It’s been a fun few days in Boston but now it’s time to go pick the hire car up and start the road trip. Would we revisit Boston? A definite yes, pleasant city, easy to navigate, safe walking and nice green tree lined avenues. We thought we’d summarise what we found hot, and what wasn’t:

Loved:
Segway tour – expensive but THE best fun and great way to cover the city in 2 hours. Tour guide history was limited but really gives a feel for the city
Lobster at the Barking Crab – great atmosphere and decent prices
Cheers Bar on Beacon Hill – great atmosphere and chilled beer

The ok:
Skywalks view at Prudential Tower – good way to get 360 of the city but a rip off at $12 each to look out of windows on the 50th floor
Shopping areas – Faneuil Hall rates as the prettiest, but typical touristy shops, the rest are the usual high street chains
Baseball at Fenway Park – fabulous to visit Fenway, but the actual game was dull ( Mr Fogg loved it) and it seems that Americans go to games to chat non stop rather than watch the game, disappointing atmosphere which was unexpected.

The bad:
It’s an expensive city, food and drink costs are high. Expect to pay a minimum of $6 for a bottle of beer.
Science Museum – boring and out dated.

Accomodation: Encore B&B

Overall a good location to stay, but I disagree with the raving reviews on Tripadvisor. The rooms are very nice, clean and comfortable, but you choose B&Bs for the personal touches.

The owners are missing some tricks here. Only one owner does the B&B stuff, doesn’t chat much and you don’t get any warm feelings about the place. We met the other owner, David when the aircon broke (ok bad timing) not even a hello, just a rude, grumpy, chubby man in my view, who flounced around and left his mate to sort a water flood out.

At $220 a night it’s a lot to pay for a room. Stingy allocation of complimentary shower gel stuff, limited breakfast ( we chose granola, yoghurt and fruit) which is placed on the plate for you (they do offer a good choice of cakes and other stuff if you want it). Overall, it’s more of a small hotel feel with no personality. It seems that money has been lavished on things like B&O music systems, when all was needed was some personal charisma. Next time I would just choose one of the bland hotel chains for the same price.

Next stop Salem. Bye bye Boston.