-3-4!” because of the Zoom end credits.

The photo of you looking over the railing of the Boston Common bridge is my favorite.~

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Ugh, the airport delays are so American! International flights never have delays, but American domestic flights…. constant issues. For literally no good reason. Just ineptitude, as far as I can tell. So ugh.

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Boston isn’t somewhere I’ve ever thought about visiting but it looks so beautiful. So much greenery!

I got stopped and asked for directions twice during my most recent holiday. Once in Norway, and once in Estonia! I always take it as a compliment because it makes me think I must look approachable!

I can’t believe you don’t have squirrels in Australia! I know a lot of people see them as pests but I love seeing them in my garden and eating the nuts from the bird feeders! 😂

It’s awesome that you got to meet Tiffany. As I said on Instagram, I remember Skeletons MB! I wasn’t that into forums but I do remember signing up.

It sucks about your flight to New York being delayed. I can’t wait to read your next post!

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I wish I had the money to visit Boston or any other city instead of sticking to Texas and sometimes Kansas but alas, it’s great you and Tiffany met up ^^ and that Boston is gorgeous. I guess when I hear Boston, I think of AC3 and even that game is basically the American Revolution or War for Independence if you wanna call it that too. XD

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It looks like you had an awesome trip to Boston. I’ve never been, but it’s definitely only bucket list. :) Awesome that you got to meet up with Tiffany. It’s lovely meeting fellow bloggers.

Looking forward to the New York segment!

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