Summer Break - Boston

After our big commute from Kankakee to Chicago, we decided that rather than repeat our mistake in trying to get the train from Plymouth to Boston, which is meant to be only a little over an hour, we would stay in Boston.  This was a good move, as we only had two days in Boston, but could make them big days as we were so close.  We stayed by the Charlestown Navy Yard, so got a ferry across to the main part of Boston each day.  It is only about 15 minutes, and this was the view of the city we got.

Boston has heaps of history, which Phil was really interested in (and has to teach this semester).  Most of this is included in a 2 1/2 mile walking trail through the city, known as the Boston Freedom Trail.  It tells the story of people, places and events which sparked the American Revolution against England.  I learnt quite a lot!

 We started at the Markets - there are streets of them with the North Market, South Market and Quincy Market.  They are mostly food stalls, but really good, and really busy.  We had our lunch here in the Feneuil Hall Marketplace, which was just outside the Cheers bar below.  Apparently this is a replica of the bar which was the inspiration for the TV series Cheers.  The original is on Boston Common, but we did not make it to that one!

Below is a picture of Feneuil Hall.  During the time of the Revolution it was Boston's town meeting hall, with the market place down below.  Boston has a lot of historic buildings, which are all very well preserved.

 Just outside of here were buskers, who had a huge crowd gathered to watch them jump over people.  The boys were pretty interested, then fascinated in that they got people to hand them money at the end of the show!

 This is a picture of our next stop, the Old South Meeting House.  During the Revolutionary times, it was the biggest building in Boston, and people went to church here.  It was quite a hot day, so this was nice and cool to go inside and look around.  It told the story of the Boston Tea Party. They also had an activity sheet for the boys to complete, and they then got a prize - which kept their focus for a little longer!

 It was a very well preserved old building, and the photo below shows a picture of the Sounding Board, which would help the minister's voice to be heard throughout the building.  Pretty clever!

 You can see in the photo below, the red line to the left of Luke's foot - the was the mark for the Freedom Trail, which made finding your way around the city a lot easier for someone with my sense of direction!

We followed the Freedom Trail all the way up to Boston Common, which is a huge park, in the middle of the city.  It was lovely to walk around, and then we found the 'Frog Pond', where a lot of the kids were swimming.  We weren't really dressed for it, but it was really hot, so the boys were happy to go for a swim, and it was a nice shady spot for Phil and I to take a break!

 We then walked across the road to the Boston Public Garden.  It was Saturday, and we saw a couple of bridal parties having photos.  There are also the Swan Boats, which were fun to sit and watch.  There is a person at the back who pedals, to move the boat around the lake.  We saw at least five or six of them on the lake at a time, so it is quite busy, and a big tourist attraction.  It must have been this poor girl's first day, and she had her boat load of people stuck under the trees, and they weren't going anywhere!  Eventually, someone who seemed to be in charge has to call out to her to give instructions, and they got moving again.

 The Boston Public Gardens was America's first public garden, and has some really nice lawns and flowers.  The statue you can see in the picture below, behind Phil and the boys, is George Washington. Someone had put a Boston Bruin's jersey on him, as the Bruins are the city's Ice Hockey team, and they had made the play offs.  Unfortunately, they did not win - they went down to the Chicago Red Hawks, which didn't matter to us much, except that we watched the finals in Plymouth, which was in Massachusetts, and big Bruins supporters territory!

There are lots of parks and fountains in Boston, and a big line of parks which line the harbour, called the Rose Kennedy Greenway.  It really makes walking through the city pretty, and gave us heaps of places to stop and rest those little legs.  Below is one of the pretty parks with a fountain in it, and Quinn was more than happy to cool off, much to the amusement of everyone else who was trying to stay dry!  There were quite a few people 'sleeping rough' on the park benches in these nice cool places, so we got lots of questions as to why these people didn't have homes - all part of the learning experience I guess.

 On Sunday morning, Phil wanted to go to the Bunker Hill Monument, which was only a short walk from our accommodation.  It is a 220 foot granite monument, which commemorates the soldiers who fought in the 1775 battle.  It also has 294 stairs to the top.  Luke is always up for a challenge, and he and Phil went to the monument, and said it was a great view at the top.  They also commented that there was some guy doing laps up and down the stairs, as part of his Sunday morning exercise routine - if you are into that sort of thing!  Ryan, Quinn and I went for a swim at the YMCA pool, which was attached to our hotel.   As Ryan took off in the pool, the lifeguard on duty (which still is a bit foreign to have life guards at the pools!) told him to stop, and if he wanted to swim where he couldn't stand, he would have to pass a test.  He had to swim the length of the pool, 25 metres freestyle, and then tread water for 1 minute.  He then got a band to wear, to say he had passed, and the lifeguard was very impressed, commenting that he thought he was the youngest to ever have passed.  Ryan was really proud of himself, and couldn't wait to tell Luke.  Of course, we had to go to the pool in the afternoon, so that Luke could do the test, to prove he could pass as well!

 Phil wanted to have a look at the Old North Church, so we decided if we were going to go and have a look, we might as well attend a service. We went to the 11am service, and everyone was very welcoming.  Above is a picture of the inside of the church - it was founded in 1723, and is the oldest church building in Boston, and an example of Georgian architecture.  It is also where lanterns were hung in the steeple in 1775, to notify people that the British soldiers were walking out of town, signaling the 'birth of the American nation, and the beginnings of freedom' .  Inside, you can kind of see  in the photo above, there are little cubicles, which contain a pew.  Each of these used to be rented out annually by families, and there is an upstairs you can see, above the lower row of windows. It was a very hot humid day, and all the windows were wide open, which was really nice.  The cubicles were good to, as the boys could colour in, or play with their toys on the floor, and not be noticed, as long as they were quiet!  The boys were excited that there was 'coffee hour' after church, where they served lemonade and cookies. We spoke to some of the congregation, and one of the guys serving there had spent some time in Newcastle, in Australia.  It is a small world.

 The next place we visited was The Printing Office.  They have historians who operate historic printing equipment, and give a running commentary on the history of Boston.  This guy above was extremely knowledgeable and passionate about his work, and has appeared a couple of times on the History channel.  He was interested to hear that Phil is a Hancock, and is holding up a photo of John Hancock above, looking for any similar features!  John Hancock was one of Boston's leaders, in the times just prior to the American Revolution, and was the first signature on the Declaration of Independence. 

 We walked a little way down the Mall, and came across this lady who was playing the glass harmonica.  She got Quinn to turn the wheel, while she played Waltzing Matilda.  She was pretty good - well, the best I have heard (and the only one!) and it was interesting to talk to her about the instrument and how she came to play it.  And, of course she required a donation at the end of it.

By this time, we were ready for lunch.  We were in 'North End' of Boston, which is known as Little Italy, so were looking for somewhere nice for lunch.  We stopped at a little cafe, which served up the yummiest bread rolls, and the boys had pizza.  It was nothing special, but just really good, fresh ingredients.  It was full of Italians, who were all sitting and watching Italy play Uruguay in the Confederations Cup.  It went to a penalty shoot out, and the boys were happy to sit and watch, and it was a great atmosphere.  It was also air conditioned, so we were happy to stay until the end.
We stopped at Mike's Pastry, which was only a few doors up from where we had lunch. It is a bit of an institution, and we had seen lots of people walking around with white boxes from Mike's Pastries.  They are famous for their pastries, and in particular a huge variety of different flavoured cannoli's.  So I go t a selection of these, along with Boston bun for us to try for dessert, and they were all very yummy!

 Our final stop was at John Hancock's house, which is a National Historical Landmark, pictured above. We were ready to go back to the hotel for a swim, and the boys watched the final of the Confederation's Cup - though nothing like the atmosphere in the cafe, and off to bed.

Summer Break - Martha's Vineyard

Some people we had spoken to prior to our big road trip, recommended that if we were over this way, we really should visit the islands of Nantucket, and Martha's Vineyard.  Ferries for both islands left not far from Plymouth but everyone was so happy hanging out at the campgrounds, we didn't get moving for a few days! We did a bit of research into both - I had heard more about Martha's Vineyards, from books set there, and JFK Jnr being killed in an aeroplane accident off the coast. Nantucket looked really quaint, but it was a two hour ferry ride, so with Martha's Vineyard less than an hour, that is where we went.

This was our view of the island as we arrived on the ferry.  It is a much bigger island than we expected, and the boys were surprised that we had to use buses to get around, after being able to walk around the island in Toronto and Montreal that we visited!  It has a population of over 16,000, but this swells to around 100,000 in summer time, so we wanted to see what it was all about.

We arrived in Oak Bluffs, which is pretty family friendly.  A lady staying at the campground was from Martha's Vineyard, and had grown up in Australia til she was 10, so we had a long chat with her one morning, and she made some suggestions for our day trip.  

Our first stop was the Flying Horses Carousel.  It is the oldest working carousel in the US, and an official historic landmark, with 20 hand carved horses with real horsehair manes and tails.  It is not really about the carousel though, as it is pretty basic - but you get to take a brass ring on each circuit of the carousel, and there is one gold one.  If you get the gold ring, you get a free go!  (It is only $2 a ride anyway.)  Well, Quinn was lucky enough to get the gold ring, so he got two rides, and so did I, as he needed me to go with him.  He actually got the gold ring on his second ride as well, but we gave it to someone else, as two rides is enough.

We went for a quick walk around Oaks Bluff, and saw some cute little houses, in the very unique type of architecture.  We then took about a 10 minute bus ride, which took us past the beach which was used for the filming of Jaws, and then onto Edgartown, which had boutique shopping and harbour views.  We did as much of the boutique shopping as we could handle - about 10 minutes, and Phil found this backpack, which he reckoned illustrated how he felt when we went out each day.

We packed our lunch most days, and Phil carried the back pack, so I get his point, but I think he exaggerates just a bit!  Anyway, we found a spot by the water to sit and have our lunch, and this was our harbour view - nice.

There were some people fishing not far from us, so we had some entertainment while we ate, as they caught a few fish.  The boys were also watching the boats go past, and decided that they would be happy with the one below.  I told them to work hard at school!

After lunch, we got back on the bus which basically circles the island, and headed a little further around to South Beach.  It was a bit rough for swimming, as the waves were dumping right on the shore, but the boys and Phil braved it.  The water was too cold for me, but I paddled my feet.  We saw a lot of people looking out to sea, and I asked someone if it was a whale. They told me it was a seal, so I figured if it was cold enough for a seal to be out there, it was too cold for me!  Apparently it was all rocky and shells on the ocean floor, so they weren't out for long anyway.

It was quite a warm day, and the beach was quite busy.

The boys found some little, almost translucent, crabs in the sand, and if they dug they uncovered colonies of them.

 This provided hours of amusement, and they were happy digging in the sand for ages, while Phil and I relaxed on the beach.

 Quinn was particularly fascinated with the crabs, and wanted to take this one home for a pet.  Unfortunately, like the fish experience at Plymouth, he killed it with kindness!

We had to head back to Oak Bluffs to get the ferry back.  We went for a walk around Oaks Bluff Campground, though I didn't see any camping, this is where the "Gingerbread Houses" are.  I have since read that they are from a former Methodist settlement.  It is a really quiet part of the island, just a short walk from the hustle and bustle of the main area, but really peaceful.  The houses are really quaint, and all painted different (bright) colours.  There are rows and rows of them, and most of them have names.

 We found one that was called Oz, and after seeing the Wizard of Oz in Toronto, Quinn was really excited to find Dorothy, the Lion, the Scarecrow and the Tin Man, all in the garden.  He had to have a photo with each of them!  

In the middle of the houses, is Trinity Park, and this Tabernacle.  Apparently the tabernacle is listed on the National Register of Historic places, and is pretty cool.  There wasn't much going on when we were there, but they have weekly interdenominational services each week.  It is a lovely, open air place of worship, with stained glass windows and seating - very different!

 After a great (but big) day of sight seeing, we had an ice-cream, and got on the ferry for our ride back to the mainland.

Summer Break - Plymouth, Massachusetts

We left Montreal, and had a big day of driving ahead of us.  We drove through Vermont and New Hampshire, and it was a very pretty drive - very green, with beautiful trees and towns with church steeples.  We were hoping to go through Burlington in Vermont, as we had been told it was a really nice place, and we were going to stop there for lunch.  Unfortunately, we missed our turn while in Canada, with no GPS, and the navigator was asleep (though Phil would probably argue that that was irrelevant, as directions are not one of my strong points!) and didn't make it there, but saw some lovely scenery anyway!  We had a wee stop at the Appalachian mountains, where I took Quinn to a pit toilet, while unbeknown to us, Phil, Luke and Ryan headed up one of the trails.  When we were done, we couldn't find them anywhere, but figured they had not gone far, as Ryan had thongs on, and Luke didn't have shoes.  I asked someone coming down if they had seen them, and they knew them instantly - they said yes, we thought unless he had feet of leather, they weren't going to get very far.  I am sure they just thought we were silly tourists!

We got stuck in our first traffic jam, going through Boston.  Unfortunately, we came through around 6pm on Thursday night.  It took us about twice as long as it should have to get across Boston, and that included a two mile tunnel under their harbour.  Plymouth is south of Boston, on the coast, and while Phil was researching Massachusetts he found it, and decided he wanted to stay here.  It is the site of one of the early British colonies, and is a very pretty seaside town.  So then, it was my job to find accommodation here.  I managed to get a cabin in a caravan park by a lake.  It is kind of pot luck, but we were really lucky here. The cabin was small, but it was a perfect location for us to have a 'holiday', as opposed to the travelling we were doing.  The boys were so excited that they were not going to have to get in the car, or walk anywhere - what are we doing to these poor children?!

Cooking dinner and s'mores by the fire was one of the favourite things, for our little pyromaniacs!

A picture of the lake where we swam, and fished - it was really pretty, and safe

 I don't think we left the park for the first four days, except for me to get groceries.  We had great weather, and there was a little sandy 'beach' for us to sit on.  It wasn't very deep, so the boys could swim out to the pontoon off the jetty, and I could sit and read - it was great!  They met some other kids who were staying in the 'Lakehouse', which is just off to the right in this photo.  They live in Kingston, not far from Boston, so they would race down there each day to play.  They exchanged addresses, and are going to keep in touch, so that will be a good lesson in letter writing.

On one of the days, Phil and the boys hired a tinny for a few hours, and they were so excited!  Luke and Ryan both caught fish, so of course they wanted to go all the time, thinking that they would always catch fish.  Luke caught his first, then Ryan proceeded to catch two, so he was super excited.  Then Quinn wanted to go out there, and he caught a fish as well.    

 You can see from this photo how happy Quinn was at catching his fish!  Luke came racing up to our cabin, and told me I had to come down with the camera, as Quinn had caught his first ever fish.  The big deal was that they had to kiss the fish, then throw it back into the water.  Well, we did threw him back in after a few photos, a fair bit of handling and quite a bit of time out of the water.  Unfortunately, by the time we threw him  back into the water, he floated.  So the running joke then was that Quinn gave the fish the kiss of death!

 

Pinewood Lodge, where we stayed, was such a typical American holiday destination - it was like we were in one of those 'teenage camp' movies.  On the weekend they had activities for the kids, so they could do craft, have running races, air hockey competition, and they had a disco in the evening.  They met another boy, Sean - though Luke told me it was Shon, I am sure it was just their accent.  So he was into basketball, and they had lots of fun down at the basketball court playing with him and his brother and sister.

By Monday, Phil was getting restless, so we went to the Plymouth Plantation, where they have historical actors, who show how the Wampanoag Indians and the Pilgrims lived together in this area, from 1620.

Warriors, in one of the houses in the Pilgrim village

 Unfortunately, it was really hot the day we went to Plymouth - well into the 30's, and the boys just wanted to go home and swim, and play with their new friends.  We also managed to choose the day that a whole heap of school kids were having an end of year field trip, so we tried to race ahead and get where we were going to, before them!  Saying that though, it was quite an interesting place, and I learned things, so I am sure the boys did.  In the Pilgrim village, the people 'played' roles of villagers, and it was interesting to talk to them and find out about living in those times.

Boys in one of the boats, with an example of how the dugouts are made, behind them

We had great weather, so we swam and stayed home again on Tuesday, although Phil went into town during the day to visit some other historical sites, including the Jenney Gristmill, pictured below, where they ground the corn.

And also the Plymouth Rock, which is in all the guidebooks, as being the first rock that the British stepped onto.  Call me cynical, but I just find it all a little hard to believe; but it is nicely preserved out of reach of people and has a ranger talk there for the tourists, so I took a photo!

We all went into town in the evening to have a look around, and to have some dinner at one of the 'Lobster Shacks' that everyone raves about.  It was really nice to be by the ocean, and we got some photos of some of the original 'Cape Cod' homes, which are really quite pretty.

Summer Break - Montreal

It was a big drive between Toronto and Montreal, 542 kms, and about 5 hours.  Add in our stops, and taking the 'scenic' route out of Toronto, as we only have maps for the USA on our GPS, and it took us most of the day.  The boys have done really well, with the travelling so far, so hopefully it continues!

Montreal was really different to Toronto. We were aware that it was very French, but not aware of HOW French it would be.  All the signs were in French, and while most people spoke English, apparently it is only the first language of 18% of the population.  It was interesting though, and probably as close to Europe as we will get for some time!  We enjoyed trying out the French cuisine, particularly the pastries, which were readily available.  

Our first day in Montreal was cloudy, and rainy.  While I don't like to dwell on the weather too much, it has a pretty big bearing on your time in a city, when most of the sight seeing is outdoors, and sitting at home is not much of an option.  On our first day in Montreal, we had a bit of a walk around the city.  It was Father's Day here, so Phil had gotten breakfast in bed from the boys, and his presents.  We went for a walk to the old town, before it started to rain, and then we took cover in a restaurant for lunch.

We were right by a Metro stop, so on our next day we headed out to the stadium in which the 1976 Montreal Olympics were held.

Some of the buildings have been re-purposed, and one of these that we went into was the Biodome.  I think Phil and I enjoyed it more than the boys, as it was lots of ecosystems, like the tropics and the arctic, simulated, and then the native animals put in.  They were fascinated with parts of it, but I don't think it was one of the highlights of their trip! 

The following day we went to the Old Town, and Harbour District, and went to the The Museum of Archeology and History.  It was interesting, as Montreal is a really old city, dating back to the 1600's, so I learnt a lot!  Apart from all of the usual stuff, they had a Beatles exhibition which was lots of fun - particularly trying to explain to the boys that is was the first time people really played rock and roll,what a record was, and what a phenomenon the Beatles were.  They had a lot of stuff, including guitars that they had owned, a Rolls Royce which John Lennon had painted psychedelic, and karaoke of their songs, which Phil and the boys got into.

We had a really nice day, had lunch down at the harbour, and wandered around the cobblestone streets.  Luke found this Guard, and wanted a photo taken with him. 

 We came to the Basilica Notre Dame, in the old town square.  It is an amazing church, which was founded in 1642.  Apparently it costs about $10,000 to get married there, and Celine Dion was married here in 1994.  It seats about 2,700 people, so you would have to know a few people to fill it!  It also has a pipe organ comprised of 7000 pipes, so I am sure that could make quite some noise.

Out in the square there was a 'busker', who was entertaining the kids by making massive bubbles, with two sticks and some wool, which you can see in the corner of the picture below.  The boys could have stayed here for ages chasing and popping the bubbles, and I am sure that was far more entertaining to them, than touring through the church!

There were a lot of historical buildings throughout Montreal, which have been preserved, and with their heritage, they have a real European feel.  This is a little glimpse below, of some of the architecture.  In the old town, they also have some of the old cobblestone streets, which were fun.

On our last full day in Montreal, we took the train across to Ile Saint Helene, which is an island on the Saint Lawrence river, off the coast of Montreal.  It was where expo '67 was held, and also the rowing events for the '76 Olympics.  The Grand Prix is held here, and it had been on the weekend before we got there, so they were still removing a lot of the scaffolding and barricades which they had erected.  It was a beautiful day, and when we got there we found a little spot which had three hammocks, hung between trees, so we chilled out there for a little while.  It was very relaxing just hanging around!  We looked into hiring bikes to cycle, but they didn't have any which were suitable for the boys, so we walked.  The island has a casino on it, which we went past, and St Helene's beach, which we went to.  It is very different to our beaches - it was really a lake, but it had sand, and we could go for a swim, so we weren't complaining!  The boys spent the afternoon swimming and building sandcastles, and Phil and I relaxed, so it was a great afternoon.  We also hired pedal boats below, which were lots of fun.

Our last morning in Montreal, we headed up to Mount Royal, which is a planned park, and  has great views over the city.  Apparently it was designed by the same architect who designed Central Park in New York City.  There are a lot of trails, and people walking, running and biking around, and it is very green.

 We had a little bit of a walk around some of the trails, the mandatory kick around of the ball, and threw rocks in the pond, before we got in the car for our big drive to Massachusetts.