I love Boston. I love the cleanliness, the bustle, the life of the place. It just feels good. If you wander around you find little side streets, with pavements out of shape because of the tree roots, and small cafes that sell the most amazing breakfasts and are so full of people you can't lift your elbows to eat. If you've never eaten a fresh cooked English muffin with avocado and bacon from the cafe in Church Street, Boston, well - you haven't really lived.
Mind you, we had forgotten about the portion sizes in restaurants. My first mistake on our first night (local time 8 ish, time at home 1 am ish), was to order a starter and a main. The starter was gorgeous - deep fried courgette slices with a creamy dip. I did think that two large courgettes cut into slices was a bit excessive, and left a fair amount. Then the main appeared - aubergine in a tomato sauce with spaghetti. Again gorgeous, again huge. A family of six would have just about managed to eat it all. I had no chance. Ah well, lesson learnt.
The next morning was a chance to explore Boston a bit. After our wonderful breakfast we headed out to the harbour and watched the planes taking off and landing at Logan airport, and the boats pootling around. Lovely.
There weren't too many people on the boat, so no problem finding a place to watch from. About an hour and a half out to sea, there was the first sighting - a young humpback whale. It was a completely amazing experience to see him so close-to. He hung around for about twenty minutes, rolling over and hitting his fin against the water.
Eventually he took a deeper dive and disappeared. We hung around for a while and eventually were rewarded with a sighting of a group of three, who played around nearby for a while, before they, too, dived and left us.
Boston is known as the City of Champions. To my mind, the true champions of Boston are the whales.
Mind you, we had forgotten about the portion sizes in restaurants. My first mistake on our first night (local time 8 ish, time at home 1 am ish), was to order a starter and a main. The starter was gorgeous - deep fried courgette slices with a creamy dip. I did think that two large courgettes cut into slices was a bit excessive, and left a fair amount. Then the main appeared - aubergine in a tomato sauce with spaghetti. Again gorgeous, again huge. A family of six would have just about managed to eat it all. I had no chance. Ah well, lesson learnt.
The next morning was a chance to explore Boston a bit. After our wonderful breakfast we headed out to the harbour and watched the planes taking off and landing at Logan airport, and the boats pootling around. Lovely.
Walking around a corner, we saw a whale watching boat, due to leave in ten minutes - serendipity. I've always wanted to go whale watching, and never had the chance . I have to tell you, it was just the best three and a half hours!
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| Boston receding into the distance |
Eventually he took a deeper dive and disappeared. We hung around for a while and eventually were rewarded with a sighting of a group of three, who played around nearby for a while, before they, too, dived and left us.
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