Round The World in 777 Days: 7/10/05

Day 36 - Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Day 36 – 14th July 2005 -5:00 GMT

Got up just before 10am so could get the free breakfast provided by the hostel. Around 11am we set off into Boston (which is known as the walking city). We walked down Boylston Street and passed Boston public library

Boston Public Library

then into Boston public gardens

Jill and I in Boston Public Gardens

Boston Public Gardens

and across Boston common where we picked up the Freedom Trail. The Freedom trail is a walking route around Boston which passes all the buildings on historical and cultural intrest, a big red line is painted won the centre of the pavement so it is easy to follow.

The Freedom Trail

So we all stood on the red line and followed it similar to Dorothy following the yellow brick road in the Wizard of Oz. First we passed State House

State House

and then Park Street Church which we went into and saw a short film about the history of the church and it’s involvement over the years in the community. It was alos the first church to publicly broadcast it’s Sunday service on the radio and it still does today. Next we passed a couple of burial grounds the first being where Benjamin Franklin is buried and then onto The Old City Hall. We then came across Quincy Market and decided to stop for food, I tried one of there Phily Cheese Steak Sandwiches and it was scrumptious.

Quincy Market

Then we headed back onto the Freedom Trail which now lead us around the old town part of Boston, we passed the North Church and another burial ground and then we crossed the Chrleston Bridge and headed into Charleston Navy Yard where we queues to get on the USS Constitution, which is the oldest commissioned warship afloat in the world, it was launched in 1797.

USS Constitution

Charleston Navy Yard is also where the British reinforcements landed for the Battle of Bunker Hill in June 1775. The freedom trail ends at the Bunker Hill Monument.

The Battle Of Bunker Hill

Due to us having walked several miles in temperatures in the mid 30’s and in High Humidity we decided to get the undergroound train back to the hostel. We had a rest for a couple of hours and then the other guy sharing our room Steven Maclennen invited us round the corner for a beer, The bar was selling 4 pint pitchers for $4, talking with steven we found out he plays drums in the Dave Evans band and has rodied for many top bands like Metallica, Madonna and U2, he also is friends with Alice Cooper and has designed a few of the Alice Cooper boxsets.

Jill and Steven

The bar was now shutting but the owners said we could stay as long as we liked and did a lock in with only us there and the staff, then they bought us another two pitchers on the house. After we had finished the pitchers we went back to the hostel where I finished my Book “Are you Dave Gorman?” by Dave Gorman and Danny Wallace which was an amazing book then fell asleep.

Day 35 - Woodstock - Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Day 35 – 13th July 2005 -5:00 GMT Total Miles 9309

Checked out the hotel at 11am and drove to the USA border, stopped at the Canadain duty free where we can claim tax back on everything we have spent in Canada. I received a refund of $109, which I converted into US dollars. Then I drove upto the border and we had to fill in Visa Waiver forms and get asked all sorts of questions like “Why would you wuit your job and sell your house to go traveling ?” any after they had questioned us and searched the car they lghtened up and let us into the USA.
We drove southwards though Maine and stopped at Orona for a quick sandwich, then carried on driving until we reached Biddeford where an old Dataware work colleage of mine lives “Dan Judkins” We arrived at Dan’s house and were greeted with cold beers. Dan insisted in taking us out for dinner and took us to Kennebunklport which is a gorgeous coastal town and the home of ex-president George Bush.

Dan and I at Kennebunkport

Jill and I at Kennebunkport

Dan insisted I try Lobster as I had never had it and he said it is what Maine is famous for, so my Dan ordered us double lobster each, that’s right two big lobsters each…. Dan showed me how to correctly crack and eat them. He even paid the bill (thanks Dan).

Me Eating my Lobster Dinner

After Dinner we headed ack to Dan’s house and he showed us how to get back on the interstate and we carried on through Maine then New Hampshire and into Boston, Massachusetts. We found the hostel quite easily and got there by 11pm. Managed to the park the car but the cost is an extortiate $5 per half hour or $30 a day. The room is a bit cramped with 6 of us sleeping in it but we will survive.

Additional Post - Canada

We have now spent our last full day in Canada and over the last 34 days have driven 6860km across Canada from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean, we have croseed 7 Canadian Provinces and been through 5 time zones. Everyone we have meet has been so friendly and helpful and we have had a fantastic time and seen some amzing sites.

Day 34 - Quebec - Woodstock, New Brunswick, Canada

Day 34 – 12th July 2005 -4:00 GMT Total Miles 8999

Left the hotel at 11:30am and drove east until we reached Rivere Du Loup, then we headed south into the Province of New Brunswick, where we had to forward our watches again as we had entered Atlantic Time Zone. On route we stopped at subway for a quick sandwich, we also stopped at Great Falls, and looked at the gorge and waterfall.

Grand Falls Gorge

Grand Falls

Then we carried on until we reached the town of Woodstock on the New Brunswick and Maine, USA border. We checked into a Best Western hotel and then went and did our washing, when we finished we bought pizza and sat and eat while watching Assault on Pricinct 13 movie as the hotel provided free DVD movies.

Day 33 - Quebec, Quebec, Canada

Day 33 – 11th July 2005 -5:00 GMT

We left the hotel around 1pm and drove the 3 miles into the city centre. We walked down the main street entering through the Archway in the city walls. Quebec is the only walled city in North America.

Entrance through the City Walls

We found a small french café and had quiche and salad for lunch. Then looked around the Cathederal (Basilique De Notre-Dame) it was magnificant inside.

Basilique De Notre-Dame

Inside the Catherdral

We then explored the rest of the area within the city walls and stopped to watch a couple of street entertainers before heading along the boardwalk overlooking the river.

Quebec

Me on the boardwalk in Quebec

Jill and I Eating Snow Cones

We then had a look around the citadel and park, it is still in the mid 30’s so very hot so went back to the hotel to cool off for a bit. Left the hotel again at around 7pm and drove back to the city centre where we found a pub that specialised in International beers over 100 different types and flavoured sausages, Reece and I both had 4 different flavoured sausages (Jill is becoming a vegeterian, 2 weeks so far without any meat) and I had a pint of Quebec Stout. We then wandered around the different festival stages before settling on the grass near main stage for the night.

Quebec Summer Festival

Day 32 - Montreal - Quebec, Quebec, Canada

Day 32 – 10th July 2005 -5:00 GMT Total Miles 8658

It’s Reece’s birthday so we all had a bit of a lie in and checked out the hotel at 12pm, We then had a three hour drive to Quebec and we stopped off at Tim Horton’s on route to eat and make the routine Sunday morning phone calls home. We arrived at out hotel which is a couple of miles out of Quebec city centre, but we paid less than £10 each a night and got a suite so no complaints.

Jill and I in our Suite

After a couiple of hours to relax in the hotel we drove to the city centre where the Quebec Summer Festival is taking place over the next 10 days.

Quebec Summer Festival

We took Reece to a nice restuarant as a birthday treat and we both had peppered steaks and a bottle of wine. We decided we would buy passes for the Summer Festival as ZZ Top was playing that night, passes were $20 for the 10 days and although we would only use them for 2 days we still went ahead and bought them. The passes we received were badges with a flashing red LED in them, so in the festival grounds if you looked around you would see thousands of flashing red lights. ZZ Top came on stage around 9pm and were fantastic, during the performance fireworks went off sporadically around the arena.