Day 19 - Sightseeing in Boston

We were all up early this morning, like about 6:00am, for the drive back to Boston. I must confess that I dozed for a good portion of the drive which was apparently accomplished in near record time because of a great run with the traffic.

A Cheers Ale

The plan eventually arranged was that Lee would see if she could get most of the day off work and take me sightseeing around Boston for the day and then on to the airport for my 9:30pm flight to Reykjavik. So at 8:40am I was installed in the cafeteria in Lee's work building for a very nice breakfast, and access to free Wi-Fi, while Lee took care of a couple of issues. By 10:30am we were on our way into town, where we started by exploring the historic Beacon Hill area and it many find old buildings. After looking at the park along The Esplanade we fortuitously arrived at the Cheers Bar at the perfect time for lunch. (If any of you young whipper-snappers don't know about Cheers - where everyone knows your name - then your education is sadly lacking!).

After a very tasty lunch washed down by a blueberry ale, Lee and I continued our perambulations through the Public Garden and then along the beautiful tree lined Commonwealth Avenue. Deciding to get a bird's eye view of the situation we detoured to the Skywalk Observatory in the Prudential Building. I have to say that I could not imagine a more perfect viewing day - the air was crystal clear to the horizon in every direction. It was particularly interesting to see the layout of the many islands in Boston Harbour. While we were there Lee also ran into an old school friend she had not seen in nearly 20 years.



The Boston Library

 Once downstairs we adjourned for a coffee break and to continue discussion of old friends. Once refreshed we moved on to the City Library. I would guess that there were at least as many people there to see the magnificent building itself and its beautiful courtyard as there were to use the books it contained. By now we were back at the Public Garden so we sat a while as I had Lee tell me about her experience cycling across the USA (from Seattle to New Jersey) just after she had finished High School. It might have been a wee bit easier if Lee had chosen a more direct - or less hilly - route to ride.

With the day winding down we reclaimed the car and drove to the airport, in a rather indirect way. We had to drive via Nina's house so that Lee could pick up her not-so-smart phone (see Friday's Blog!) which had been left there on Saturday morning. For those of you not familiar with Boston, this was a little bit like driving from Parramatta to Sydney via Penrith! Still we had plenty of time until my 9:30pm flight, and in fact when we made it to the check-in queue - there wasn't one. Queue that is. Which had me a little suspicious for a moment, but I guess most Bostonians don't bother getting to the airport with a bit over three hours to spare. Not that Lee and I minded, this left plenty of time for me to shout Lee to dinner as thanks for her day's tour guiding efforts and her promise to mail "Bluey" home to Laura. It was a lovely meal to finish a terrific catch-up-with-friends tour of the USA. The waitress even endorsed the "check" so that I could use the priority queue for the security and passport checks (which is normally reserved for flight crew and 1st class passengers).

After saying goodbye to Lee (some poor suckers have to go to work tomorrow!) I breezed through the formalities and made use of the airport's free Wi-Fi while I awaited my boarding call. Full marks to Iceland Air, we were away right on time at 9:30pm.