I like Boston 😊

Juhu, I'm back in the States! I'm just so happy and glad that everything went well with the luggage. But let's start from the beginning:
On Tuesday morning, I struggled with my suitcase again because I wanted to pack as much weight as possible into my backpack. I knew that the suitcase would otherwise be too heavy...
Luckily, the bus stop was not far from the hostel. I knew that the ride would cost $10, so I set aside a $10 bill for this trip because I wouldn't need Canadian dollars in the States anymore. It was sweltering hot again, and I was glad that a bus arrived immediately. But the driver didn't want to accept my money - only coins! No cards either! So I got annoyed and got off the bus to find a hotel where I could change my bills into coins. Now I had to wait 15 more minutes for the next bus in the scorching heat - annoyance level 500! But I was early anyway because I had problems with the online check-in. The baggage fee had been charged to me, but the check-in couldn't be completed. So I had to wait at a counter for a while, where the nice lady was able to help me. She then asked me to put my suitcase on the scale...24.6 kilograms! The maximum allowed was 23.9 kg. She asked if I had a jacket that I wanted to take out and wear, otherwise I would have to pay $100... I thought that was very kind! After getting rid of the suitcase, I had to wait in line at the customs for ages. The officer wanted to know if I already had my return ticket to Switzerland, as I was only allowed to stay in the USA for another 17 days... But I already knew that 😊

After that, I had about 2 hours left, so I sat down in a restaurant and treated myself to the last Tim Hortons treat, another Pumpkin Spice Muffin.
In Boston, I was excited to be able to use the Uber service again after a month! At the airport, there was even a separate Uber pickup area and people regulating the traffic... very good! So I arrived at the hostel in 20 minutes. It was a HI hostel again, absolutely fantastically located, with many restaurants nearby and 5 minutes away from Boston Common. It was also super modern, with LED displays and super clean. And spacious! Even the locker was very large and deep, see picture! The breakfast was also great, there were various bagel, cereal, and granola options, and finally yogurt again. I had eaten so much yogurt while camping and hadn't had any since. It was really a great hostel. With free cookies 😂 The three women in the room didn't talk at all, not even saying 'Hi', but that was okay (In the second night, I chatted with a nice 50-year-old history teacher from Argentina, whose Spanish was very understandable for me (@ Naddel: I don't think I've ever greeted anyone from Argentina before 😂)

Since my time for sightseeing was a bit limited, I wanted to visit the Liberty Trail right after arrival, it was already 6:30 pm. This trail passes by most of the attractions, is about 4 km long, and what's particularly convenient: the path is marked on the ground with a brick strip. You can't get lost! It should be like this everywhere 😂 Even though the stores and products along the way were typically American, there were things that immediately reminded me of Canada: 1. The heat - it was still 26 degrees here in the evening at 7 pm, 2. Squirrels in Boston Common, 3. Ginger Ale 😂, 4. A branch of David's Tea on the Liberty Trail and in the Prudential Center, yay! 5. Starbucks also has cold brew, and it can be decaf if you want 😊

So I spent about two hours darting through the still overheated city and found a funny ice cream shop where I was magically attracted by the Pumpkin flavor 😂 It's just not the same as pumpkin flavor in Switzerland 😊 Since it was already around 8:30 pm, I ordered an Uber for the way back. Willy, the driver from Haiti, spoke French to me after I mentioned that I had been to Montreal - Flashback 😂

On Wednesday, 'coma sightseeing' was on the agenda, as I wanted to see most of the attractions on this day. After returning the rental car in a week, I still have half a day to explore Boston. It's a shame that I didn't shorten one day in Ottawa and Montreal, there's so much to see there, while sometimes I had a little too much time. But I can come back here again. Boston is the second city I want to visit again, alongside Vancouver (and of course Los Angeles ❤️). From Vancouver, I also want to see Seattle. But I'm digressing - back to sightseeing in Boston:
In the morning, I booked the 80-minute 'Duck Tour' that a colleague recommended to me. It was a fun city tour, and the highlight was that the vehicle (a construction from World War II!) could drive both on land and in the water. The Asians on board naturally squealed with delight when we suddenly 'went into water'. I had never experienced anything like it!
After the tour, I briefly went to the nearby shopping center 'Prudential Center', where I, can you believe it, got something from 'Dunkin Donuts' for the first time in two months (Maple Pecan Iced Coffee 😍). There's a DD branch on every corner here! The duck tour narrator once joked: And here on the left, you see the only DD branch in Boston 😂 The center also had the elevator to the observation deck 'Skywalk Observatory', which I didn't want to miss. After that, I visited several other attractions in the area: the Public Library, the finish line of the Boston Marathon, and Trinity Church. This church shows beautifully how old and new are united in Boston - right behind the church is a huge skyscraper. I really like that about the city, there are many interesting historical and cultural attractions to discover, as well as modern ones.
In between, there were also the bargain stores 'Marshalls' and 'Nordstrom Rack', and I ended up buying three pairs of cheap ballerinas and pretty dish towels (haul pictures at the end of the post 😊)
After that, I had to go back to the hostel first to drop off the shopping. It was already 2 pm, and I knew that I still wanted to eat the famous lobster, Maine Lobster. I checked the ten best seafood restaurants on TripAdvisor and then chose one near the Boston Tea Party, where I wanted to go anyway. Due to lack of time, I ordered an Uber to get there 😊

Since I'm not good at 'seafood peeling' (or eating it appetizingly 🙈), I ordered something that I knew would be easy to eat: Lobster Roll. It was the most expensive dish on the menu, $32, but I hoped it would be good. This is so typical of America: Fast food is thrown at you here (yesterday I paid $3.50 for a bottle of Pepsi AND a slice of pizza!) and 'real' restaurants are comparably priced to Switzerland. The lobster was definitely delicious 😊
After eating, I wanted to take advantage of the coupon I received from the Duck Tour: Free 'Tea Tasting' at the Boston Tea Party. The museum there is very touristy, so (and because of lack of time) I didn't want to do the tour, but a cup of tea is still great 😊
After that, I hopped into an Uber again and had myself chauffeured across the river to Cambridge because I wanted to visit the famous 'Harvard' University. I first aimlessly wandered around the campus for about half an hour, I saw guided tours, but I didn't know where they would start. It was as if I was cursed: Every door I wanted to open had a sign saying only students were allowed here. There was also no map anywhere! So I headed towards the subway and found the information I was looking for at a kiosk. A tour had just started, and I was able to join right away. Joy 😊 The tour was led by a student. He told a lot about the different buildings, and I also asked him some questions about his daily life. It was very exciting! In the vicinity of the university, I was recommended the bakery 'Mike's Pastry', where I bought two creamy desserts after the tour, one was a cannoli, I knew this pastry from Tani 😊 And the other one was huge and called 'Lobster tail'. The cream in the pastries was refreshingly cold, but I couldn't eat everything, with the extreme heat, I also felt a little nauseous from so much dessert 🙈 

My phone battery was dead, so I couldn't order an Uber, so I decided to try the subway. The network was also very easy to understand, and soon I was at the other famous university, MIT. The doors were not locked, so I entered one of the buildings in search of a toilet. It was almost 6 pm, and classes were still going on. The walls were covered with mathematical formulas, I didn't understand a thing - see a photo that my battery lasted for. Not my university 😊
I walked the 4 km back and arrived at the hostel with tired legs. But my mind was still awake, so I wrote this text. As of today, I'm back 'on the road', I have a car until October 4th and have booked a hotel in a different place every day 😊