America: Boston, New York and more!

Welcome to or back to my blog!

Today I decided I wanted to share a travel blog on when I first went to America in 2017. This blog features information on the following places I visited: Boston, Martha’s Vineyard, Provincetown and New York! I hope you like it!

(Not going to be too informative as I went a few years ago and cannot remember exactly what I did!)

BOSTON:

Once I arrived in Boston, I checked into my hotel and then spent some time exploring the city. We walked around Boston in the morning and spotted numerous lovely cafes for brunch and coffee.

One of the highlights of my rather short stay in Boston was definitely doing the freedom trail. I especially enjoyed doing the freedom trail, although a 2.5 mile walk there and another 2.5 mile walk back to our hotel, the walk was lovely in the sun and we passed many significant historical locations including chapels, monuments, Paul Reveres home and the Massachusetts State House. We also enjoyed going to the Harvard University facilities and looking around and I would definitely recommend going to Harvard and exploring the beautiful buildings there as well as checking out Cambridge and MIT. We then left the following morning to go the Martha’s Vineyard via a ferry where we enjoyed a week on the island.

MARTHA’S VINEYARD:

We stayed in a house in Martha’s Vineyard. The island is a lovely typical tourist location and we enjoyed good weather throughout the week. This island was great, we stayed in Edgartown and enjoyed visiting South Beach, throughout the week which is the famous beach where Jaws was filmed!

Not only is Martha’s Vineyard extremely prominent as the location set for films and books such as ‘The Ghost’ By Robert Harris, one of my favourite authors ever, but also the island is a famous summer holiday island! Many famous people come regularly to the island for holidays with their families. Recently, Taylor Swift visited the island for her friend’s wedding which was held in the old Whaling Church in Edgartown which is where I have been!

We enjoyed going to the Historic Whaling Church and the local cinema and shops. Additionally, we went across to Chappaquiddick island, however there is not much to do there and so I do not recommend visiting this island unless you have a car or if you are renting bikes. You are able to walk to the beaches, however bikes are probably more useful or use the public transport such as the local bus service that runs there. as we walked to the beach and it was quite far away from the main town. However, despite being a beautiful island, Martha’s Vineyard, in some towns you are unable to purchase or consume alcohol. (Restaurants and breweries do sell alcohol)

There are very few breweries, however, we did find ‘Bad Martha’ in Edgartown which is suitable for kids and adults! They do great lemonades and also alcohol, as well they have some fun games for children to enjoy. Next we went to Provincetown, we travelled in style there on the Funk Bus! Here is a picture of the funk bus.

PROVINCE TOWN:

Right at the tip of Cape Cod, we enjoyed two days here before leaving to go to New York. During this time we spent majority of it in our accommodation which had a pool. However we also enjoyed seeing the Pilgrim Monument which was interesting to read about and also to visit! It is the tallest all granite monument in the USA and was especially exciting to go to the top of due to its incredible views. I thoroughly enjoyed also the museum where i learnt more about the monument and why it was built. It took 3 years to complete building, 1907-1910. The photo to the left shows the view of Provincetown from the top of the Pilgrim monument. I would recommend this visit to anyone, it is not too high up and there are ramps as well as steps, which are not small and claustrophobic. I found there was a lot of room to walk up the monument and found it therefore very good and convenient.

Province Town, similarly to Martha’s Vineyard, is an ideal location to enjoy whaling trips and dolphin watching! I would definitely recommend this as in the summer there are numerous boats going out each day! Unfortunately, I didn’t get the chance to go, but I would encourage you to go if you have time!

NEW YORK:

The best part of the trip was probably going to New York! We spent a day going to visit the Statue of Liberty which was incredible and then we went to Ellis Island where we learnt about refugees who left their countries to go to America. I thought the Statue of Liberty was a amazing, however a little packed! There are approximately 4 million visitors each year to see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island!

It is suitable for eating beneath the statue as there are shady spaces. While eating, you take many photos of the incredible view of Manhattan from the Island! I really enjoyed going up the Statue of Liberty. As well, I really enjoyed the museum which was very informative and I learnt that the Statue of Liberty was actually made of gold, steel, wrought iron and to my surprise, also copper which was really interesting!

That evening after visiting the Statue of Liberty, we went inside the amazing Westfield shopping centre and took a photo of the sun setting over boats nearby. Many of my New York pictures are featured on my Instagram account. We also took some photos at Brookfield place. The next day we walked through Times Square to get to the Flat Iron and the Rock. We passed the flat iron, and i was so amazed at its shape and height! We also took plenty of photos at the top of the rock! The Rockefeller centre was packed and so busy! I loved the great view of Manhattan and the Empire State Building and it was not at all claustrophobic as there was plenty of space for everyone to stand and get a great view, however, it was quite windy and so I would recommend bringing a jacket.

I loved walking through the City as it was so interesting to find out about its history, we went across the Brooklyn Bridge, which I would recommend, however maybe if you are scared of heights or do not like looking down on water, this is best avoided. As well, I thought it was quite a long walk across the bridge, and if you do not have much time in the City you may not want to do this. After crossing the Brooklyn Bridge, we went straight back to Manhattan and later I enjoyed going to eat a much deserved ice cream after cycling in Central Park! I would suggest cycling in Central Park for those without young children, as there are main roads in the Park and so it is quite dangerous, there are cars and motorbikes and not many cycling lanes.

The Tenement museum was absolutely superb! Located on the lower East side of Manhattan, these two historical tenement buildings were home to over 15,000 from over 20 nations between 1863 and 2011. The museum is excellent, there is a tour of the rooms in the building and you learn so much about how the lives of those living in these packed and small rooms would have been like. There is also amazing historical research into the lives and backgrounds of some of the real families which lived there.

To finish our time in New York we also went to the Frick Museum which i thought was spectacular and it was especially useful that it was the first Friday of the month, which meant it was free! I would really recommend you go to it if you are in New York at the time! However, on this particular day it can be very busy and there is an immense queue, which we had to wait in for about 45 minutes! We were not particularly early, and if you are right on the time it opens, you are less likely to have to wait this long!

Thank you for reading this! I hope you enjoyed it and it taught you more about America and some of the amazing things you can see there in these places! Check out my Instagram @bethlucyblogs for more information on the next release of my blog on France and also on more pictures.

Beth Lucy