Arrived in Boston from Salem and made straight for our lodgings on the Green Turtle. This is a houseboat. What a great spot it is looking across the bay to the Boston skyline. It only takes about 10 minutes to get to the city on the Met after a short drive to the railway station. The breakfasts were also excellent,  provided by the owners who live on board a ketch further down the marina. A really good little Italian café was our dinner location. Quite small BYO with super food and it gets crowded, full of Italians which is always a good sign!

Boston skyline from the Green Turtle B & B

Our lodgings, The Green Turtle

Our first day here was cold and drizzly. We set off on the hop on hop off bus for Harvard University to see its Natural History museum. One of the prize displays here is that of a Kronosaur fossil. This is the most complete one found of this sea creature measuring some 42 ft long. It was found near the  North West Queensland town of Richmond in the 1930s and ‘transported’ to Harvard with the consent, it seems, of the then Queensland government/ bureaucrats. A bit like the British pinching Greek artifacts. Maybe we should start a campaign to have it returned to its homeland ASAP. We stopped by Richmond on a van trip a couple of years back and saw a replica there at Kronosaurus Corner. Harvard sprawls all over the place. Great big old buildings set amongst grassy quadrangles with trees scattered around.

Harvard Common graveyard

Kronosaur in Harvard was found in the 1930s in North west Queensland. Taken to Harvard. Its 42ft long.

The next day we returned to the hop on hop op off bus. Weather a lot better, still overcast and chilly but no rain. We got off at the old naval ship yards and had a look at the USS Constitution which is over 200 years old and saw service in the 1812 war with Britain. It is still a commissioned ship and ventures out once a year on Boston Harbour. It is now a freedom symbol for the US Navy and the United States in general. One senses that there is no way they will let this ship go. Then followed a plunge into the harbour in one of those ‘Duck’ vehicles, truck turns into a boat and goes ‘swimming’ around taking in the sights from the water. It was a bit of fun. Never done one before. A first time for everything!

Homealone boarding the Duck for our harbour tour

Our  hop on hop off driver was Ron. A Vietnam War vet and musician, recording artist actually. He said he was driving the bus between other assignments for a charitable cause. Well he was just a talking encyclopedia. Some of it was about Boston but a lot of it was about his music buddies, TV shows, chart toppers, trips o’seas etc. Had the bus singing along with him. Some old blues song ‘ I love that dirty River’, about the Charles River that runs through Boston. He was entertaining and convincing, I will leave it at that!

In the afternoon we were off for  a stroll on the Freedom Trail around Boston’s historical sites involving the Revolutionary War and Independence. Paul Revere, Washington and all the others. We got about half way through before the sun started slipping over the horizon and we had to return to the Green Turtle.

The Boston Common

This is the end of our loop around New England. It feels like only a few days ago that we landed in Boston and set off for Plymouth! Next stop is New York for a week. The Imlays depart for Richmond and will meet up with us later in the week for the cruise to the Bahamas.

Till New York…………