Boston was a blast!!

Our trip into Boston from Manchester was only a little more than 20 miles so we arrived before lunchtime, but not without experiencing many wrong turns and confusion over the directions. What seems to be happening to us a lot lately is as we compare Greenway directions with Google bike directions along with GPSing us on the Droid, we get conflicting results. Many streets have more than one name and more than once the signs have been turned, shooting us the wrong way. Still and all we get where we need to be! The hysterical thing about winding our way into Boston was that every traffic cop or city cop we stopped to ask directions from sounded just like Bill Kennedy, our friend from Rome who now lives in Florida but grew up in Massachusetts!! After we found our hotel and checked in, we headed right out again on a very pleasant walk to Fanueil Hall and Quincy Market where we had lunch at where else but Cheers! Shopping and people watching in a big city is always so unique and fun. The sights, sounds, and smells are so much more intense than little ole Rome, NY! We decided to dress up a bit and head to a fancy hotel called the Liberty for a pre dinner cocktail. Their lounge is called Alibi and is rather swanky. As we relaxed we noticed excessive numbers of well dressed people parading through the hotel lobby with dogs on leashes or in their arms. We couldn't resist asking our waitress what was going on and she told us that once a week the Liberty sponsors "Yappy Hour" in their outside patio area. Of course we had to check it out! What a riot...all the owners eating and drinking and chatting while their dogs ran around and socialized as well. Made me miss Andre and Peyton, but with a big smile on my face! So, onto dinner which was heavenly. L'Osteria is in the North End and has the best veal we have ever eaten:) Couldn't resist a night time skyline photo on our walk home...

Hit the road kind of early today to reach Worcester at a decent hour and it is a good thing we did because Joel had another flat and we were plagued once again with hills! These inclines were not as steep as those we battled in Maine, but rather long uphills that kept on coming. We logged one in at over two miles long. Before we hit the hills, however, we were treated to a terrific nine mile bike/pedestrian pathway along the Charles River which got us safely out of the city. We rode right by Boston University on our left, Harvard across the river on our right, and I am pretty sure BC further up on our left. Oh, and then we passed the Northeastern University Rowing House. Many sculls were out with their coaching boats nearby. We were able to get off the road two more times which is always a relief...there is a rail trail called the Assabet River Rail Trail and another delightful off road pathway called the Blue Heron. Would love to take another look at the College of Holy Cross (we took Paige there on a visit 3 years ago), but once you dismount from the bike for the day it is awfully hard to get back on! Think we will walk across the street for dinner instead:)