Boston

After five nights in New York, we caught the train up to Boston for city number 2 of our trip. Boston is an attractive, compact city and we both enjoyed the slower pace there after our time in New York. We also learnt a whole lot of American history during our stay.
Beautiful Boston Common, America's oldest public park.
Statue of George Washington at the entrance to Boston Common.
Boston is home to the nation's first university, Harvard, founded in 1636. Above is a statue of its namesake, John Harvard, who donated his books and half his money to the college.
MC pretending to be a student again at Harvard.
John enjoying the sun in the Harvard grounds.
We went to a Boston Red Sox baseball game at Fenway Park which is the oldest ballpark in the USA, built in 1912.
The Red Sox were playing the Baltimore Orioles but unfortunately they lost 4-2. Nevertheless we enjoyed the experience (well John did, MC was a little bored by the 5th innings...).
As you can see, Boston is the home of lots of America's oldest things, such as the tavern above. Other firsts include the first public school, newspaper, library, labour union and subway.
MC's entrance (the Ashburton one, not the Hooker one!!)
John outside Massachusetts State House, the start of our history-laden 'Freedom Trail' walking tour around Boston. We learnt all about the start of the American Revolution and visited the graves of many of its heroes such as Paul Revere, Samuel Adams and John Hancock.
Some juxtaposition - the new John Hancock tower dwarfs the ornate Trinity Church.

After three nights in Boston we picked up our rental car and began the first leg of our roadtrip which will end in three weeks time in Texas. Driving on the righthand side of the road has taken a bit of getting used to but we are getting the hang of it now, although MC is always putting on the window-wipers instead of the indicator!

Not far out of Boston we stopped for lunch in Springfield which is the birthplace of both Dr Seuss and basketball!
Some Dr Seuss-related sculptures in Springfield.

Next stop is Ithaca in the Finger Lakes region, about halfway between Boston and Niagara Falls.