GNAT - Leg 1

31 hours, 3,410 kilometers, 10 states, 2 provinces and 4 breakdowns later we have arrived in Music City, USA.  What. A. Trip. 

All signs indicated we’d have a spectacular trip and despite The Thing That Happened from New Hampshire to Boston, it has indeed been a spectacular journey.  It’s hard to believe we’ve only been gone since Saturday because we have managed to cram an awful lot of living into the mere 96 hours we’ve been gone. 

We’ve fallen in love with all things Boston – specifically all things North End Boston.  The brand new Fairmont Battery Wharf is simply spectacular.  Situated right beside the US Coast Guard and perched above the water at Battery Wharf, the hotel is ultra modern without being cold.  The service staff are genuinely friendly and super accommodating.  And can we talk about the bathrooms for a minute?  When you live in an 85-year old house with a bathroom that requires you to step outside the shower in order to shave your legs, it really wouldn’t take much to impress you, I know.  But the bathrooms at the Fairmont Battery Wharf are in a word: perfect.  I could have spent the entire vacation in the shower.  I’m so not kidding.

But we did wander out of the bathroom to tour the town and let me tell you, what a town it is. The history.  The architecture.  The people.  The food.  All of it unbelievable.  If you go, be sure to take one of the hop on hop off trolley tours – we did the entire circuit with “Mr. T,” a charming older man who clearly loves Boston and showing her off to visitors.  Hopping on and off all day long we took it all in…the Back Bay, Copley Square, Newbury Street, Little Italy, Bunker Hill, Beacon Hill, and Fenway Park.   Lunch at Fenway Park and dinner in a rooftop garden.  A quiet stroll along the wharf.  Perfect.  Just perfect.

Of course that was all before Monday when we finally had to deal with The Thing That Happened from New Hampshire to Boston.  More on that later.