Saturday
17/06/17
Boston,
USA. Start of Paul's Holiday!
Poor
Paul. Seemingly no sooner had he fallen asleep last night then the
phone rang. Fog had set in and he had to go on duty until 4am after
which the Captain took over. Just after 6am Paul got another wakeup
call – he had to go before immigration! Poor chap... It was
pointless him going back to sleep afterwards – he had a handover to
do with his colleague. From that point onward it was all systems go
for him and what a busy morning he had. The cabin steward left
cleaning the cabin for as long as he could and when he did, he
changed the bed linen and left cleaning the bathroom until Paul had
finished his handover and taken a shower.
Paul
finally managed to tear himself away from the ship at around 12 noon
and we headed off the gangway and into the cruise terminal to a
waiting taxi. Traffic through Boston wasn't too bad – we had
expected delays and traffic interruptions due to the 'Sail Boston'
event. It was the taxi driver who was the problem. He drove a bit
like a maniac, a bit too fast and was very impatient at traffic
lights. He seemed to like the sound of his car hooter too! We were
glad we got to the hotel in one piece.
Our
hotel room wasn't ready so we left our luggage with the hotel
receptionist and headed towards the harbour with the aim of visiting
the aquarium. The waterfront was barricaded and we had to find an
entrance in the barricade to go through. All in the name of
security. Bags and people were searched on entering the waterfront.
After a bit of a wait we got through security and took a walk to the
aquarium. The entrance fee was rather pricey and there was also
quite a long queue to get in so we decided not to go. Instead we
took a walk along the waterfront, looking at different boats that had
docked for the 'Sail Boston' event. Some boats were open to
visitors, others weren't. We caught sight of Barque Europa – she
was beautiful! There was lots of activity happening on board –
sails being tied down and rigging secured. Some of the volunteer
crew were disembarking. The boat was not open to the public at that
time so we continued walking along the waterfront. During our walk
we stopped at a stall had had calamari – a rather late lunch but it
was delicious and quietened our growling stomachs.
The
afternoon was drawing to a close and I was getting cold. It was time
to return to the hotel to check in. We took a bit of a detour back
to the hotel, stopping in a nearby park to have a large cookie. We
found a bench to sit down on whilst eating and watched a squirrel.
It seemed to be quite 'human-savvy' and hoped for a crumb or two. A
lady offered it some food – possibly popcorn – but it wasn't
quite the meal that squirrel was hoping for so it carried on its way
in search of something more suited to the squirrel's tastebuds.
We
were able to check in at the hotel and I had a lovely soak in the
bath. Ooooohhh, it felt so good.
Tomorrow
we fly back to the Netherlands.
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