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Paul Revere Statue at Paul Revere Mall:


Old North Church:





North End Market:


Old State House:


Faneuil Hall:


Holocaust Memorial:


Freedom Trail then crosses the Charles river over the Charlestown bridge to the final two destinations - USS Constitution and Bunker Hill Monument:

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USS Constitution - It's considered as the oldest commissioned warship afloat which was launched in 1797. A valid Government ID is required to enter the warship:


Inside the warship:














Bunker Hill Monument can be seen at a distance from USS Constitution:


Bunker Hill Monument:


Acela Express at South Station. It's the fastest train of USA which touches 180 MPH however Japanese laugh at these figures . I remember playing this in Microsoft Train Simulator in my childhood days. The MSTS featured the Northeast Corridor between Philadelphia and Washington D.C.:

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Spring flowers in Boston Public Garden:

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Spring blossoms in and around Back Bay:

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Apart from Freedom trial, our favorite place to walk around is to take a loop staring from Charles River Esplanade -> Massachusetts Avenue Bridge -> Memorial Drive -> Cambridge Parkway -> North Point Park -> Paul Revere Park -> trace back Freedom trial to Boston Common.

Charles River Esplanade:











Downtown view from Cambridge:











North Point park:


Zakim Bunker Hill bridge view from Paul Revere park:

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We usually rent kayaks at Broad Canal near MIT at Cambridge. It's sometimes takes lots of effort for kayaking due to heavy winds at Charles river:








After kayaking, we usually visit MIT next to it:








The infinite corridor of MIT:


Brainless chap like me understand nothing about the toys that brainy chaps play with :





Harvard University - which is just 3 stops away from MIT in subway. I have always witnessed long lines of tourists to rub the left foot of John Harvard statue. There is a myth that it brings good luck (!?). So much rubbing has been done that the color of the shoe has changed from black to golden exposing the material underneath


Harvard University Campus:

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Harbor walk - It's a 38 mile trail that takes through the shoreline of the Boston harbor. It'll a 47 mile trail when completed. We usually hang around the downtown part of the trail.

Boston Tea Party museum which is along the harbor walk:








Parks and landmarks along the harbor walk:














Boston downtown as viewed from the Skywalk Observatory in Prudential Tower. It gives a 360 degree view of Boston:


Back Bay, Charles river and Cambridge:


Fenway Park - the home of Boston Red Sox baseball team can be seen on the top left. The I-90 (called as Masspike in MA) which is the longest Interstate highway in U.S. also can be seen. It's a coast-to-coast highway between Boston and Seattle and is around 3020 miles in length. The road which is seen at the top-right (left to the CITGO hoarding) is the Eastern terminus of U.S. Route 20 at Kenmore Square. US-20 is the longest road in the U.S. between Boston and Newport, Oregon and is 3365 miles in length:

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While the countryside of New England is famous for fall foliage, Boston too gives a pretty picture of fall colors:

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It would be incomplete if I don't post the pictures of winter scene at Boston. While my wife hates to go out in winter, I usually go for small walks around the downtown:

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Providence, Rhode Island:

Providence is a small city which is the capital Rhode Island which is the smallest state in U.S. This is almost the same distance as that of Boston from my home and we visit there quite frequently. It has lots of 18th and 19th century homes which is maintained well. We usually take the scenic MA-140 to Providence instead of the ever crowded I-495 which is a shorter route. The ideal place to park the car is in the Providence Place mall which is right at the center of the downtown.

Canal Walk:


The waterfire show takes place here at night. I didn't find it much interesting:

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Letchworth State Park, New York:

Let's move out of New England region now . We had visited one of our relative at Buffalo last year and they had taken us to Niagara falls. I liked the falls but endless waiting at serpentine lines for each attraction there make me dislike the place a bit. While I was cribbing about it at their home, my aunt suggested me to visit Letchworth State park on the way back to Boston.

It's around 65 miles from Buffalo and takes around 1.5 hours to reach there. There is an entrance fee of $8 per vehicle. There are three falls in this park the road that leads to these falls is fantastic. It passes through dense forests.

The boring interior roads of New York state:


The winding road inside the park:











Views from the state park road. It's called as Grand Canyon of East:








The middle falls:


The railway track which passes near the upper falls. No train passes on that track now. It was a freight route:


The upper falls:





The route which we took from Buffalo:


I liked this park very much. It was very calm and peaceful with literally no crowd. It was worth the visit.

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Chicago:

There was an urge last year to go on a long drive. The following weekend was a long one and all of a sudden I decided to drive to Chicago from Boston which is exactly 1000 miles. I didn't plan anything towards South as I hate driving in the crowded I-95 which easily resembles Bangalore ORR on long weekends. We quickly made some plans and started the drive to Chicago. It's just a single Interstate highway between Boston and Chicago i.e., I-90. Our plan was to drive upto Cleveland, Ohio on day 1 and continue to Chicago on the second day. We started early to beat the long weekend traffic and reached Cleveland by 3 PM.

Next day morning it was raining heavily and we had to stop on many occasions along with other vehicles due to poor visibility. The I-90 section in Indiana state was pretty bad and there was was water logging everywhere. We could reach Chicago only by 11 AM. We dumped our luggage at hotel at Arlington Heights and took the subway to downtown. The overall drive through the plains and fields of New York, Ohio and Indiana states was pretty boring. The traffic was pretty heavy until Buffalo (Niagara falls traffic) after which it was just empty roads. Ohio and Indiana (rust belt) roads were completely deserted. One of my friend had warned me of cops of Ohio and had asked me to stay within the speed limits as they are very strict about it. I could see a cop every 30-40 mile with speed traps in Ohio. Once we crossed Ohio into Indiana, I never spotted a cop. The total toll amount from Boston to Chicago was almost around $75.

I-90 in Western Massachusetts:


Somewhere near Syracuse:


Chicago Skyway toll plaza:


Chicago skyline is visible from I-90:


Roamed around the banks of Lake Michigan:


Millennium Park:





Noticed scores of people around this bean, no idea what it is:


The Buckingham Fountain at Millennium park:

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Thrid day we just roamed around the downtown. I liked the Chicago river walk. We had parked the car at Cumberland subway station and took the Blue line to downtown.

River walk:




















The Millennium Mile:


The Loop:


The city wore a deserted look:

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Visited the Navy Pier in the evening. Some of my friends had asked me to visit few museums but my wife and I are not much interested in museums and hence we skipped it. We like to stay outdoors.















Our last day plan was to start from Chicago very early in the morning and drive to Boston in one shot. Started at 2 AM (3 AM eastern time). This time I decided to avoid the boring I-90 but instead planned to come through Pennsylvania through I-80. Hence took a deviation from I-90 near Cleveland and took I-80. I-80 was much better than I-90 in terms of scenery. It passes through beautiful forests in Pennsylvania. From I-80, we took I-81 near Wilkes-Barre to join I-84 near Scranton. It was then I-84 all the way upto I-90 near Sturbridge, MA. I-80 had pretty heavy truck traffic but it was fun to drive. We reached home at 10 PM and just crashed into bed.

I-80 after crossing Youngstown in Ohio:


I-80 in Pennsylvania:

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Washington D.C.:

Washington D.C. is around 450 miles from our place. It's almost like driving inside a city for 450 miles on the busy I-95.

We usually avoid I-95 and take the CT-15 until outskirts of NYC to beat the traffic. CT-15 is also busy but much better than I-95. I call CT-15 as the Mysore road of North East. It shares lots of similarities like narrow roads, high density traffic round the clock, frequent rest areas with eateries, etc.

CT-15:


Traffic Jam in I-95 in Maryland. We faced lots of such jams between NYC and Washington D.C. This is during a normal weekend. I can't imagine how it'll be during a long weekend:


Calm and peaceful Washinton D.C. I have very few pics of this city. I have lost one complete set of photos taken in a camera: