Boston

We flew up to Boston with a quick stopover in Charlotte and were immediately impressed by the inexpensive public transport which took us to our Back Bay hostel. There awaited the funniest (Rhi would say cutest) little receptionist who immediately offered us a cookie, free Starbucks coffee and popcorn before offering ideas for dinner in the area. It turns out there were quite a number of permanents in the 7 story accom which gave off a retirement village feel. We LOVED it! One night instead of eating out again we stayed in for the, now annual christmas tree decorating party which involved free chicken wings (mmmmm), pizza and Chrissy trivia. Rhi showed no mercy and answered several questions before the more senior permanents and scored a lovely shopping bag and 2 free movie tickets for doing so. Other nights in Boston included going to the cinemas and watching back to back movies (the old cinema jump chestnut), smashing some awesome indian set menu and a night out in Little Italy. We picked a little restaurant on a side street for our meal in Little Italy and were very impressed by the pasta we were served. On the way to the restaurant we had noticed a pastry shop packed full of people and decided we would stick our head in on the way back. "Mike's Pastry Shop" was amazing! They specialised in the Italian dessert cannoli's and had maybe between 20 and 40 flavours on offer (pretty much any flavour you can think of!). I went with the Oreo flavoured cannoli while Rhi chose a lemon cupcake. We ate our dessert in bed with a movie and they were delicious!! Make sure you pop into Mike's if you're ever in Boston. We also left our hostel after 3 nights and spoiled each other for Chrissy by going half in a 4 star night at the Ames before heading to NYC. Our days in Boston included lots of walking (which seams easy as the city is quite compact), an awesome lunch in chinatown, a visit to 'the' Harvard college (a very impressive town making lots of impressive people - Zuckerburg comes to mind), getting the crows tour of the city from the top of the Prudential lookout and several visits to Fanueil Hall (a 100m plus long foodmarket hallway offering anything the tastebuds desire surrounded by a square of shopping options). A great city and a good warm up for the biggest of apples!