My 2 Grand Adventure

Cheers!

It's my last day in Boston. I've still not been up the Pru Building and I've not walked the Freedom trail. First though, there are some practicalities to deal with. I have to do some washing. It takes a couple of hours, with I spend reading my 2nd David Gemmell book of the trip. After that, I head over to South Station to buy my train ticket to Chicago for tomorrow. I'm a bit disappointed to discover that there's no sleeper car on the journey, despite it being an overnight trip. I was looking forward to the 'real' Amtrak experience.

As it's close by, I head over to the bridge where the Boston Tea party boat is. It's not there. All that is there is an ambiguous sign saying they have ad to close due to 'unforeseen circumstances'. They are going some construction work on the bridge, so I put it down to that. After making sure the cops aren't looking, I throw the 'emergency tea bags' I brought with me into the water and have my own little 'tea party'.

After a brief trip up to Fenway, to buy a ball cap and have a 'quick one' at the Boston Beer Works, I head into town. It's getting late and as the clocks have gone back I have an hour less daylight in the afternoon. I pick up a Freedom Trail leaflet from the information center at Boston Common and set off following the red line through town. I reach the first 3-4 locations (including wandering around the exquisite Beacon Hill area) when I remember that the Cheers Bar is near by. I head over there for a 'quick one' before carrying on with the trail.

Four pints and 2 hours later, after talking to half-a-dozen people from around the world, it's dark and I abandon the idea of the Freedom Trail. I head back to the hostel and sign up for the pub night trip.

We head over to a bar called Crossroads and spend a couple of hours drinking and telling stories. With me is Debby from Leeds, Bek from Australia, Matt from the Midlands, Ben from Manchester and some others who drift into a beer haze of forgetfulness. After there, and after I've gone back to the bar to get my credit card that I've left behind the bar, we head over to a pool hall near Fenway to drink and play some really bad pool.

posted by Mark Slattery @ 5:35 pm