mybigadventures.com

We were up a little later after the long day yesterday, but made use of the hotel Starbucks to grab some breakfast. Once we were ready, we set off for the information centre on Boston Common. We were initially after a map, but once there we decided to buy the Freedom Trail map for $2. The Freedom Trail takes you around all of the historic landmarks in Boston, but last time we were here in 2013, we bought trolley bus tickets, so had never actually followed it properly. The trail is clearly marked by a red brick path and can be followed for free, but the map we bought gave us some additional information about each of the stops. There were 16 stops in total, taking you across the city by foot, starting at Boston Common and ulimataely finishing at the Bunker Hill Monument.

Along the trail, we stopped off in churches and burial grounds tracing the steps of legendary American patriots including Benjamin Franklin and Paul Revere. There is plenty to see and covering the whole trail took us the whole day. The real highlight was visiting USS Constitution or old iron sides as it was knicknamed due to the way cannon balls bounced off the sides. Last time we were here in 2013, we managed to see the ship sailing out into the harbour and firing cannons, we since found out this happens only 6 or 7 times a year, so this time when we visited it was docked for visitors. You go through some security and have to show photo ID before you're able to board the ship as the site is an active military base but then we were on board. We spend some time exploring the ship both above and below deck, taking a few pictures as we went before moving on to our final stop at Bunker Hill. Just before we left, we made full use of the water vapour spray they had on the way into and out of the base - it was another scorcher today and so the water spray was a welcome treat.

By the time we reached the last stop at Bunker Hill, we were feeling pretty tired so we decided to get a drink and look for somewhere to eat on the way back to the hotel. We stopped at Starbucks and making use of their WiFi, we found a place to eat close by. It was a pub and so we both got ID'd on the way in - first time in a while! I had a steak sandwich whilst Dani had a seafood sandwich, it was very nice, but feeling tired we headed back to the hotel soon after. We spent the evening catching up on some journal and photos, booking tour tickets for Fenway park tomorrow, before calling it a night. 

 . . . . . and thats about it really. Not a whole lot to say at the minute I havent had any time to do anymore. I just wanted to make the front page a little less plain.

After all the stresses and effort of moving house (and the temperamental British weather!) we decided to have a last minute break in Turin, to soak up some sun and get a bit of culture. We arrived on Wednesday afternoon, leaving behind torrential rain and instead arriving in 26 degree heat and sunshine. We're staying at the Principi de Piemonte hotel which is very smart and in a great central location. Following a recommendation from our hotel, we went to a place called Alla Lettera for tea, a good pizza place, where we enjoyed some authentic Italian pizza and beer. Walked back to the hotel as it was trying to rain a bit, but not as bad as the rain back home!

We've been taking it fairly easy, but on our first day, we did wander around much of the town, looking at the key sights and finding our bearings. We started at the Piazza Castello, where the Palazzo Reale di Torino is situated and ambled around from there, looking at the old town, the main market place, a number of impressive churches, the 'Mole' (the emblem of Turin) and ending near the river Po. We went back to the hotel for a rest before heading to another recommended restaurant, Pastificio Defilipis, where we enjoyed homemade pasta dishes - Dani had a black ink pasta with swordfish and aubegine, while I had pesto pasta with beans and potatoes, followed by peaches with Amaretto and chocolate and tarte tartin. Very tasty. Feeling full, we headed to the Piazza San Carlo for a walk and to take some nighttime photos. It began thundering en route and, shortly after, we found ourselves in the middle of a full thunderstorm. The rain quickly followed and we dived for cover. Fortunately most of the route back to the hotel is under large covered walkways so we managed to keep fairly dry but there were plenty of bangs and flashes of lightning to keep us entertained on the walk.  

We woke up on Friday to sunshine again and decided to return to the Palazzo Reale to actually visit - it contains about 5 different museums so we thought it needed a good stretch of time! We started in the gardens - a little disappointing, as they haven't been tended well and the only part available to walk around was a patch of grass that was being cut for the first time in what we assumed to be quite a while. The state apartments were splendid however and there was a large armoury, with exhibits of suits of armour for people, children and horses. We had a drink and a cake/biscuit in the palace cafe at the bottom before moseying out. Just outside the palace there is the Church of San Lorenzo, which we noticed was open and decided to pop in, without realising that it was the former home of the Turin shroud and had a small exhibit about it after it was transferred to Turin, with a fill-sized copy on the wall. There was information labellling the key parts of the shroud to make it easier to understand and some information about the various testing that it has undergone to prove authenticity. We also visited the two churches on Piazza San Carlo, which is really close by; the two churches, Chisea San Carlo Borromeo and Chisea di Santa Christina are at the end of the piazza with the pedestrianised part of Via Roma running between them. The churches are quite similar in appearance although Chidea di Santa Christina is more heavily decorated on the outside while Chisea San Carlo feels quite a bit bigger on the inside. It's only a small distance to the hotel so we went back for a short spell before dinner.

The hotel also seemed to be hosting the Torino football team, as there was their coach parked up outside and people starting to gather. As we headed out for dinner later in the evening, we found that large numbers of people were now surrounding the exit and we had to almost fight our way through the barricades to get out! From there we went for pizza - a place called Pizza ad Hoc, where we enjoyed lovely pizza and beer once again. To burn off some of the consumed calories - and to catch a rather glorious looking sunset - we headed out across the river to the nearby Santa Maria del Monte di Cappucini to see the view back across Turin. It's a fantastic view point across the city which came alive with lights as the sun set. The large tower that can be seen standing high amongst the other buildings is the Mole Antonelliana. It has a glass elevator that you can ride up to see the view across Turin, although we haven't done it yet. We stayed up there for quite a while, watching the lights flickering on through the city, with the sihouettes of the mountains in the distance. And, so to bed.