"Well I've been staring at the rain and I've been thinking, ever since the train left Montreal" Most of all - The Osmonds

Monday 1st May

The night before I had returned to the room to grab something during dinner and when I got back to the kitchen I'd said to Charlotte, “we've got a potential snorer in the room”. Low and behold, we were both awoken at around half 1 by the sound of a chainsaw ripping through the room. We could clearly hear that we weren't the only ones struggling to sleep but nobody else wanted to get up and smother the guy with a pillow. Eventually, I did, then we fled to the border. Just kidding! I attempted to shake the bed but the guy was so heavy, it just wouldn't shift. I got back in to bed and rammed my earplugs as far into my ears as I could but it made no difference. In the end, something happened, by which he probably rotated his bulk and the snoring stopped and we all quickly took of advantage of the peace and quiet and made sure to catch sleep before he started again.

He had started by the time we woke up at half 5, but by that point we just didn't care. We left him to the others in the room and whatever consequences befell him. As we were leaving so early, we'd asked at reception if we could grab some bagels but they were being stubborn and just wouldn't let us, so we dumped our keys and headed out the door into the fresh morning air. The bus stop was only a 10 minute walk away and it was probably one of the better ones we'd frequented over the past month (we’ll be train spotting next! The buses were listed above the doors, so we could settle into our line safe in the knowledge we would be getting a seat together. Once aboard and departed at 7, we spent the first 2 hours catching up with the sleep the snorer had prevented us from having the night before. After our stop at a place called White River Junction, we fuelled up on coffee and managed to stay awake for the rest of the way to the Canadian border, which we arrived at around 12:45. There is absolutely nothing to like about border crossings and despite having nothing to hide, we were absolutely dreading the experience. Fortunately, it was Canadians behind the desks and not Americans and after a few quick questions, our passports were stamped and we were sent through to await the remaining passengers. Once we'd all been stamped and there had been no issues like on the train at El Paso, we all got back onboard and finished the journey into Montreal. We were bang on time, which was a surprise considering Charlotte had kept an eye on previous buses and they had all been​ delayed crossing the border. Ahead of us was a 35 minute walk to our hostel, through absolutely awful weather. The skies had been the colour of lead since we'd left Boston and at moments while we were travelling through Vermont, it had actually looked like it was more likely to snow than rain. Eventually, the look of snow went and the rain started just as we were approaching the border. The rain had continued on our short journey up to Montreal. The rain had slowed to spits when we exited the bus station but due to the length of the walk, we still managed to get pretty wet and were pretty miserable by the time we found the hostel. We instantly took a disliking to the hostel. It was in shabby condition all over the place and we were stuck on top bunks completely separate from one another. Despite the weather, we were just desperate to get back out of it, so dumped our things, grabbed a map and headed out. I'd read about a place called the underground city, which was a series of tunnels that contained shops, restaurants, cafes, hotels and metro stations and seemed like a sensible place to spend a rainy afternoon out of the rain. The only problem was that we couldn't find it. Google maps took us to a place where it reckoned it was but there were no stairways leading to the underground city. We were giving up when we joined back up what seemed to be the main street of Montreal, when we noticed loads of people ducking through some doors that had Gare Centrale written above them. My French isn't the best but I know Gare means station and we knew that some stations were linked to the underground tunnels, so we took the punt. It turned out we just had to follow the locals. We did something else the locals seem to do a lot when we got downstairs and that was visit Tim Horton’s. Tim Horton’s is a coffee shop and bakery that is as present on the streets of Canada as Dunkin’ Donuts or McDonalds are in America or Tesco Expresses are in Worthing. Charlotte and I had both been semi frequent visitors in our previous visits to Canada, so we stopped by for a Hot Chocolate each, in order to warm us through. After our short break, we continued through the underground streets but found nothing worth stopping for and decided to see if there was anything more entertaining above ground. There wasn't, as it happens, for now at least, so we found a tourist shop and wrapped up the pin badge, before hunting down a supermarket that was hidden inside a huge mall. Going off a hunch, we decided to try our luck with baked beans in tomato sauce for the first time in a long while. We were sceptical at first, as the supermarket didn't appear to be too big but after we turned a corner, it opened out and was actually huge. To our relief, we did find proper baked beans for a reasonable price. We quickly shelved any plans for other dinner and picked up some beans and pasta. There was nothing else we really needed, so we checked out and started heading home. As we were walking home, along Rue Sainte-Catherine, we couldn't help but notice some chanting and noise up ahead of us. We also saw lots of policemen dressed up in riot gear. It turned out the noise was from a march making its way down the road, who's members were holding banners with the communist hammer and sickle emblazoned on it and at least the word “capitalism” written on it too. We couldn't understand the chanting or the rest of the words as our French was (is) just too poor but it was clearly some sort of pro communist march, which seemed very odd, in a country that isn't necessarily associated with communism. Some of the participants had their faces covered and the riot police looked ready for action, so we hurried on past in case anything got a bit heated. After we returned home and tucked in to our beans and pasta, which was fine but didn't quite reach the heady heights of previous versions, we googled and came up with that it was a group of students with communist ideals who were doing the marches and previous ones had gotten violent, with injuries and arrests. We were pleased we'd probably caught it early. After dinner, we got scrubbed up and set ourselves out in the room a bit more comfortably as, despite not really liking the hostel, we knew we had to tolerate it for the time being. Once the beds were made, it did actually end up quite comfortable.

Tuesday 2nd May

Breakfast was between the very generous hours of 7 and 12, so we considered the idea of getting up early, eating breakfast then returning before 12 and helping ourselves to more for lunch. In the end, we didn't get up early, so that plan went out the window. The breakfast was still good though and we couldn't quibble about the selection of cereal that was on offer. After brekkie, we decided the plan and headed out. Charlotte had come down with a cold in Boston, so we decided to take it as easy as possible. We wandered slowly down to the old town and port, which took us around 40 minutes. On the way, we passed the Notre-Dame Basillica, which had a pleasant square in front of it, that a few people were enjoying on what was quite a nice morning. Not ones to frequent churches, we continued down into the old town. We'd been curious during our stroll where all the tourists were but realised when we arrived that the old town was the obvious answer. Where we were staying was the modern downtown area and had nothing, bar a few churches, to write home about. The old town was pleasant though, if a bit touristy. There were cobbled streets and old buildings, now housing souvenir shops and clothing boutiques. We walked along rue de St.Paul before reaching Place Jacques-Cartier, which was a square leading down to an entrance to the old port of Montreal. The square contained a statue of Lord Admiral Nelson, standing atop one of his columns with his back to the water as well as Montreal City Hall. From the square, we walked to the old port, which is where Charlotte started to recall some memories of her previous trip to the city. They just weren't clear memories and our attempt to find a u shaped tree that she had been photographed on, failed. We did find the clock tower though, which was worth a quick photo. We spent an hour or so wandering the old port, enjoying the fresh breeze that was coming off the St.Lawrence river and keeping an eye out for the elusive tree. Once we'd seen enough of the port, we walked back up the the main street and picked up a fresh baguette and some pepperoni. It was the first time we'd had one of our ‘make at a bench lunches’ in a long, long time and it was a nice change. We had some pepperoni left over, so we walked back to the hostel to store it in a fridge before heading back out. The hostel had been a convenient stopping point, as our next destination was in a completely different direction than the old port had been. It took us about half an hour to reach the main viewing area of Mont Royale, which is a small mountain overlooking the Montreal skyline. We spent some time appreciating the view while nearly falling asleep on a bench before deciding it was time to get Charlotte back to the hostel for some much needed rest. Dinner was an odd concoction of pasta, sweetcorn and carrots mixed with mushroom soup as a substitute for sauce. 

... Mike, November, Oscar, Papa ...

James and Charlotte

"I'm shipping up to Boston" The Dropkick Murphyd

Friday 28th April

There was no need for us to be up too early to leave New York but we just couldn't help ourselves. Our bags were ready to go the night before, so we just had to leave the room, grab some breakfast and head for the metro. It was safe to say we weren't looking forward to getting the metro right in the middle of rush hour but we had no choice, so we had to squeeze ourselves on the train in anyway. The platform of the station was busy but when the train pulled up, it wasn't too bad so there was plenty of room for us and our luggage. It helped that we were in a line that didn't go right into the business district, otherwise it probably would have been heaving. It also helped that the megabus station wasn't located at the main bus station and when we got off, which was the end of the line, there were only a handful of people left on. We got out of the station and tried to navigate our way to the bus stop, which was made harder by it being a foggy morning, so there was no landmarks to go by. Eventually, we found it, after making our way through the roadworks and building works that seemed to be taking up the entire island of Manhattan. Once we found our queue, we just had to wait. The 9:10 bus left first and we watched them all board before we joined the line and sat down. By the time we boarded, we were thankful because the sun was warm, so the air conditioned bus was a relief. It took us about an hour to get out of New York, which was incredibly tedious but after a while, we were out on the open highway heading towards New England. We pulled in to Boston’s south station almost an hour late but it was nice to be somewhere other than New York. It was hot too. Really hot! As hot as Louisiana or Texas had been, which was really surprising. We'd been expecting chilly and windy, much like home. It was a 10 minute walk to our hostel from the bus station but we still managed​ to work up a sweat. Once we were checked in, we grabbed a shower, before heading out. After our disappointment in Philadelphia when the baseball was rained off, we were keen to get to another game and it just so happened that the Boston Red Sox were playing at home whilst we were in town. We didn't have tickets, so thought we'd try our luck just turning up at the gate. As it was such a lovely evening, we walked all the way to Fenway Park from the hostel and followed the edge of the stadium until we found the ticket office. There was a bit of a line, so we weren't confident that we'd get in. When a man came past and counted the people way behind us, our outlook, changed to positive. When we got to the booth, the cashier told us there were loads of tickets, so we needn't have worried. We got a couple of seats in the bleachers, which are in the outfield, where the ball ends up if they hit a home run. Once we'd located our seats, we picked up a hot dog for something to eat, before returning to start the game. I'd been to a baseball game before and actually one at Fenway Park, so I knew what to expect but Charlotte was new to the whole spectacle. There was a whole load of pomp and ceremony at the beginning, including the American national anthem which seemed to get even the burliest of men screaming like teenage girls at a One Direction concert. We reluctantly stood but didn't sing. The game was decided in the first innings when the Red Sox took a 5-2 lead. The opposing team, the Chicago Cubs, who had a lot of fans in the stadium and in our section in particular, just couldn't seem to do anything to change the game. They cut the deficit to 5-4 late in the game but the Red Sox closed it out to claim the win. I was starting to think I may be a lucky charm as that was both games I'd been to that they had won. It was amusing to notice during the game that 95% of the fans around us, weren't watching the game and rather using the opportunity to socialise, which was fine but when you account for ticket, food and drink prices, it's an expensive night out. The only time everyone was focused was when Sweet Caroline by Neil Diamond was blasted from the stadium speakers and “SO GOOD, SO GOOD, SO GOOD”, was screamed back. All in all​, it was a pleasant way to spend an evening. The game finished about half 10, which made it a late night, for us, after our 40 minute walk back to the hostel.

Saturday 29th April

After the late night, we had a bit of a lie in before getting up around 8. We headed down to the kitchen for the free breakfast which, after a couple of hostels with out it, was a real treat. We didn't rush out after breakfast and sat down on a sofa by a lift to plan out our day. This didn't take too long though and we were out on the balmy streets by half 9. Our day started in Boston Commons, which was originally a militia training area but is now a park with numerous trails and even a pond with 2 frog statues by it. We were looking for the start of the Freedom Trail, which is a 2.5 miles pathway that winds through downtown Boston, passing numerous historic sites. The track started at the visitors centre, which was obvious when we saw the man dressed in olde American dress standing outside it proclaiming that the next freedom trail tour would start at 10:30. We didn't want the tour, so picked up a pamphlet and headed off on our own. The first stop was the Massachusetts state house, which is the state Capitol of the commonwealth of Massachusetts and with its gold dome, wouldn't look too out of place in the Middle East. With it being a weekend, the gates were locked, so we had to forget about going in and continue along the trail. Further in we passed a church and a statue of Benjamin Franklin, before reaching the Old South Meeting House, which is where the plans for the Boston Tea Party were laid out but more on that tomorrow. The old state house and the site of the Boston Massacre followed before we reached Faneuil Hall, which housed a pretty good indoor market. We kept our eye out for a Boston cream doughnut but, to our great disappointment didn't find any. It didn't take us long however, as just down the road was Boston public market with a place called Union Square donuts that supplied us with 2 decadent Boston cream doughnuts. We sat down at a bench to savour the sweetness and ended up making an absolute mess of ourselves in the process. But it was worth it. After our sugary pit stop we were approaching the end of the freedom trail but the sites were starting to become a bit more spread out. After another church we crossed over the Charles River to the final 2 stops, the USS constitution, which is an old US navy frigate and the oldest commissioned naval vessel afloat and the Bunker Hill monument, erected to commemorate one of the first battles of the revolutionary war. It had been a tiring walk on another very hot day and we were pretty warn out. We had a quick sit down on a bench before heading off back along the trail. We stopped by the outdoor section of the public market and picked up some fresh vegetables for our dinner before heading back to the hostel. It was almost 3 when we got back but we had a couple of snacks we had leftover for some lunch and then headed back out, having got rid of heavy cameras and bags. We ventured to the downtown crossing area of Boston, which is where all the shops and theatres of the city are located. We picked up a couple more items for our dinner from a supermarket and hunted down a pin badge from a souvenir shop next to Faneuil Hall. We were in the unusual territory of having another day in a place, so that meant we could relax a wee bit (I know it seems like we always do that!), so we returned to the hostel once more and crashed out before dinner. Our peppers, kale, carrots and tomatoes from the market made a slap up dinner alongside some rice and onion and we had loads of the aforementioned veg leftover for another helping the following day.

Sunday 30th April

We were so laid back now, we didn't even set an alarm to wake us up, although I did have an angry Charlotte messaging me saying she was hungry. I eventually relented and we went down to scoff some bagels and cereal. In the kitchen, there was a huge window that looks down on to the street and Charlotte noticed that most of the pedestrians were sporting big jackets and trousers. We were sceptical about this, because the past 2 days had been scorchers, where even the evening had only needed a t-shirt. So, when we were ready to go out, we ignored the whimps out on the streets in their winter attire and went for shorts. We regretted it immediately. Somehow, despite there still being clear blue skies, the temperature had plummeted by about 40° (Fahrenheit because it sounds more dramatic) overnight. In the sun, it was pleasant but in the shade and when the icy wind was blowing, it was freezing. Being British, we didn't turn around and change our clothes, we just ploughed on, putting a brave face on it. Our itinerary wasn't​ bulging for the day and actually only had 2 definite items on it. The first was a a visit to the Boston Tea Party museum, which was located on Fort Point Channel, south of downtown. We decided to go despite the steep entry fee of $28 per person, as, if we hadn't, we'd have probably ended up spending the whole day in bed. We were greeted by costumed actors, which is something Americans just seem to love doing and sat down in a room on pews with about 8 other people. Once the doors were closed behind us, we were introduced to the situation by a lady playing a part who’s name has completely slipped my mind. She introduced a man playing the part of Samuel Adams, who was a prominent politician in colonial Massachusetts. He gave us all a rousing speech, that included some rehearsed input from other people on the tour, about why we should sabotage the tea that was sitting on ships in Boston Harbour and was going to be heavily taxed. The tax was to be paid for the local people and they weren't happy about that. Once the speech was over, Samuel Adams left us to it and we walked down a gangplank to a replica boat, where there were imitation crates of tea leaves that we threw in to the frigid waters of the harbour. The tour was all very interactive, which we guess is why we paid so much for it. Once the deed was done, we had a quick tour of the ship before heading in to a museum. As I said, the ship was only a replica but it was to scale and seemed incredibly small. The bunks for the ships crew were small and cramped and with it being winter when they sailed to Boston, it would have been freezing. Once in the museum, where we weren't aloud to take photographs, we were shown a series of videos that gave some more background on the so called ‘tea party’. We had been given feathers upon entering the tour that would mimic the ones actually used by the people who actually undertook the deed of hurling the tea of the boat. The feathers were used to make them look like Mohawks but it was known by the British that that was all pretence. One of the videos in the museum showed 2 women (mother/daughter or sisters, it wasn't explained) having an argument over their taking different sides. The second was a back and forth between King George III and Samuel Adams after the incident, with King George saying there will be a war where the union will either crumble or earn its independence and Samuel Adams claiming the union will prosper and Great Britain will pale into insignificance. It was all very pro USA, which was to be expected. In between we were shown an actually crate from the tea party that had been found and kept and eventually purchased by the museum. We guessed that the crate was the reason for the high ticket fee. Finally, we were shown a video about the first knocking of the revolutionary war. It was, of course, started by the British when they marched to Lexington and were​ confronted by the local militia. This led to “the short heard around the world” being fired, when the British fired upon the unionists, who had agreed not to fire their weapons unless provoked. At the end, we were thanked by the lady, still in character, for being good sports (because of us being British) and we all departed through the tea room. I'm not sure I've covered the tea party to well in what I've just written, so I'll just do a quick recap. There was a cargo ship sitting in the dock of Boston harbour, with tea waiting to be taken off of it. All the other goods had gone but with the King implementing a tea tax, the locals of the colonies didn't want to pay it, so they sabotaged the tea by throwing it into the water. They were complaining about what they called “taxation without representation”, which meant they weren't able to choose who represented them in Parliament. The Boston tea party was a key moment that helped start the revolutionary war, which ultimately led to an independent America. It always seems very British that a cup of tea caused such a fuss. After the tour, we stepped back out in to the cold and decided it was time for some food to warm us through. When in New England, there is one thing that you have to try and that is Chowder, or Chowdah as the locals call it. We'd looked up a popular place nearby and walked further out of town and along some wharves to get to it. The place was called the Yankee Lobster Company and is owned by a family of fishermen. It was small inside with a few tables, which were busy but we managed to find a spare one after ordering our pots of New England clam chowder. They came with a couple of bags of oyster crackers, which we stirred into our chowders to give them more texture. It was good chowder (as far as we know), with lots of seafood in it and a good sized portion. We were pretty full afterwards and it was just the ticket on a cold day. We started to walk back to town in order to pick up some wifi to find a local brewery but when we did, we found it was pretty much where we had just come from, so we didn't bother to go back and face the biting wind, so headed back to the hostel. That was our list done for the day, which was nice because it meant we could spend the rest of it relaxing. We did venture out once more though, which happened to coincide with a freezing rain shower. Funnily enough, we ended up getting some lovely cold ice cream, which would have been better the day before when it had been stifling. We like to break trends though, so we didn't care. Charlotte felt as though she was coming down with something, so after ice cream, we paid a quick visit to the supermarket, before staying warm in the room for the rest of the day. After packing, ready for a return to the early starts, we cooked up some dinner with the remaining​ veg before settling in.

"Well I've been staring at the rain and I've been thinking..."

James and Charlotte