25 May 2009 - Travel to Boston

Monday was another brilliantly hot and sunny day but this was tinged with slight sadness that the Ale was over and we had to say goodbye to our new found morris friends. There was however just time for MFD to have a special treat of a ride on an authentic Harley Davidson courtesy of CJ from Jack in the Green.

After another excellent brunch, we all packed up and loaded the buses for a trip to Boston via Concord. The buses set off together but the cars made their own way. The bus convoy stopped off en route at Gardner for a comfort break where there was a rather strange sanitary installation! Then it was on to Concord but, by the time we arrived, the town centre was closed due to the Memorial Day parade. Sue L's car had sensibly got there earlier and so we later got a full report and photos of what the bus passengers had missed.

Meanwhile, Pip's bus suffered a complete power failure which I am told was apparently nothing to do with the way that it was being driven (of course!). The bonnet (hood) was lifted and, after some inspired fiddling about with the battery terminals by Steve, power was restored and we were on our way again. Having abandoned the Concord visit, the buses stopped on the way out of town as we were all rather hungry. Some of us were so desperate that we ventured into one of the ubiquitous Dunkin Donuts establishments. While there, Margaret B received a phone call to say that Richard was going to be a professor. Her reaction was, of course, "I donut believe it!".

Then it was off in convoy once more to the hotel in Boston. The journey was enlivened by silly games concerning hijacked magnetic signs and ransoms paid off by singing songs with "bridge" in the title, all done over walkie-talkies. And most people were still sober at this stage! We slightly overshot the entrance to the Holiday Inn Express in Cambridge but a nifty U-turn did the trick. There we were greeted with fantastically appointed comfortable rooms with all mod cons. Sheer luxury! A special thank you to Leroy and all of his team at Holiday Inn Express for making our stay so enjoyable.

A group of 20 of us made our way (in search of food, of course) into the centre of Boston using the T subway system which is a cross between an underground train, tram and a trolley bus. There was great confusion trying to get tickets before boarding but we eventually all managed to get on a tram. On alighting the other end, we walked into the Italian area of the city where there was a vast array of restaurants to choose from. We ended up in La Galleria 33 as this was the first one we found that could accommodate our large party. The food was generally excellent but for some reason the bills (checks) were hand-written.

The consensus was that some exercise was needed, so we had a very pleasant walk down to the harbour and round the Quincy Market area. Then it was back to the hotel via taxi or T-train.