Boston and Cape Cod

Board the bus in Moncton which crosses the border into the USA not too far down the road. As Aussies we get a more than thorough interrogation although one guy doesn’t rejoin the bus! We continue to Bangor, Maine where we switch to a Greyhound bus which takes us down a peg or two in social status. We pass through Portland and by the looks of it we didn’t miss much by not stopping.

Eventually arrive in Boston late and get separate rooms at the YHA. I into a male dorm room and Allison a women’s only room.  We awake early, not only as we are keen to get out of our room but as always someone feels it necessary to open their bag and empty all the contents out and then repack their bag at 5am.

Cape Cod & Martha’s Vineyard

We meet for the free breakfast and watch the news on TV as cyclone Katrina reaks havoc on New Orleans. We get a bus out to Hyannis, Cape Cod where we have booked a BnB for a few nights. The elderly owner picks us up from the bus station in an old Cadillac. Their house is very nice and we have a decent chat to his wife and learn about the surrounding neighbourhood. We are only staying a few blocks from where the Kennedy mansion is situated. We take a walk along the beach, the type of beach that you see in so many movies.

The next morning we take the ferry out to Martha’s Vineyard. An island off the coast. We pick up a moped to cruise around the island. Very pleasant even if a little cool in the autumn (sorry fall) weather. But it is sunny and we get a decent trip of the whole island before settling back at the ferry port where we have a late lunch in the park surrounded by houses all done in the common architecture of Cape Cod region.

Distinctive architecture at Martha’s Vineyard

Ferry arrives back at Hyannis and we head for dinner where we had picked out the day before. Restaurant is called Hannah’s and we imagine our now chef friend Hannah owning a similar restaurant as the food was very gourmet.

Boston

Bus back to Boston. Finally manage to get a bed back at the HI hostel which is crazy full.

We check in and then check out Boston. First stop Harvard University. We take one of the free student guided tours. The student was studying Political Science majoring in diplomacy. Not your average courses here then.

We were told Bill Gates had only recently been through to hold one of Harvard’s guest speaker spots. The library was vastly built from a trust donated from the mother of a student who drowned on the Titanic. Only having just been to the Titanic museum a few days ago this was particularly interesting. So too was the fact that every student had to swim a length of an Olympic pool in order to graduate. A rule from the same mother who believed her son would still be alive if he were able to swim.

Historic Harvard University

We continue down towards the harbour and follow the federation trail. This highlights the historic sites of Boston relating to it’s place in history related to the revolution. This includes mainly the aspect of the Paul Revere horse ride and Boston Tea party. We get Vietnamese for dinner. Not that Boston is known for it’s Vietnamese cuisine at all. We then head back to the hostel (and our separate rooms again) for bed.