Another holiday!!

4am Monday 25th November

First frost of the autumn up here.
At 4:30 we are on our way, after scraping a solid ice windscreen for the 6:20am flight to Schiphol and our onward journey to Boston Massachusetts.
Our initial problem should have been, given some forethought by us, unnecessary, we were put on standby!
So a fretful hour of wondering why I "didn't book our seats, after all it was Monday morning and the flights are effectively commuter journeys for those working in Holland".
Ah, the joys of hindsight!
We got on, and even sat together for the 40 minute flight.
13 hours later were were in our top floor room(1579) at the Boston Park Plaza.
Very nice too!

Sunset from 1579 through the glass, snow on the way overnight!

After gathering ourselves and unpacking we decided for a walk around just to get our bearings and find somewhere to have our evening meals.
We found a good few restaurants with easy walking from the hotel, but after some discussion decided we were better off, after this long day, to eat in the hotel.
As it turned out, for me the best clam and pasta meal I had over the few days, for Pauline much to my surprise, a burger, which she didn't enjoy...I knew she wouldn't!
The next two evenings were spent in restaurants just around the corner.
The first a fish restaurant, called Legal Sea Foods, which was alright, and as can be expected form a chain restaurant.
The next evening a very good Italian called Maggiono's, a big restaurant, with food so good we tried to book the next evening (Thanksgiving), but they had been taking bookings since October last year and were fully booked with 900 covers!
In the meantime we took the obligatory site seeing tour on the Trolley, an hour long trip with a good guide driver, but it was peeing down all day, so we didn't get off at the "highlight" spots, still very good, and I learned something new. The tea tipped in the harbour was 4 years old...no wonder they rebelled.
We had a wander around the markets, Quincy, Faneuil etc. None of which were traditional markets as we know them, but commercial shops and mall restaurants.
Our Thanksgiving dinner was to be at the Hard Rock Cafe, following a recommendation from a fellow guest at the Park Plaza.
As it turned out, they were making a half hearted effort with a turkey mash and cranberry sauce dinner, squeezed in with the standard menu. I really wanted an authentic turkey dinner
We abandoned our seats and crossed the road to a small hotel restaurant North 26. Which although "fully booked" found us a table for two.
Excellent staff and excellent food, I was even given a "secret" recipe for a very good bloody Mary by the cocktail mixer, after Pauline asked jokingly for the recipe. Unusual ingredients but one to experiment with.
I must admit if I'm having turkey, I would much rather have roast spuds and brussel sprouts. Mash and pumpkin didn't quite do it for me!
We liked Boston, a small city with plenty going on, our 4 nights were well worth the time taken to get there and back.

Little brother Pete

We kept in touch.
As of yesterday, he is still in Queens Romford and champing at the bit to get out.
Thankfully he seems to be recovering well, he tells me he has no after affects, so it's looking good.
I shall be seeing him on Friday, on my way back from another session with the International Drinking Society in the big smoke.