2016 Holiday Day 12 - Kancamagus Scenic Highway

Today we were going to take in the scenic sights of the Kancamagus Highway - about a 35 mile drive between Conway and Lincoln on Route 112 - with plenty of stops on the way for walking and scenic viewing. We'd bought a parking pass from the ranger station near Conway so we were able to park in all the parking spots on the highway.

We stopped near a covered bridge to begin with (the Albany Covered Bridge) where I also finally photographed the car we hired. It's a Chevrolet Traverse and it's huge! I wanted a big car, as I drive such a little car back home, and it's really fun to drive - although tricky to park!

We then headed to the Lower Falls a where we skipped over the large flat rocks and had a paddle in the cool, clear water

We then had a walk round Rocky Gorge Scenic Area, where there was a lovely bridge and a short walk to a tranquil pond (Falls Pond) where we spotted a frog in the shallows, but no moose much to Clare's disappointment...

We then parked up and had a short walk to Sabbaday Falls (maybe about half a mile or so). They were a lovely cascade - not the biggest - but pretty nonetheless. Lots of people stopped at this one - even thought we'd been early to try and avoid the crowds - because it is such an easy hike. Lots of good viewing platforms - the falls come down in sections - so it was good to see the bridges and stairs to help see them as well as possible

We stopped at a number of other viewpoints on the way across the highway - looking out over lovely views of the White Mountains National Park. Mt. Kancamagus tops out at 3763 ft - so your ears don't half pop on the way up and down!

We then decided to head to Vermont - so Matthew could tick off another American state. It was a 90 minute drive into the State and round back into New Hampshire and on the way back Clare wanted to stop off at Ripley Falls - somewhere we'd been in 1998 when we last visited New Hampshire. The hike is a hard one - it's not paved in any way and you are constantly traversing over tree roots and rocks either descending or ascending. We passed people on the way who'd given up but we finally made it and it was spectacular...

Having got back to the car we were pretty tired at this point - and hungry and thirsty having exhausted our supplies - so as we drove back we agreed to stop in McDonalds in North Conway. They still have the cable cars that you can eat in - as they did in 98 - so it was fun to sit in them again. A word of advice - if you order a meal in the US it does not come with a drink - they are charged separately. It you all want Coke - order one drink and use the fountains to refill as many times as you like! We forgot this...

2016 Holiday Day 11 - Attitash

After a breakfast in the hotel room we packed up a lunch and some swimming gear for Matthew and headed out to Attitash mountain park. In the winter it's a ski and snowboard complex but in the summer it has slides, a coaster and a water park. Now we aren't talking about the north east version of Disney here, but there looked enough to keep us entertained. Especially the giant zip wires - but more on that later...

One thing that is akin to Disney, though, are the prices and the slightly confusing tickets. As regular readers will know I'm not s thrill seeker and am quite happy with the bags and a good book whilst Matthew and Clare get their adrenaline kicks. Zip wire tickets and park admission are $105 each and general admission $49 so not a cheap day out. The confusing side was if you weren't going to participate in any activities I'm not sure you'd need a ticket as there are no entry gates - you can stroll right in. Tickets are checked on rides.

Anyway, Clare and Matthew went on the coaster first which takes you up 1400 feet before dropping you down using gravity. You can control the speed you go with a handbrake. They found it quite rickety but I suspect that is down to being used to Disney rides.

Next up was the zip wire. After the safety briefing they were taken to the top of a nearby mountain and went down two zip lines. They both enjoyed rushing through the trees at speeds of 60mph+. Whilst I enjoyed a turkey and cheese wrap from the cafe and reading my book!

With everyone on terra firma we had a spot of lunch together from the picnic we'd brought with us before deciding on what next. Matthew and Clare went on the Alpine Slide (a concrete slide which you go down in a little cart) and then Matthew got changed into his swimming shorts to try the water slides and a large jump from a 10m tower onto an inflatable bag (that was coated with water).

We were surprised when we looked at our watches that we'd been there nearly six hours. We decided one last thing to do would be to ride the chair lift up to the top of Bear Peak (where the zip tour started) for a little walk round and a nice ride up and down. The chair lift takes about 10 minutes one way it and was smooth and peaceful ride up and down.

We then headed for home, (stopping at Dunkin for a snack and drink) had a wash and brush up and headed to the White Mountain Hotel to eat in their restaurant. I had a cod and rice dish, Clare had lobster mac and cheese and Matthew had chicken tenders. All was very good as was the lovely view from the restaurant.

2016 Holiday Day 10 - Canterbury Shaker Village

Bit of a drive today to southern New Hampshire to visit the Canterbury Shaker Village. We missed the start of the guided tour, so we decided to guide ourselves. The village documents some of the life and times of the Shakers, as well as having a number of exhibits from their design and lifestyle.

We had a look round the infirmary, which was fascinating in seeing how they were able to treat their own and others. Some of their treatments were cutting edge.

We wandered round some of the other buildings, looking inside at the displays and watching a fascinating movie about how the Shakers started and how they lived their lives. The weather was a little cooler today - upper 70's - but the sun was out and it was a pleasant day for walking round the village

We drove back and after a bit more shopping at Shaws supermarket we decided to eat in Sea Dog Brewing Company. It has quite a pub feel about it, but was very laid back in style. Clare had the fish and chips - the fish was lightly battered and the chips crunchy and I had a fish sandwich - pretty much the same but in a roll - with sweet potato fries. All was pretty good - we were happy with the food and service. The kid's menu had a wide variety too.

2016 Holiday Day 9 - Shopping and Relaxing

Not much activity today. We decided to go round the outlet shops of North Conway and buy a few bits and bobs. We hit the pool later and did some reading and watching TV.

We ate at Brandli's which is just over the road from the hotel. We had a delicious pizza (topped with mushroom and peppers) and a plain pasta and sauce.

So just a day relaxing and recovering some energy!

2016 Holiday Day 8 - North Conway

We decided to not do a great deal today as we had a long day in the car yesterday getting to North Conway, NH. So we went for breakfast in the hotel (which was OK, but not up to par of the Dan'l Webster Inn) before deciding to get some of our own supplies from the nearby supermarket - Hannafords. We'd have breakfast in the room tomorrow, as there is plenty of places to store food and cutlery (we purchased some disposable bowls and such like from Hanaford).

That done, we headed out to have a game of mini golf over at Pirate's Cove. This appears to be a chain of mini golf courses, but was still a very fine course. We played 36 holes, and after a close fought battle I won by two strokes!

We found the two most important sites in North Conway - Dunkin Donuts and McDonalds - so we checked out Dunkin and found they only did Strwaberry Frosting, not Vanilla as well. Must be a New Hampshire thing! Matthew liked to alternate between the two flavours!

We then went back to the room for a bit before heading up to the White Mountain Hotel for a bite to eat. We ordered a hot dog for Matthew, Clare had a burger and I had a turkey and ham sandwich. There was enough to take some home and have the next day!

Then we hit the pool, wandered round the nearby outlet shops before turning in...

2016 Holiday Day 7 - Sandwich MA to North Conway NH

It was time to leave the Dan'l Webster Inn today, and we were feeling a bit sad about that. The room was pretty good, although the air conditioning and main be mattress weren't terrific, the character, quietness, location, food and staff were all exceptional. We will definitely be back!

We stopped for gas (petrol) in Sandwich before heading up Route 3 into the 93 to take us through the new tunnels under Boston that had been developed as part of the Big Dig project a few years ago - which was interesting to see.

We then headed to Salem to visit the Salem Witch Museum which tells the story of the 1692 Salem Witch Trials as a kind-of show set in an auditorium. You then move on to a small exhibition about the history of witches through the ages. It's a pretty good summary of events in Salem at that time.

We then got back in the car, and after a brief stop at a Dunkin in Rochester (where we once again got chatting to a chap there who pretty much told us his life story!) made our way north to the North Conway Grand Hotel in North Conway for our second week. We soon got checked in and after a wander round the hotel, we headed for the bar to have dinner. It was a slow service (they said it was busy but it didn't look it) and we ordered a burger for myself, fried chicken for Clare and a burger for Matthew. The food was OK - nothing special...

Image from hotel website (we'd already made a mess before I could photograph it!)

The room is very nice though. We chose a 1 bedroom suite, and there's plenty of space to spread out. There are a lot of families here so it was a bit noisy in the evening, but it settled down soon enough thankfully - although those noisy kids will be awake in the morning... Especially the loud little kids next door...

2016 Holiday Day 6 - Sandwich

We decided today to leave the car in the car park and explore the area around us - namely the town of Sandwich where we were staying. After breakfast, we headed off to visit the Sandwich Glass Museum. We watched a fascinating demonstration of glass blowing, where the artist created a beautiful blue vase by blowing and shaping the molten lump of glass. It's quite a skill! We then toured the museum. They had a treasure hunt for kids, so Clare and Matthew wandered round the exhibitions looking for specific items to tick off their list. Matthew then handed in the completed tick list into the lady at reception who then gave him a bag of glass marbles as a prize. We got chatting to her, as she was interested in us being from England.

We then moved on to the Hoxie House - a lovely 1675 house that has been restored to how it would have originally have looked, with authentic furniture. It really gave us an idea of what life must have been like back then. It started with a short talk by the guide, before we wandered round the house ourselves. Well worth a short visit!

We stopped for some refreshment at the Dunbar Tea Shop and this had totally changed since our last visit in 1998. It had been transformed from a cute English tea shop to a full blown restaurant with a bar and conservatory. Last time, it was full of odd tea pots and you could buy McVities biscuits and Marmite, but now it was just a restaurant. Yes, it had a decent tea menu and Clare enjoyed her cream tea and I enjoyed my crumpets but it wasn't quite the same as it had been.

We then walked up to the Sandwich Mini Golf (via Dunkin Donuts for a snack for Matthew). It's quite a challenging walk to the golf centre, not because it's particularly far, but due to the random nature of the sidewalks. They just stop suddenly, so you have to cross the busy Route 6A to get to the other side for the sidewalk to continue! Nobody walks in America! Anyway, we got there safe and sound and proceeded to play 36 holes. It was a very good course, and this was something that had improved since Clare and I last visited. 

It was a very hot and sunny day again (87 degrees) so we tried to dodge in and out of the shade where we could but by the time we got back to the hotel we were all a little red on the arms and neck!

After a dip in the pool, we had dinner in the tavern. I do want to give a big thumbs up to the Whale's Tale IPA they had on tap in the tavern - a really tasty pint that Clare and I both enjoyed on a regular basis during our stay. We finished our last evening in the tavern with Crab Ravioli for Clare, a mushroom soup (which was so nice!), cod and rice and bread pudding for me and a burger for Matthew.

2016 Holiday Day 5 - Old Sturbridge Village

After a bit of a poor night, it was good to get to breakfast and have cornflakes, banana and English muffin. I was saving room for lunch later. Clare had bacon and eggs, as she wanted to go through to dinner.

We had a reasonable drive ahead of us today up to Old Sturbridge Village, so we headed off about 8.45am and enjoyed surprisingly light traffic all the way up to the Mass Pike, where we stopped at a Dunkin Donuts for Matthew to sample a Vanilla Sprinkles variety (after sampling Strawberry Sprinkles previously he declared this to be equally as good). It wasn't too far then to the actual museum

Old Sturbridge Village is a recreation of a village/town that would have existed around the 1830s. It is another of these living museums, where characters are in various places in costume of the time, but unlike Plimoth Plantation, they don't stay in character - you can converse normally. They are more there to relay the history of the place and the practices and customs of the time.

Centre of the village and village green

We started with a orientation tour that seemed to go from the Village Meeting House every hour and our guide showed us round the village centre, pointing out places of interest and giving us a history of both the museum and the buildings around us. She also told us of what New England was like at the time and how life was transforming from subsistence to a post-industrial revolution society of trade and travel (although it still took 6-8 hours to get to the nearest large town by coach from Sturbridge - a half hour drive today!)

Free guided orientation leaves on the hour from the Meeting House

After the tour (which lasts about a half hour) we headed to the village store where we got chatting to the people inside about life back in the 1830's about how trade worked and about the sorts of goods that could be traded (the villagers traded rags and butter for goods from Boston that had come from across the world - England, France, China and many others). We also got into Brexit and Donald Trump's bid for the US Presidency, but that's a slight distraction!

Village Store

We then walked around the outskirts of the village, visiting the school house - where we learnt from the guide about the life of children back then - before visiting the farm, grist mill and covered bridge before heading back to the village for a musket firing demonstration. While Clare and Matthew were watching that, I took the opportunity to head to the Tavern for my lunch. I'd been hoping to snag a turkey dinner and I wasn't disappointed. For $9.99 I got turkey, corn bread and my choice of two sides (I went with mashed potato and stuffing) with cranberry sauce and turkey gravy. I've got to say it was all very tasty. If you are wondering what corn bread tastes like, it's actually not to dissimilar to a plain sponge cake - bizarrely enough!

We wandered over to the village bakery where the guide had told us good cookies baked fresh that day on premise were served, and they were indeed very good. I had oatmeal and raisin, Matthew had chocolate chip. We then went to a exhibition on guns and arms from the time and watched how a printing press was used to make newspapers and books.

Clare and Matthew had ice cream as it was becoming increasingly hot and they felt the need for a cooling refreshment break. We sat under a shady tree before heading to the bank to watch the banker tell of how loans were operated at the time (banking was to businesses, not personal accounts, at this time, although individuals could get a loan to build a house or such like if they were trust worthy enough)

We then headed to the gift shop and exit having had a great day. We drove home via Connecticut and Rhode Island (so Matthew could tick them off his 'US States Visited' list). We had more success with road signs this time, although got slightly way laid in Providence looking for the 195 - which seemed to run out of signs part way through the journey! We think it's because we were supposed to take the same route as to get to the 95, but they only showed signs saying '95'. Oh well - we had a nice tour of Providence! We stopped at McDonalds for Matthew to try a Chicken Nuggets meal - which he declared to taste 'a bit different' from home.

Back at the hotel it was time to hit the pool and grab a bite in the Tavern. Clare had an excellent steak whilst I had chicken and salad and we shared a Death By Chocolate cake.

2016 Holiday Day 4 - Cape Cod Lighthouses

We didn't really have a plan for today. We thought we'd stay on the Cod, seeing as that was where were actually lodged, so decided to head out to the coast and visit the lighthouses. Two out of the three would be open today so it would be a pleasant drive. Plus Clare really wanted to check out a place serving lobster rolls she'd read about in the paper...

A light breakfast this morning of cereal and English muffin before hitting the road and heading to Highland Light (sometimes called Cape Cod Light).

This one is owned by the National Parks, so has a visitor centre and guided tour of the lighthouse, detailing it's history, before ascending the steps to the actual light itself. Now, I was expecting stone steps, but instead it was open slat metal (with holes drilled through the slats) before two ladders took you up to the main light itself. Well, I got up two flights of the steps before my vertigo got the better of me, and I decided to head back down to terra firma. Clare and Matthew, not suffering from such silly and irrational fears as me, went on ahead.

The view looking up... <gulp>....

They confirmed the view from the top was glorious and more about the light was explained by the guide up there. I contented myself with talking to the downstairs guide who'd lived in England in the 70's and so we talked on 'home'.

We then headed out the back of the Light towards the cliffs and saw the place where the lighthouse had been moved from to prevent it from falling into the sea due to the heavy cliff erosion that happens in the this part of the world.

After a browse around the gift shop (and purchase of a new lighthouse model and some artwork for our collection) we headed back to the car to drive along the coast to find the eating place Clare wanted to visit to try their lobster roll at Rock Harbor Beach, just outside Orleans. It took a little bit of finding (mostly due to the 'wonderful' American road sigh system that tells you the turn you need to take at the actual turn itself, with no prior warning, as you sail past it cursing...) but it was well worth it. Rock Harbor is a lovely bay with a small beach and mooring for a number of fishing and pleasure boats. Next door to the harbour entrance is a place called Captain Cass which was proclaimed by a recent article in The Sunday Times Travel magazine to serve the best lobster rolls. Clare is a huge lobster roll fan, so needed to check this claim out for herself!

Everyone inside was very friendly, and her order taken (I went for a hot dog, Matthew had a packed lunch) we headed outside to wait. About 10 minutes later the food arrived, and we retied to a shady spot outside the church to eat. And sure enough, it was declared by Mrs B to be a fine lobster roll - the finest she'd ever had! Huzaah!

Feeling refreshed, we headed to the car to go to Chatham Light. This year, it was only open on Wednesdays between 1.30pm and 3.30pm (as this one is still a US Coastguard facility) so we had to time it right! This time, we found the place reasonably easily but finding a parking spot was to prove tricky. It seems that a storm 3 years ago washed a load of lovely sand onto the beach, where previously there had been none, so we were vying with beach goers as well and lighthouse visitors for very few parking spots! Having circled a couple of times we were about to give up when finally a spot opened up and we grabbed it.

It was a pretty long queue on a pretty hot day, but after about 45 minutes waiting the tour began

In the lower part of the lighthouse, we were told of it's history and construction. Everyone then proceeded to climb the light - everyone except me - who bailed out again! This time, I got chatting to one of the US Coastguards organising the tour and we chatted about travel and the time he spent in Rio. It's amazing how wearing a London 2012 T-shirt can start so many conversations!

Clare and Matthew reached the top and heard more stories of the Light and some it's history.

Once we back on earth we headed for the car and home. However, we had a few unplanned detours via all sorts of places as - once again - our friend the American road sign utterly confused us at key points of the journey. Still, we finally made it back to Sandwich and then completing the day we stopped for gas at a service station and I promptly got out and started filling up when a chap wandered over and said it was full service. Oops! I apologised and he was cool but it's something to try and remember when travelling around the States. They still employ people to fill your car up!

I went for a veggie burger in the Tavern tonight (veggies can be tough to find on menus!) and Matthew had chicken strips. Clare, still full of lobster roll, just had a Creme Brulee...

A little cooler this evening, not so humid, so see what tomorrow brings...

2016 Holiday Day 3 - Plymouth and Plimoth

Made a classic mistake this morning of ordering pancakes for breakfast. Expecting dainty, light affairs, I ended up with three thick, large lumps of batter on my plate. Honestly, each was the size of a dinner plate in it's own right! I managed one and some fruit before giving up - reminding myself that perhaps American pancakes for breakfast is a step too far for my English palette at that time of the morning...

We jumped in the car today and drove for a half hour to reach the town of Plymouth where we were going to start out Pilgrim Fathers trail. We headed first for The Mayflower II - a recreation of the original ship that bought the Pilgrims to the New World in 1620.

As we looked around the ship, we marveled at how such a small vessel could transport about 100 people, 25 crew and supplies and animals across the Atlantic in the Autumn/Winter. They truly were very brave people 

.

We got chatting to one of the tour guides there, who gave us some idea of what it must have been like on board. They actually bought more crew than needed, because of the high death rate on such journeys, to make sure they had enough crew to sail back home again.

We then headed to see the famous Plymouth Rock - the supposed first point at which the travelers touched down on American soil. It's a rock. But it's got to be seen!

We walked along the road by the beach heading back to the car, popping in and out of shops. Matthew and Clare found a lovely shop selling items made mostly by adults and kids with learning difficulties who are struggling to find gainful employment in society. They got chatting to the staff and kids there and they were genuinely lovely people. Matthew bought a beach ball there, which he'd been looking for to play with in the pool. It was called Newly Found on South Park Avenue - do check them out if you're passing..

So then it was time to head to Plimoth Plantation, a 'living' museum consisting of a Wampanoag Homesite (native American village) and a 17th Century English village - both recreated from the time not long after the Pilgirms had landed along with a visitor centre and an arts centre. We firstly watched a video about the place and how it all worked (everyone in a costume will stay in their character) and then had a bite to eat in the visitor centre (I had a pretty good hot dog) before heading out into the hot sun once more.

It's a fascinating place to visit. The walking tour takes you first to the Wampanoag Homesite where you can see a house and various method used by the Native People to cook and repair fishing nets.

We then walked a bit further and came to the arts centre, where local craftsman create textiles and baking of the time, before arriving at the English settlement. It is quite large, with the Town Hall at the top of the hill (which doubled as a fort) and then around 10-12 homes organised along a 'Main Street'.

We walked along the street, stopping to chat to the 'residents' who play their parts beautifully. They remain in character, talking in the accent and dialect of the time. They will talk about their life in the settlement, their hopes for the future, and if you're English like us, will ask about life back home and so on. We had a good long chat with 3 or 4 of the characters, from women resting from their toil in the gardens, to one of the senior officials who encouraged us to join the village, to a chap from London who was a rather gruff fellow!

There's a fair bit of walking involved as you meander to the village, but thankfully on the way back there's a shortcut to the exit. We were all a bit hot and tired now, so jumped into the car to hit the hotel pool.

In the evening, we had dinner in the tavern (I had a Buffalo Chicken wrap, which I really enjoyed) before Wheel of Fortune and bed!

2016 Holiday Day 2 - Beer and Sandwich

Today we decided to stay local. The weather was predicted to be hot and sunny again, but the humidity was due to drop a little which should make it a bit more pleasant than yesterday outside. Traditional American breakfast in the stomachs, the first port of call was the local supermarket - Stop and Shop - for a few supplies for packed lunches. Matthew prefers to eat some sandwiches and crisps for lunch, saving room for a bigger dinner, and finding a sandwich in America that isn't the size of a small house is pretty difficult! Nice big supermarket - but absolutely freezing in there! I'd forgotten to take a jumper, so was just in a T-Shirt, and it felt like stepping out into the mid-winter!

Supplies purchased, we headed down Route 6A - a historic highway - to look at the cranberry bogs and picture-perfect wooden houses before arriving at our first stop - the Cape Cod Brewery for a narrated tour.

Every morning at 11am, the brewery gives a tour. Except it wasn't much of a tour. Just standing around while someone explained how beer was brewed and gave us a history of the company. Which was OK. Just not quite what I was expecting. It's only a small brewery, so it's understandable. Clare bought a tasting glass, which was 5 fills for $5 including the glass - a bargain. She tried a few of the local brews and declared them to be pretty good. There's a nice on-site shop and good facilities, so it was a pleasant enough hour. They also have games to keep you entertained while waiting for the tour to start.

Beer history and tasting over, we headed to the Cape Cod Mall in Hyannis. This is going to sound a bit crazy but we needed to visit a sports shop to buy Matthew a gum shield. You see, in the UK, it's all but impossible to buy one for if you have upper and lower braces - which Matthew had - so Clare had found a brand in the US which did them and sold them through a store in this mall. We stopped for a Dunkin Donut (we're on the east coast of the USA, it's practically the law), browsed a few shops (including the excellent Midway Comics) before heading back.

Once back at the hotel, we decided to walk to the beach. It wasn't far and it was such a lovely sunny day, we thought we'd spend a bit of time there before coming back to the hotel pool. Well, I think we'd forgotten how far it was because it was really quite a long walk, and the temperature was around 89 degrees at this point. So it was hot work! We walked up to the Sandwich Broadwalk and along to the beach, but it was very hot, so we decided to cool down with a slushy by the beach, before heading back

Then it was time to hit the pool to cool down and head to the Tavern for dinner. We opted for pizzas tonight and they were pretty good, although Matthew does prefer Pizza Express still!

Then it was time for Wheel of Fortune (Disney special), Jeopardy! (college special) and the terrible Olympics coverage on NBC (honestly - I'm not sure I'll complain about the BBC ever again...)

2016 Holiday Day 1 - Boston City Tour and MIT

Having arrived yesterday with a reasonable (if a bit choppy) flight, today was about getting up and getting on with the the business of being on holiday! For this leg of our trip we are staying at the Dan'l Webster Inn at Sandwich, MA in a Fessenden Suite which is located in the house of a former Sea Captain built in 1820. It means Matthew gets his own room (in the living room area there is a pull out sofa bed) but as there is only one air conditioning unit, gets the cooler room to sleep in. Whilst the air con does drift through the open door, it is still a bit warm in the bedroom

We had breakfast in the hotel's Conservatory restaurant, as we will do every morning we are here. Sandwich is a small place just inside the neck of Cape Cod, and whilst there are a couple of other places to eat, we will stick with the hotel as the food here is just so good and there is such a good variety to eat. More on the that later. Anyway, American breakfasts are something we enjoy and so yummed down the food and got going.

We drove up Route 3 to Braintree, MA to get the T into Boston (the Boston subway network, Braintree is the southern-most station on the Red Line). We got parked, got the tickets and waited about 10 minutes before we were trundling through the city suburbs towards Boston. The Boston Comic Con was on today, so there were plenty of people riding the T dressed up as super heroes and comic characters, which was fun to see.

We arrived at State station and headed to Feneuil Hall to get tickets for the Boston Old Town Trolley Tour, briefly stopping to have a picture with the statue of Samuel Adams - revolutionary and inspiration for fine beer!

The next trolley was imminent so we dashed across to Stop Number 1 and boarded. We enjoyed a pleasant hour or so cruising round the sights of Boston and made mental notes about the places we wanted to return to. Unfortunately, when we crossed Commonwealth Avenue, we hit a police roadblock and were significantly delayed - we think the roads had been closed for an event but it was difficult to tell and we couldn't see anything about it anywhere... So we spent another hour picking our way through traffic, with the driver apologising. We got to see a lot of expensive brown stone houses in this part of the city, so it wasn't a total dead loss, but not quite what we expected!So we had to skip a chunk of the tour, and cross the river to Cambridge.

At this point, we were getting increasingly hot and hungry. It was a very hot, sunny day with high humidity that made the warm weather even warmer! We were planning on visiting this part of the city anyway, so we hopped off at Stop 13 and headed through the MIT campus to search for the MIT Museum. We had a pleasant 10-15 minute walk through the campus, spotting some of the famous research buildings, before arriving at the museum. After a burst of very pleasant air conditioning we inquired as to the whereabouts of food and beverages. Now most museums in the UK have somewhere to get food and drink, but not in the place, but the nice lady pointed out a few local places to get food and we settled on a short (and now increasingly hot walk) to Darwins.

It was a real student place, with very friendly staff and a long bench full of students eating and drinking with their laptops open and research papers and Skype on the screen. Clare had a cup of Jasmine tea and a macacon, Matthew opted for a Coke and cookie and I went for The Mass Ave sandwich (Smoked Turkey Breast with Avocado, Mayonnaise, Lettuce, Tomato, and Herb Vinaigrette) on the recommendation of the server after asking for a good turkey sandwich, plumped for wholewheat bread (out of the seven varieties) and a Coke and it was absolutely delicious. I'm not in the habit of photographing food, so just imagine an overflowing sandwich stuff full of turkey and avocado and you're there! And Coke in glass bottle... Classy!

Suitably refreshed, we headed back to the MIT museum and had a very enjoyable wander round. Unlike most museums, the exhibitions change frequently and we saw ones about the history of robotics, kinetic sculptures and holography. 

Source: From the MIT Museum website (http://mitmuseum.mit.edu/)

We enjoyed them all, but one of the best ones was a photography exhibition where we got to sample photography techniques pioneered at MIT. As well as trying them, we could upload them to the MIT Flickr account to preserve them for all time (and maybe help with future experiments!). Here are a couple of ours:

After exploring the museum, we hit the shop and boy did we spend out holiday money! Matthew bought a small robot to build and some souvenirs, Clare bought some interactive coasters (drinks mats) and I bought a load of books from MIT press and a hoodie for Matthew and I.

At this point, we could have elected to get back on the trolley and finish the tour, but we decided we were a bit too warm and tired and we'd head back to the pool. Coming out of the museum into the street was like coming out into an oven - it was super hot! The weather man had said it would be hot, but the humidity would make it feel like 102 degrees and it sure did! We staggered to the T station and to our relief a Braintree train was arriving in 1 minute and we headed back home.

Once back the the hotel, we hit the pool to cool off for a bit and then the Tavern for some food and drink. Matthew had the hot dog (which was OK, he said, but not the best), Clare had a Pan Roasted Statler Chicken (Stuffed with soft, unripened goat cheese and green apples. Served with an herbed chicken jus, beet reduction, parsnip puree and Aleppo pecan potatoes) and a Tiramisu and I went for a superb Chicken Noodle soup followed by a Green Salad with grilled Salmon.

We then retired to watch some Olympics having had a great day...