Boston in the rain

After leaving Cape Cod, we headed to Boston in grim weather. It looked like a beautiful city on first glance, and we looked for somewhere to park. 1st Boston lesson – don't bother with parking in big cities – the car park we entered in the financial district was 12 dollars an hour!

We left quickly, and after realising accommodation was equally pricey, headed to the edge of the city and stayed in the Candlewood Suites. We were amazed to find a reasonably priced room with fridge/freezer, kitchenette, microwave, dishwasher and free laundry and gym facilities so close to the city. Unfortunately, that was almost the best part of our stay in Boston.

The train station was reached in a taxi with a leaking roof (the drips narrowly missing Nicki and soaking the seat beside her) and we exited into the city faced with heavy wind and rain. Game tourists that we are – can't call ourselves 'travellers' yet – we walked around for an hour but got completely soaked. We ended up in the Old State building, the scene of the Boston Massacre which helped spark final independence for America – a re-fresh of history which I had been bored to tears by 26 years ago at school but which comes to life when on location.

After drying out, we reached the Union Oyster House, recommended to us by my mum, and met a great barman. Nicki said “I'd like a whisky” and when he asked what kind, she said she had no special preference, just something warming. He brought a great tasting drink and when quizzed, he answered “it's Courvoisier. A brandy will warm you up more”. He gave us what we wanted, even if not what we asked for – great service.

We walked down the street and were lured into an Irish Bar by the sound of a solo acoustic guitar singer. His playing was so good, he made up for the terrible service, extortionate prices for prune-juice-like red wine and miserable service (complete with girl rushing out of the kitchen, staring up at the blank TV screens, moaning with tears in her eyes “I hate those screens” and turning tale back to the kitchen. Just weird.). We sat in large, comfy armchairs by the fire and listened to his beautiful voice and expert guitar playing, our favourite song being a cover of the James Taylor song, Fire and Rain.

We were happy to have seen the city – we felt it was a great place – even though we felt we'd missed something because of the weather. Tired, we made our way back to the hotel, the final cab ride in a taxi with a door that didn't open. It summed up our day in Boston.