Boston

Boston was our first experience of the States at the beginning of our 2008 "New England" trip celebrating a couple of milestone birthdays.We totally fell in love with both the city and its people who we found to be very warm & friendly - countless times standing on a street corner consulting our tourist maps, locals approached us to ask if we were ok or needed any help - how welcome you made us feel.

The city has a wonderfully rich history & for anyone planning to visit this part of the States, it's a must. However, beware! It's one of the most sports-orientated cities I've ever been to! We were there mid-October when the Red Sox just happened to be in the quarter finals of The World Series. You couldn't move in the city without seeing that day's match on a screen. When the Baseball wasn't on, it was then either NFL or College football ( hadn't realised how huge this was in the States, despite being a massive NFL fan - New England Patriots, of course!). They have major league Basketball & Hockey teams too!

The tourist has been really well catered for since all the major sites of interest are connected by "The Freedom Trail" - effectively a red line, on whatever surface/in whatever material necessary which runs through the whole city linking all the major sites. You can join an organised tour or just find your own way around, at your own pace with your city guide, which is what we did. We spent a day following the trail, and one arm goes all the way out to the USS Constitution, which we discovered is/was the oldest warship still commissioned.

The Aquarium is a must too. A seriously well designed building where the walkway takes you past all the exhibits in spiral-like progression.

At the end of our few days in Boston, we picked up our hire car for the next leg of our journey around New England & collection broke another two firsts - driving an automatic car ( perfected now after a second hire experience 10 years later & subsequently buying one!) and driving on an interstate - the I93 runs right through the centre & we were directed onto it by a local Policeman to get back to our hotel.