Martha's Vineyard to Boston

After breakfast at The Hob Knob and coffee at Espresso Love we checked out and took the "Chappy Ferry" to Chappaquiddick. After checking out "The Bridge" we drove back to Vineyard Haven for the ferry ride to Woods Hole and the 2 hour bus trip back to Boston. After checking in we walked to the best pizza place in Boston - Pizzeria Regina for take out.

Martha's Vineyard - Alchemy restuarant

Today, after another great breakfast at the Hob Knob and coffee at Espresso Love we headed off"up island" as they say. We visited a sculpture garden at West Tisbury then on to the fishing village of Menemsha for chowder lobster rolls. We then drove to Aquinnah to see the cliffs and then back to Edgartown via Chilmark. We topped of a great day with dinner at Alchemy and "Alice in Wonderland" at the cinema - we 3 meant that there were 9 people at the cinema that night!

Martha's Vineyard - West Tisbury Sculpture Garden

Martha's Vineyard - Gay Head Cliffs - Aquinnah

Marthas Vineyard

Atlantic Restaurant http://www.atlanticmv.com/

Today we had a quiet start with a yummy breakfast at the Hob Knob then coffee at Espresso Love cafe nearby. We then returned to the Hob Knob to catch up on some emails and to research accommodation options in the UK. After lunch our Jeep Sport Wrangler hire car was delivered! We headed off armed with our ever reliable Tom Tom GPS and went to two nearby villages of Oak Bluffs(a little touristy and down market) and to Vineyard Haven (a.k.a Tisbury) and Carly Simon has a store. We drove around West Chop where there are some amazing homes, all closed up till the summer. We then had early dinner of amazing lump crab cakes and shrimp at the Atlantic Restaurant on the waterfront, where Bella fed a beautiful swan.

Marthas Vineyard

After breakfast we walked to Espresso Love for our morning coffee hit(some things never change, even when you are travelling the world!) We then wandered around the main street of Edgartown browsing the shops. The weather was pretty "cool", even for the locals, but still nice to be by the sea. We walked to the Stop & Shop to get some supplies and then back to the Hob Knob for an early dinner and early to bed.

Boston -Woods Hole - Marthas Vineyard

Today, we got up early and after breakfast we checked out of The College Club of Boston www.thecollegeclubofboston.com and caught a cab to La Capella Suites www.lacapellasuites.com where we will be spending 5 days from Friday 30 April. After leaving three bags there we caught a cab to South Station Bus Terminal where we caught the midday bus to Woods Hole. We then caught the ferry to Vineyard Haven on Martha's Vineyard and then the local bus which dropped us at the front door of The Hob Knob. www.hobknob.com. The weather was good for travelling, best described as "fresh". Hopefully it will warm up a bit in next few days.

Boston

Quiet day - we walked through Boston Common to Charles Street, the lovely old area of Boston to have lunch at the at Beacon Hill Bistro. We then bought Bella a pair of silver low headed shoes(abit like character shoes used for dance) and which she thinks are fabulous! More time in the park watching all the locals enjoy their Sunday afternoon, then packed ready for our adventure next day to Martha's Vineyard.

Boston - Freedom Trail walking tour

We spent time in the park with some squirrels and then took the t-way to Faneuil Hall for a take-out lunch of noodles before meeting our guide for a walking tour of significant sites on the "Freedom Trail" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_Trail We walked back through Beacon Hill down Acorn Street (the most photographed Street in Boston) before getting take-out pizza from the Upper Crust on Charles Street http://www.theuppercrustpizzeria.com/locations-beacon-hill.php We ate the pizza sitting in the park at sunset.

Site of the Boston Massacre

Isabella standing on the site outside the Old State House
http://www.cityofboston.gov/freedomtrail/bostonmassacre.asp

Boston

Caitlin was able to get a flight back to left back to London, so we went to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum www.gardnermuseum.org then had lunch at the Paramount Cafe - a Boston icon where you order your food standing in line next to the kitchen, prior to getting a table and miraculously a table appears when your meal is ready! www.paramountboston.com We then packed up Caitlin and took a cab to Logan Airport where she successfullynegotiated the reigning chaos to board a 9pm flight to London!

Boston - trolley tour

After breakfast at The College Club of Boston, to get our bearings we went on a hop on hop off trolley tour. We got off at Fanueil Hall http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faneuil_Hall and had lunch then got back on the bus which took us to Harvard. We did some shopping in the Harvard Store and caught the t-way back to Arlington Street station, which is a short walk from the College Club.

Harvard Yard

Isabella and Caitlin with the statue of John Harvard, which isn't actually John Harvard!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard_University

Across the Old Yard from Johnston Gate stands University Hall, and the now-famous statue of John Harvard by Daniel Chester French. The statue has earned the nickname "the statue of three lies" from its inscription, "John Harvard, Founder, 1638". In truth, the statue is not modeled after John Harvard, Mr. Harvard did not found the university, and the founding was in 1636.

Washington DC to Boston

Cait,Ken and Bella took a limo to the Union station to make sure Caitlin got on to her train to Boston. Then Ken and Bella went back to the Hotel Lombardy to get the rest of our luggage. Then Isabella Ken and Deb went to the airport to get on and American Eagle flight to Boston. Just before we boarded Bella got a t-shirt with Barack Obama on it. After checking in at the College Club of Boston http://www.thecollegeclubofboston.com/ we took the t-way (subway) to collect Caitlin at South Station. We walked through the Boston Common to a great dinner at The Beacon Hill Bar & Bistro http://www.beaconhillhotel.com/

Last day in Washington DC

After checking airline status and enjoying coffee at Baked and Wired, Caitlin went to National Gallery while Isabella, Debra and Ken went to the US Botanic Gardens, just near the Capitol. We met up for lunch at the National Gallery and then Debra and Caitlin stayed while Isabella and Ken went to the Smithsonian Natural History Museum. We took the subway back to our hotel and had dinner at Primi Piatti to celebrate our last night in DC

Smithsonian Natural History Museum

We found this display about the Galapagos, where we recognized places we had been!

DC Botanic Gardens

Washington DC

Went to Baked and Wired then walked through Georgetown to the white cafe and had bruch in the sunny courtyard before walking on to Dumbarton House www.dumartonhouse.org where we had a guided tour.

Washington DC

Caitlin was due to head back to the UK today, but a volcano in Iceland intervened! We spent the day wandering around Georgetown and having lunch at an Austrian restaurant. When it became clearthatflights toEurope were not about to resume, we bookeda ticket on the Amtrak Acela Express train for Caitlin.

Washington DC - Capitol tour

Caitlin went to Georgetown for coffee while the rest of the team had some more retail therapy at Macy's. We all met up at another coffee place on the other side of town, where we had a light lunch with the locals before walking to the Capitol in time for a 2pm tour. We then walked down to the American National Gallery and walked in the sculpture garden.

Tunnel connecting the two wings of the National Gallery

Sculpture Garden at the National Gallery

Washington DC

After a quiet start we walked past the White House to the American National Portrait Gallery. We had a light lunch in the beautiful courtyard. We went to Macy's where we got our third new case - but they're only small ones! Isabella got some nice new clothes to put in our new case.

National Portrait Gallery - Isabella and friend!

National Portrait Gallery - Bella and Shirley

Washington DC

Today we walked down Pennsylvania Avenue past the White House, unsuccessfully looking for a good coffee along the way, to the Old Post Office building where we joined a day tour of the sites. We visited the Capitol, the Lincoln Memorial, Vietnam, Korea and 2nd WW and Iwo Jima war memorials and the Jefferson memorial. We had lunch on a river cruise on the Potomac. We had dinner at Primi Piatti, just next to the Lombardy.

Lincoln Memorial

Iwo Jima Memorial

Jefferson Memorial

New York to Washington

Checked out of the Plaza and took a cab to JFK for short flight to Washington. Checked in at Lombardy Hotel http://www.hotellombardy.com/ and after a walk up Pennsylvania Avenue to Georgetown we had dinner at Filomena's http://www.filomenas.com . On the way home we got an ice-cream at Ben and Jerry's http://www.dcbenjer.com/

Isabella's Birthday

After breakfast at The Plaza, including chocolate dipped strawberries, Isabella and Debra went to American Girl Place to choose her doll and matching outfits for Bella, the new doll and Isabella, the new 10 year old. Then Caitlin and Ken joined Isabella, Bella and Debra for lunch at the American Girl Cafe. A special birthday cake was brought out it was a three layer cake [chocolate, chocolate sauce and vanilla] After lunch Bella had her hair done in a ponytail veil. Then Bella and Isabella had a photo shoot and got put on the front of the American Girl Magazine. Then after a very fun and exciting birthday Isabella, Bella and Deb walked home and met Ken and Cait. Ken Bella and Isabella went to Central Park for a nice walk and met Cait and Deb. We all walked home to relax after a fun and exciting birthday!!!!!

American Girl Place

Isabella, Bella and friend in Central Park

Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island

Took ferry to Statue of Liberty and climbed the 375 steps to the crown, then took the ferry to Ellis Island and learnt how it was for the immigrants when they arrived in NYC. It was really interesting and the audio tour with some of the immigrnts, now elderly, reflecting on their memories of when they arrived as young children, and their stories of how they and/or their parents and family were treated or family left behind in homelands, were very moving. We took the ferry back to Battery Park and sat and had a late lunch while enjoying the cherry trees in blossom. We walked up to Wall Street, took our pictures with the iconic "Bull"...hoping the share market would return to it's "bullish" days and took the subway back to 59th Street - walked back to the fabulous Plaza Hotel.

Inside the crown of the Statue of Liberty

View of Manhattan from Liberty

The original torch on display in the base of the Statue

The Wall Street Bull

The Plaza

New York

Felicity and Zoe got up very early for their flight to LA....so quietly we didn't even hear them! The Sandys had a last coffee at Sicaffe, then packed up before moving to "The Plaza". Ken watched the final round of The Masters then we all had dinner in the Oak Room.

New York

Spent the day with Zoe and Felicity - breakfast and coffee at our favourite Sicafe. Then window shopping and a stop at DKNY as we walked to American Girl (where Zoe got her beautiful Elizabeth historical doll and Felicity got some cute stuffed toys she called her "family") and then FAO Schwarz (the great toy store with the gaint piano keys on the floor that you play with your feet). We took the free "local New Yorkers" Staten Island ferry to see the Statue of Liberty and then got take-out pizza from Johns on East 64th Street and talked till late, even though Zoe and Felicity had to get up very early next morning to fly out. It was a great day and we were all so happy to see the Zoe and Felicty in NYC....a day to remember for always!

So many dolls to choose from at American Girl

On the Staten Island Ferry

On the subway

Outside the Apple Store across from The Plaza

Isabella and Zoe at a tribute to The Husky in Central Park

Cooper Hewitt Museum

Catlin had a day out to herself while Debra Isabella and Ken caught the bus to 91st Street and walked to the Cooper Hewitt Museum of Decorative Arts on 5th Avenue. Unfortunately, most of it was closed for renovation, so we took the chance to have a late lunch at a genuine Upper East Side diner. Sorry no photos. Debra and Isabella took a cab to JFK to collect Zoe and Felicity who were flying in from the West Coast.

The Cloisters

We caught the M4 bus to the Cloisters which is a part of The Metropolitan Museum of Art located on the northern tip of Manhattan around 190th Street. It was interesting to see beautiful apartment architecture which is a feature of New York as well as passing by Columbia University. The Cloisters was construced in the 1930's and incorporates medieval elements throughout the building. We took the subway back and after checking out FAO Schwarz, Isabella and Caitlin had an early night while Debra and Ken went to a lovely Italian restaurant for dinner.

The Guggenheim and the Boat House in Central Park

We spent most of the day, which was very hot (around 30) at the Guggenheim then walked through Central Park for an early dinner at the Boat House.

Museum of Modern Art

We walked from our apartment to MOMA. There was a very good audio tour for kids which Isabella and Ken enjoyed while Debra and Caitlin enjoyed the restaurant which overlooks the sculpture garden.

Shopping

No photos today as we spnet time in Bloomingdales, Saks 5th Avenue, Gap etc etc etc!!

Central Park - again

We went out to lunch to celebrate Ians birthday and then walked back to our apartment throught Central Park. Isabella liked this statue which honours the role of the husky.