Boston Common

It was George Bernard Shaw who said that England and America are two countries separated by a common language. One also tends to think that because English is spoken in America, the countries have similar cultures - in New York you look around and see all the familiar British high street shops, like H&M, Claires, Pret a Manger, Superdry...in fact you have to look hard to find a store that we don't have in London. Yet things are done differently...like yesterday's parade, which started with hundreds of noisy Harley Davidson motorbikes riding down 5th Avenue...in London it would have been horses with one of the mounted regiments. And let's just say that I never appreciated London taxi drivers until now....

We left New York this morning to go to Boston, travelling by train from Penn Station. The scenery as we travelled through Connecticut, Rhode island and then Massachusetts was breath taking. The morning started foggy and the mists swirling off the little seaside bays with the intense colours of autumn breaking through the greys was stunning. Unfortunately the train window did not open and the window was too dirty to get any decent photos of this beautiful scenery.

We are now in Boston - Gavin spent the afternoon at the office and I wandered around. This is Boston Common, the main park in Boston.

It has been a very short visit, as we go home tomorrow night. Gavin has to come to the New York and Boston offices quite frequently, and it has been a real treat to come with him on this trip. He has travelled our entire married life so from his point of view he says it has taken him 20 years to get me to travel with him! I am sure I will go on more trips with him in the future.

The weather has been a 'balmy' 17C, but tomorrow it drops to 8C. I plan to go on a bus tour of the city and to visit Harvard University.