USA - Plymouth & Cape Cod, Massachusetts

From Boston, we did a day trip to Cape Cod. Cape Cod is a peninsula extending like an arm with a bent elbow into the Atlantic Ocean. It is known for its beaches and of course its history relating to the Pilgrim Fathers. South of Cape Cod are the islands of Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard. Cape Cod is in Massachusetts and south of Boston.

We headed for Plymouth which is on the border of Cape Cod. Our first stop was at the 81 ft high granite memorial to the Pilgrim Fathers. It is the National Monument to the Forefathers, formerly known as the Pilgrim Monument.

The 4 seated figures are Morality, Law, Education and Liberty

The panels relate to the Mayflower Forefathers

Faith is on top with a head circumference of 13 ft. 

We went into Plymouth town and saw the rock commemorating the landing. The area was packed with tourists, mostly American. Plymouth is where the Pilgrims set up a colony in 1620 and where New England was first established. 

A replica of the Pilgrims ship, the Mayflower -

 Statue to the Pilgrim ladies

The Mayflower House Museum, 1754

Other houses -

A Plymouth resident -

From Plymouth we went to Sandwich. Sandwich is the oldest town on Cape Cod, named by the settlers after the town in Kent.

We went to the glass museum and had a demonstration of glass blowing. The museum had an extensive display of glass products

We went onto Chatham in Barnstable county, and had lunch in a busy pub, Chatham Squire

Note the red and white stick above the fire hydrant, so it can be found in the snow-

 Getting ready for Halloween

Onto Chatham lighthouse, situated near the elbow of the cape -

There are supposedly seals in the waters here, but we only saw birds -

Our last stop of the day was at the JFK memorial at Hyannis but it was rather uninteresting. There were lots of Canada geese there. These showed no signs of migrating, unlike those we saw around Ottawa -

© Liz Price

USA - Boston, Massachusetts

Boston is the capital of Massachusetts, one of the six states forming New England. Boston is one of the oldest cities in the USA but also has a young population due to the universities.

We arrived in Boston about lunchtime and immediately went for a harbour cruise. Walking to the jetty we saw a piglet on a lead

 We had quite a long wait for the Constitution Cruise, so I took a photo of a duck with bright under plumage -

The boat was absolutely packed and sitting towards the back we didn't have great views. At least the weather was nice -

Boston's Logan airport is built right by the east side of the harbour -

Walking back to the coach -

Quincy market dates back to the 1820s -

Boston Common is a large park in downtown Boston and the oldest city park in the US. The Central Burying Ground is a burial site where a participant in the Boston Tea Party and fighter in the Revolutionary War are buried.

Boston is the birthplace of the American Revolution. The American Revolution was a political upheaval that took place between 1765 and 1783 during which colonists in the Thirteen American Colonies rejected the British monarchy and aristocracy, overthrew the authority of Great Britain, and founded the United States of America.

We stayed at the Boston Park Plaza, it opened in 1927 but has recently been extensively (and expensively) renovated. Rear entrance -

 The Castle at Park Plaza -

 Boston duck

We did a city tour but this was disappointing simply because the elderly guide wasn't good or interesting. We saw quite a few sights -

Boston old town -

 Paul Revere was a Patriot in the American Revolution, his statue faces St Stephen Catholic Church

These lie on the historic Freedom Trail (a historic trail), and at the other end of the Paul Revere Mall is the Old North Church. This is the oldest standing church in Boston, built in 1723  and still has boxes for the pews

North Church from Hull St

The narrowest house in Boston

 Copp's Hill Burying Ground laid out in 1659 -

Our next visit was to the USS Constitution Museum at the Charleston Navy Yard . The USS Constitution is the oldest commissioned warship afloat in the world.

We then drove out to Cambridge. Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts. 
Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent universities, Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Cambridge has also been home to Radcliffe College, once one of the leading colleges for women in the United States before it merged with Harvard. I didn't get many photos as we just drove round on the coach. One Harvard building -

We drove along a couple of residential streets with some very nice houses, including Longfellow's house -

We then headed back to Boston. The public library with Renaissance-style architecture -

and Old South Church -