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Hey, the massage worked it’s much better this morning, Bob dressed and went downstairs to put the washing in the launderette machine while I showered – back very quickly he said the lady who ran it had gone out and he didn’t know how to use the machine. We had breakfast and I went back down to the launderette and put the washing on while Bob tidied up and made some phone calls about booking golf for Thursday. When the washing was all done we set off for the North End of Boston and the Wharf. Although we had been round this area already on Saturday, it was so busy that we wanted to look at it more quietly. We walked up through the Theatre district and went down different streets to Saturdays visit, taking in the different styles of buildings – it’s a very mixed up area – architecturally. We ended up at the harbor and sat in the sunshine watching the boats and across the water we could see the planes coming into and out of Boston Logan Airport – we were amazed at the amount of traffic there was for a weekday. I had been looking for a new black belt for my new black jeans and found one in Macy’s where we got a visitors discount of about 15% - just for being on holiday – I wish more shops would take this idea up ! Bobs’ leg was aching now so we chickened out of walking home and got on the subway train to the supermarket 10 mins from the apartment so that we could pickup something for dinner on the way back. I think we have been spoilt eating out and not cooking, 6 days of cooking dinners here has been a struggle !!!! Time this evening to finish updating the blog to date and start to repack the bags for tomorrows last move to the Comfort Inn at Revere near the beach and airport.
Day 100 Wednesday 8th October
Do you ever have one of those mornings when you know you have loads to do but can’t get out of bed – well we had one of those this morning. We had to be out of the apartment by 12 and we were still in bed at 9am. Finally we stirred ourselves, showered and had breakfast. Bob popped out to the ATM for some cash and I started to clear the kitchen cupboards and wipe down to leave it tidy. Around 11am, still not finished packing, we thought about the cost of the taxi’s to take us to the hotel and for Bob to go to golf tomorrow and back again and realized it would probably be cheaper to hire a car for the last couple of days. We set about the huge pile of visitors guides and and internet and began to make phone calls – we couldn’t believe it, everyone was unanswered, out of service or truck hire only . By now I was getting worried that we would not be out in time so we gave up on that tack, finished the packing and ordered a taxi. Bob had barely put the phone down and the taxi driver was at the door ! Keeping in mind that we are 2 very high floors up with 5 pieces of luggage Bob had to almost run up and down the stairs with the bags while I carried the hand luggage bags down and the taxi driver just stood there ! no tip for him ! When we got in the taxi we told him where we wanted to go and he seemed to have trouble with English !! I had to tell him 5 times, “the Comfort Inn, Revere” before he said “what’s the address, there are lots of Comfort Inns, which one?” I repeated it again and said that we didn’t live here and he was supposed to know the Hotels – then the penny dropped and he said “oh – Comfort Inn in Revere” stupid man ! Slightly stressed we checked into the hotel, dropped the bags and went out for a walk. Winding our way down the streets to the beach and promenade. The houses here are more how I imagined Boston to be, wooden colonial with verandahs. However, we imagined the beach and promenade to be a bit livelier but in fact it was very quiet and somewhat grubby and tired in looks, however, the sun was shining so we strolled for a mile or so and stopped for lunch at a beachfront café (the only one that looked ok!). We watched the planes coming in and out of Boston Airport which was only about 3 miles away and were amazed at the frequency of them, as one passed over us there was another glimmering in the distance. Rested and fed we strolled back towards the hotel via a different route, passing a shopping centre, a greyhound track and the subway station before arriving back at the hotel. The hotel has a small but heated indoor pool so we went for a swim then, after a shower and change we went down to the restaurant for a meal which was really nice. It was a Mexican restaurant and Bob and I are not known for liking anything hot and spicy but the waiter was very helpful and kind and made some suggestions based on what we did like and how hungry we were. Bob had a chicken dish and I had a large starter of nachos. We finished the evening off with a Baileys in the room as we still had a quarter of a bottle left over from the apartment and a chat with Adam in Brisbane. He and TJ are off to Australia Zoo tomorrow for interviews to work there for 5 days – just as an experience, without pay. Apparently there are thousands of applications every year so they were lucky to even get an interview, if they get offered a job it could be with any animal in the zoo – hope they don’t get tigers or crocodiles or even worse – spiders !!!
Day 101 Thursday 9th October
Bob was up at 6.30 this morning to play his last game of golf on the trip, there is a course about 7 miles away, although there is one closer but when he phoned they said it was a members club and he would have to be invited by a member !!! Stuffy lot !!! He went down for breakfast and ordered a taxi and off he went. I in the meantime tried to get back to sleep but couldn’t so I watched the morning news and went down for breakfast around 8am – it was only continental breakfast but it was included in the room rate so one can’t complain. I read the morning paper in the reception area while I drank my coffee as it was a bit busy in the breakfast room then went back to the room to change into my swimsuit for a morning swim. I had the pool to myself which was lovely, although the windows look onto the lift area so everyone waiting for the lift looks into the pool – I kept my head down and continued with my lengths ! I spent the next hour, unpacking all the bags and repacking in some sort of order for travelling then went to the laundry to do the last bit of washing (I like to keep on top of it). Then checked my emails, did some research for a DVD drive and ipod charger and read my book til Bob got back. He arrived back with his tales of his round with 4 ladies. The sun had shone and he had had a fairly good round, scoring a birdie on one hole and stopped to have a drink with them before Frank, his taxi driver had come back to pick him up and bring back. It was such a lovely day that we decided to catch the train back into Boston, we were about 5 miles outside of the city in this hotel and there was nothing much to see or do around, except the beach, so we caught the train to Boyleston Street in the centre and had a ciabatta sandwich for lunch, then a walk round the shops, up and down narrow streets and came out opposite the cinema we had visited a couple of nights before. We went in to see what was on and saw that the film, Nights in Rodanthe with Richard Gere opened that night and as I have just read the book we decided to come back in an hour and 30 mins to get tickets for the afternoon performance. We noticed there seemed to be an awful lot of police around, they were on every corner and very visual – couldn’t see that anything particularly was happening though. We looked for another suitcase as we weren’t sure if we were within the weight limits for 3 bags and thought we might have to go to 4 bags, but Macy’s wanted over $200 for a medium sized bag. Before long we were back at the cinema and taking our seats for the performance. There was only about 10 people in there but 2 sitting a few rows behind us were making some strange sounds I am sure they weren’t watching the film ! but every time I turned round to look it was too dark to see ! Well, I sobbed my heart out, quietly, what a lovely film and Richard Gere doesn’t age much, Bob made fun of me crying but when I went to the loo to blow my nose there were 3 other girls in there doing the same ! We came out of the cinema to find it was dark but there was a train station opposite so we hopped on the train and were back at the hotel in a jiffy. Bob was hungry as he had had a long day and not had much for lunch but I couldn’t eat so he ordered a Mexican meal on room service and I helped him eat the salad and crisps.
Day 102 Friday 10th October
We went down for breakfast at 8am this morning, going back to the room straight afterwards and beginning the final packing. We logged onto the internet to see if we could checkin online which we did, then Lucy came online so we had a few mins chat to Dan who was excited that we would be there for breakfast tomorrow. With extended checkout until 12 o’clock we were able to go for a swim in the hotel pool and when we were showered and ready to go Bob took the luggage to reception and had it locked into the luggage room while I printed off the boarding passes and then we set off for the beach with our books. It was only 15 mins walk and it was so warm that we unzipped our trouser legs off and sat on the sand for an hour reading and trying not to take any notice of a couple having a very loud argument on the beach. Time to walk back and pick up our bags and the shuttle bus arrived to whizz us to the airport. Baggage dropped off, well within the allowance thank goodness, we went through customs very easily and after a quick walk round the duty free we found a Chinese for something to eat and settled down for an hour wait to board our last flight. As flights go, it was the worst – not impressed with British Airways, we were in row 50 of 55, the seating was cramped and it was so hot we had to resort to using the safety information card to fan us. The meal was ok but the breakfast was a dried up croissant and some jam and Butter with an orange juice ! We only got about an hour sleep in the 6hr flight and landed ahead of time at 5am Saturday morning. We were through customs very quickly but when we phoned the car hire company there was no reply – we waited 20 mins on the phone before someone answered and then we stood for another 20 mins outside waiting for the minibus to pick us up to collect the car. Finally on the road at 6.45am we drove a clear road all the way back to Coventry to have breakfast with the grandchildren at 8.30 to end our trip of a lifetime.
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