Day 5 – The 30,902 steps

Yippee, the hotel has a free guest laundry, a chance to wash my paltry selection of outfits. It could get tiresome with only 4 of 5 days of clothes! It is also the 2nd oldest building in Boston that’s continuously been a hotel since 1877.  Now I know why those windows have seen better days.

A lot of walking today, hence the title. I set off towards Cambridge a neighbouring city just across the bay and home to the universities of Harvard and MIT. 

Crossing the river things got much quieter, one thing  I am noticing is that there is much less ‘nanny’ state. It manifests itself in many ways, for example none of the several sets of scaffolding I walked through had any warning tape and none of those foam protectors that are like swimming pool noodles. It’s up to you to watch where you are going, which is probably as it should be.

The colleges were quiet as the students are only just arriving, so I didn’t get the chance to pull my ‘visiting professor of languages from Europe’ ruse, but I walked around Harvard yard and the library enjoying all the different buildings and architecture. 

Just near Harvard there is graffiti alley, maybe the students use it to let off steam.

Back in Boston, I stopped for some refreshments and then followed the ice sculpture route towards the harbour for a while.

There are at least a dozen or so dotted around town. Yesterday they were covered up as it was drizzling, which melts them too quickly, but today it’s just a bit cloudy.

By the time I got back on the freedom trail in the North End it was starting to get dark. First stop was the USS Constitution, the oldest commissioned warship in the world. Then the Copp’s hill burying ground where many of the Boston Tea Party participants are interred. 

Finally as the light failed I reached the Bunker Hill monument, site of the first battle of the revolution. Although the British won this battle, the cost was terrible with almost 50% of the soldiers lost.

This evening I am off to Copley Square situated in Back bay. There have been events all day for New Year, but tonight there are several bands playing. Someone has been handing out some sort of paper trumpet to all and sundry. Unfortunately they sound like a whale farting. 

The square is heaving with people, the atmosphere electric and unlike the disastrous and useless mayor of London, the events have not been cancelled, nor have the fireworks.

I grabbed a hot dog from a vendor and a spot near the stage for the first of 3 bands.

First up were The Sultans. Two of them are The Voice and X factor finalists, add in an excellent guitarist and a great drummer who leapt around, Keith Moon style and the result was brilliant. 

Next up were the Sons of Levin, again another great guitarist and a trumpet player. The lead singer was eccentric kind of a cross between Jim Morrison and Marc Bolan, again excellent.

Finally there was the Silver shadow band,  a singing duo backed by Keyboard, drums and a bass guitarist. No lead guitarist, but the bassist did a few sols’s.

I saw my first loud (ish) American as well. As far as I can work out a girl he fancied had said yes via snapchat and he was leaping all over the place in extreme excitement , proclaiming I can’t believe it to anyone listening. To be fair he was quite drunk and young so hey…

The countdown started and lasers began firing from the buildings, some fireworks too, but the main display was earlier and another is at the harbour a mile away.

I was a bit chilly, but I’ve not seen in the New Year so well in many many years.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!