M&M&M's adventures - Prince Edward Island day 1 [draft]

Pei preserve company

Green Gables

LM Montgomery's cavendish home

Original mantelpiece/clock

Original post office desk

The site still belongs to the family. They read her journals and realized how important the place was to her and what inspired her so they cleared it and found the remains of the house. The stone cellar and stairs leading to it remained and they restored the well.

Dalvay by the sea 

Fishermans wharf - takeaway and dinner on our deck

Shopping - moo's icecream

M&M&M's adventures - Nova Scotia [draft]

We woke up early and took a taxi to Boston airport for our flight to Halifax.

And after an easy 1.5hr flight we arrived in Canada!!

Canadian immigration was interesting... The guy I had was really gruff and asked a heap of questions. Marika's person was more pleasant and when she told them she was going to PEI he said that all you will see is the Japanese tourists.

Although reflecting at the end of today, I haven't seen one!

It took about 7hrs to drive a 3.5hr trip because we took a scenic drive along the East coast of Nova Scotia.

We finally arrived in Cavendish and checked into our little cottage. It's a 2 bedroom cottage and it has a really nice deck.
We watched the sun set over Cavendish beach.

M&M&M's adventures - Boston day 2 [draft]

This morning we met Mei Sing at the Boston Public Garden. The bench was free so Michelle and I decided to have a Good Will Hunting moment...

Then we all and decided to walk the Freedom trail. The trail starts at one end of Boston Common which is another public park adjoining the Public Garden.
Marika and Mei Sing decided to do a tour that started at the Visitors' Centre located at the Eastern side of the park. Michelle and I decided to do our own thing with a book we bought of the Freedom trail. The guided tour did not appeal to us because we didn't like the look of the groups. Basically there's a person dressed in 18th Century costume that takes you around and explains the landmarks along the trail. However, they overbook these groups and it looks like 30-40 people in a group. It looked like it would be tough to hear the guide so we didn't want to join the tour.

Not being on tour meant that we could just explore at a leisurely pace. So we followed the same route but at our own timing and also making the diversions we wanted and having a rest anytime we wanted it. In hindsight I would still choose this as we overlapped with the group at various parts and they just seemed really messy and we actually got to go into some of the places that a big group wouldn't go... And we got to make a bathroom and shopping stop too along the way... Oh and we got to go see the buildings of Cage & Fish from Ally McBeal hehe but no dancing babies...

The Boston Freedom trail is about a 4km walk that goes past landmarks that are important in US history specifically in American Revolution.

Tea party museum

Wahlburgers 

M&M&M's adventures - Boston day 1

Today Marika had a meeting with a pediatrician at Harvard Medical School and she was also going to visit a feeding clinic at the hospital in the afternoon. So Michelle and I were doing our own thing today and we said we would meet up with Marika when she had finished.

We were staying in Copley Park so we decided to walk around up to the main road and up to Copley square. I popped by a Pandora store and managed to get a teapot to represent Boston - famous for the Boston tea party.

We just had a great leisurely walking day and checked out some of the old churches in the area. When we made it to Copley square, there was a farmers market and so we were able to sample some local produce and homemade goodies. We bought some homemade chocolate fudge, some maple nuts, apple cider (non-alcoholic) and whoopie pie!!

After that we walked to the Public Park and looked for the bench where Robin Williams and Matt Damon sat in the movie Good Will Hunting.

Michelle is a fan of that movie Good Will Hunting so on her list was to see the L-Street Tavern which was a shooting location in the movie.
We took an uber from the Public Park to South Boston to the L-Street Tavern which was a little quaint Irish pub. The bartender was really nice and took pictures for us at the booth where Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and others sat in the movie scene.

 
Michelle tried a local beer Samuel Adams whilst I had a Magners. It seemed like a good idea except we both realised our tummys were empty... So we went across the street to a little Italian diner and had some spaghetti and meatballs.

After that we caught another uber to Harvard to have a look around.

Marika called and let us know she was back at the apartment so we took an uber back. Then we walked out to the Cheesecake factory for dinner.

M&M&M's adventures - Roadtrip New York to Boston day 2

The This morning we started some retail therapy at Wrentham mass. Even with the exchange rate, things here are a lot cheaper than in Sydney.

After shopping, we decided to stop at a Walmart to satisfy our curiosity. It is just like a Woolworths and Big W combined.

Cereal packets as big as my head

And as long as my arm...

But an awesome range of M&M's!

After that it was getting quite late so we needed to hustle into Boston to return the rental car and check in to our hotel.

We are staying near Copley square in a Brownstone townhouse. There was a lot of traffic as we neared the city and it was quite stressful trying to navigate around and the drivers in Boston could rate amongst the worst in the world. A car coming out of a side street almost collected me as I was going straight along a main street. 

After returning true rental car and settling into the apartment, we met up with my old school friend and her husband for dinner at a pizza place they love. We were able to have Bostonian pizza which is a bit thicker crust than New York pizza. Then dessert was cheesecake!! I've been itching for cheesecake shop dessert but my eyes are bigger than my stomach. It was good to share a couple of different flavours.

Friends

M&M&M's adventures - Roadtrip New York to Boston

We got to sleep in a little bit and then headed to LaGuardia airport to pick up a rental car. I'm impressed... The bay with my rental car had my name on it... 

We then set off on our roadtrip from New York to Boston. The first hurdle was navigating out of New York. We went up through the Bronx area and crossed the bridge that I was looking at last night from the window box of the Asiatic hotel.

After that the drive along freeways was quite pleasant.

We stopped for lunch in New Haven and walked around Yale university for a short while. The buildings are very pretty. 

Then we drove to the first of the factory outlet shops we were going to hit up for some retail therapy. Within 10mins Michelle and Marika had bought shoes and we left after 30mins. That was quick factory outlet shopping! 

After that we made an impromptu visit to the Mark Twain house in Hartford. 

Samuel Clements (aka Mark Twain) was a prominent American writer. I remember reading The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn when I was young. 

We were able to walk around his house and learn a little about his life. 

After the Twain house, we drove to Wrentham Mass factory outlets to do a little more shopping and grab some dinner.

I got so excited to see the California mountain company because I knew they make candied apples. Ordered a peanut butter one and it was soooo good!

M&M&M's adventures - tour day 3

Today was an even earlier start with our wakeup at 6.15am and we had to be on the bus at 7.30am.

It was about a half hour drive from the Sheraton Beltsville where we stayed into the city Washington, D.C.

Peak hour traffic was awful and reminded me of a logjammed M4.

First stop was the Lincoln memorial. I don't know much about American history but Lincoln is credited with the abolition of slavery. There is a giant statue of Lincoln in the memorial and we took obligatory tourist photos. 

Across from the Lincoln memorial is a garden and the national monument. Every time I see it though I think of Forrest Gump. 

After the Lincoln memorial, we drove over to have a look at the White House which is at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave Washington, D.C. We spotted snipers on the roof ready to shoot anybody who jumped the fence! 

We then drove over to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum where we had some free time to explore. 

Walked just up the road to Capitol Hill to have a look but there was some construction around it so we didn't go too close.

I would have loved going to the Natural History part of the Smithsonian and had a look at bones but had to be happy with planes and rockets... It was fun anyway and I got to touch a bit of moon rock...

After the Smithsonian, we headed to the harbour for a cruise down the Potomac river. It was a nice cruise but it was tough to hear the commentary over wind and engine noise so all I remember really seeing was he airport...

After the cruise, we left DC for Philadelphia. It would be a quick stop too to see the liberty bell and the Jefferson building. 

After Philadelphia, we drove back to Flushing, Queens. 

It's like Chinatown here too so we decided to sample local cuisine. We ordered Shanghai dumplings that were so yummm! 

And then dessert was also good. Mochi icecream and mango/pomelo sago.