Life in the City

Boston is a beautiful city.

The view out our hotel window

As country/small town hooligans
from a land where white people history goes back only two hundred years or so,
we absolutely enjoyed
the busy streets of brick and cobblestone
with buildings and graveyards from as many as three hundred years ago
and people with Bostonian accents who were so willing to admire our baby and give us advice and directions
("I have a cousin who used to live up in Toronto...")

Walking on cobblestone

Today we walked the majority of what is called Boston's Freedom Trail.
The walk took us past a number of Boston's most famous landmarks,
relating to the settlement of Massachusetts,
the Revolutionary War with Britain,
the American Civil War,
the Abolition movement,
the immigration of English, Irish, Italian, and other peoples to the city.

Statue of Paul Revere with the Old North Church in the background

The Paul Revere Mall

The crypt beneath the Old North Church

A anti-homophobia march

It was a wonderful day exploring.

Just Ducky: Boston in the Rain

Today was a soggy day. A day for the ducks indeed.

There is a famous children's book set in the Boston Common called Make Way For Ducklings.
I've not read it, but we're going to buy it at some point, so I'll report back.

 At any rate, we've driven back to Boston, dropped off the car, found our hotel and went for a very very soggy walk in the Boston Common. Upon which walk we came across several ducks, bronzed and real.

And then E and B had a chat about the pros and cons of flowered pyjamas.

Carrying on with the Wandering

Onward we go, even without our beloved camera. It may sound petty, but you have to understand how much photography is a part of our daily lives.

A whirlwind explanation of our Martha's Vineyard day.

The Vineyard: where Harrison Ford tries to win over Sabrina; where whaling ship captains used to live; where rich people have second homes.

We spent the day on foot and on public transit. We took the ferry across; walked through Vineyard Haven; took a bus to Edgartown and wandered through town and across the beach; and then back again.

We shopped in two bookstores, ate clams, mussels and lobster, explained why we weren't voting, and, of course, broke our camera.

More cheerily, today was fun and slower-paced. After purchasing a small cheap[ish] camera,

we did a little shopping in Falmouth, 

had a picnic lunch on a top-secret-locally-known-only[except us] harbour location 

(how we found out about it is a wonderful story which I'll tell you all about, some other time)

and went for a long walk in the deep leaf-carpeted forest of Beebe Woods.

It was a day on foot outside and of hand-holding and baby-loving.

The best kind of day there is.

The No Good Awful Camera Day

Sigh.
It started out with a left-open zipper, out of which fell two 8 gig SD cards.
But these we recovered, after tracing our steps backwards.

And then, while photographing a particularly beautiful lighthouse,
we discovered both batteries were dead.
But we walked to a public library and charged the battery for a few minutes while browsing through some books.

But then, while getting off the bus, we dropped the camera directly onto pavement, causing a huge dent in the body and a shutter problem that we think is not fixable.
In other words, we are now without our beautiful and steadfast Canon SLR, and if you know B, you know just how serious a loss this is.
And we're just not sure what the best course of action is, at this point.

Up the Cape

Today we took a long drive up the long finger of the Cape Cod peninsula. It was a beautiful drive with lots to see but we all got very tired of driving (E especially) by the end. 

View Larger Map

First we went here:

(the Hot Chocolate Sparrow, where the hot chocolate had the perfect sugar/cocoa/milk ratio)

And then we checked out a lighthouse but it was locked up for the winter.

Then we drove up and up the peninsula and went for a walk along the beach. 

It was very chilly, so we moved on again.

(The Cape Cod National Seashore)

Then we found a tall, tall tower and climbed to the top.

(The Pilgrim Monument in Provincetown)

 

 

 116 steps up.

 At which point, it was definitely time for lunch, at least for little E!


And then all the way home.

On foot

We walked, along the beach and in town.

And then we went for supper with some lovely friendly Cape Cod-ians we met in Starbucks.

We're wandering, not lost

Today we took a drive...headed for Trader Joe's, my favourite grocery store, where we got some staples for the week ahead.

But more importantly, we went for a long drive exploring, 

seeing cranberry fields, 

houses big and small,

and lots of beach and ocean. 

It was a little chilly today, so B did some photographing on the beach while E and I hung out in the car.

All Who Wander Are Not Lost

The GPS:
Yesterday we picked up our car first thing and immediately hooked up the GPS (thanks E&B!) so we could figure out where we are going. B's more of an intuitive driver, so he had it all figured out in his head where we were going and the GPS more just confirmed what he already knew. However, we were really glad for the GPS because it told us what towns were coming up...giving us the flexibility to wander around the countryside rather than going to straight to where we originally were headed. And when we saw that we were nearing the town of Plymouth, we decided that to heck with our destination, we wanted to go there.

Wandering:
But wait, also on the map was something marked "Plymouth Lighthouse" so we decided to get there too. So we drove through Duxbury and ended up at a beautiful peninsular beach where we stopped for a nursing session and a long walk along the beach. The sand was wonderfully soft...I just had to do some barefoot wave chasing.

Plymouth:
Well, actually, Plimoth. We read in our guidebook to New England about a historical reconstructed Pilgrim village, so we punched it into the GPS and went there. The village is set in 1627 and the staff there wear clothing of the era, talk like they're from the 17th century and "work" around the village all day. They were re-building one of the houses while we were there, as you can see from the picture. We really enjoyed learning how the Pilgrims lived. Oh, and M, they had a 17th century kiln where they make all the dishes the "Pilgrims" eat out of. I almost bought some...

 

Lunch:
We punched in restaurants into the GPS and came up with a little place called Benchwarmers Sub Shop. It really seemed like a place where all the locals ate...we got some funny "stranger in town" looks when we walked in. But the food was delicious. E even got some steamed broccoli to munch on.  B is going to join Yelp just so he can give this place a good review!

 

Arriving:
We got to our condo at five. It's located just off the ocean...we can see waves crashing from our balcony window. It was raining a little bit when we arrived and a beautiful big rainbow appeared over the north east. Lovely.

Supper:
We accidentally took E to a fancy Italian restaurant. The sign said "family cooking"...but when we went in and asked about high chairs we got a lot of funny looks. However, E was on her very best behaviour, and once again charmed the entire staff of the restaurant, all of whom stopped by to chat (with her, not us). The candles, cloth napkins, and pricey menu (why we didn't figure this out before went in, I don't know) were a lovely atmosphere, and E enjoyed herself greatly...until I tried to put her coat on to go. The other patrons in the restaurant also seemed to get a kick out of this tiny person peeking over the table, chewing on a napkin. Oh yes, and the food was good too. :D

Six Months

Hard to believe we've been parents for six months.
That our little girl has been hanging out with us for half a year already.
But so it is!
Our world has been so incredibly changed...

 

and we wake up every morning excited to share the things of the day with her.

Some First Images...

We're here safe and sound and tired. 

E was a trooper during the flights, holding out even during a really turbulent bit coming into Boston.  She charmed everyone...flight attendants, customs officers, security checkpoint people.

Fall is definitely not over here...lots of beautiful leaves and a high of 24 today 

(but it's now supposed to cool off substantially).

After dumping our stuff at the hotel, 

we took the subway downtown, walked around a bit, and bought supper from some street vendors. 

Our first impression of Bostonians/Massachusettians (Massuachusites?) is decidedly favourable...

everyone is friendly (it helps that E wins them over).

And we got chills upon first encountering the downtown core...so much brick and cobblestone. 

Right up our alley.

Our lovely soft king size bed.

The view below the hotel

Quincy Market (and a random guy stretching)

Photographing the photographer

E and Daddy watching the freeway and airport out our suite window

Boston in the Fall

It seems like we always have a song to accompany our traveling adventures. For instance, for Denmark and for England.

And oh yes, we have one for this trip too!

Though it is a rather silly song.

A Silly Song with Larry, to be precise: