Montreal, Vermont, Boston

If you’re tracking my blog dates you’ll notice that I’m a few weeks behind in this blog. I’ve been travelling a lot and busy with my sister with little time for blogging. Never the less, here I am, catching up. 

So, where was I up to……..hmmm Montreal (Canada) and then back over the border to Boston via the home of Ben and Jerry's ice cream....oooh yeah!!! We had a very short stay in Montreal given we stopped at the Parc Omega safari park on our way. We got into Montreal around dinner time and found ourselves eating at a cheesey pub place before having a quiet night to plan the next day.

Montreal is the capital of the province of Quebec and has a large French speaking population. With only little time, we booked onto a walking tour of the ‘old’ city which was a good decision. I’m sitting here now several weeks after being there so my memory is faded. Probably the notable attraction is the Notre Dame Basillica which is impressive on its own however, this is the church that Celine Dion got married. Old Montreal was co-founded by the French explorer Samuel de Champlain seventy years after Jacques Cartier visited the area. Like Quebec, it had a fortified wall around it but sadlly, they pulled it down. Montreal is named after Mount Royal, the triple peaked hill in the heart of the city. The city is on the Island of Montreal, which its name form the same source as the city, an a few much smaller peripheral islands, the largest of which is Ile Bizard. I didn’t find Montreal that great, I didn’t dislike it but it didn’t grab me either. It probably didn’t help only having half a day there but I’m not sure what else there is to see. Anyway, onwards we went.

 

We crossed back over the US border into Vermont and eagerly headed down the middle to a small town called Burlington which is the home of the Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream. I have to confess that ice cream has become my weakness in recent years and Ben and Jerry’s is pretty good stuff. We got there about 3.30pm and desperate for some of the good stuff but first, we got onto a little tour of the factory. What an amazing company. These guys were childhood friends and after no success at college, they did an ice cream course and so it all began. They liked making the texture interesting and this led to the trademark chunks being mixed in their ice cream. Their first parlor was setup in 1978 in a renovated gas station in Burlington, Vermont.

Ben and Jerry’s is now an international company with many environmental, social and democratic initiatives. I had no idea about this but apparently…..

In May 2017, Ben and Jerry's announced they would not serve two scoops of the same ice cream flavor in Australia, due to the refusal of the Australian government to legalise same-sex marriage. They said this would encourage "fans to contact their MPs to tell them the time has come-make marriage equality legal!" This stance they said will continue for however long it takes for same-sex marriage to be legalized.

The factory tour was cool, we saw the process room but they were cleaning at the time so we didn’t get to see the ice cream being poured and pints pushing along the conveyor belts. And of course, there was a free sample at the end. We had triple caramel chunk which was totally designed for me I’m sure. We spent ages in the gift shop and probably spent more money there than any other place on our roadtrip – t-shirts, bowls, ice cream scoop, cups. And then, we joined the very long line out front to get another ice cream. Visiting Ben and Jerry’s was like my Charlie and the Chocolate Factory moment. And we asked about a factory in Australia, but they do not have one. Ice cream is shipped to Australia.

Up the back behind the cows in the paddock, is the Flavour Graveyard. This is where they put flavours that are taken out of production. This happens for all kinds of reasons such as lack of popularity, not cost feasible to make and other interesting reasons. I might add that when we went to New York a week later, I tried the cherry flavor and I have to say, it needs to go to the graveyard cause it was like cough mixture….just saying.

 

 

Licking our lips and patting our bellies, we stashed the gift bags in the car and headed towards Boston in the state of Massachusetts. It was a night time drive and we looked for a place to stop and have some dinner. It seems that there is a food stop every 5 miles except when you really need one !! So we ventured off an exit and found our way into a place called Concord which turned out to be the capital of New Hampshire (we must have been on the fringe cause it looked like a tumble weed town where we were). We saw a take-away place and pulled up next to several huge 4WDs. We were a little nervous, not sure what to expect but it turned out to be a good feed of spaghetti and pizza. The young girl who worked the counter was super excited that we were from Australia. 

We arrived into Boston quite late and very tired. Boston is the capital of Massachusetts (and I note that I’ve probably got the double s’s and t’s wrong). Loved Boston. This city is rich in history and like Philadelphia, has a lot landmarks and attractions that the USA was founded upon. While my priority was to eat a Boston Cream Pie, I also wanted to see the Freedom Trail and continue my Revolutionary War history lesson.

There were plenty of tourists in Boston which is expected but I thought it wouldn’t been so bad this time of year. Many of the walking tours were booked so we ended up on a cheaper tour with a guy dressed in period costume. It was fine and we walked the key areas of the trail. The Freedom Trail is 2.5 mile (4km) long and winds through Boston passing by 16 locations significant to the history of the US. We only walked a small part of it but I am keen to go back at some stage and walk the whole trail and read the info along the way. The key things we saw were:

· Old State House – photo below - a historic building where On July 18, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was proclaimed from the east side balcony to jubilant crowds.

· Faneuil Hall – a marketplace and meeting hall since 1743.

Massachusetts State House - photo left - the State Capitol.

· Site of the Boston Massacre - an incident on March 5, 1770, in which British Army soldiers shot and killed people while under attack by a mob. The incident was heavily publicized by leading Patriots such as Paul Revere and Samuel Adams to encourage rebellion against the British authorities. British troops had been stationed in Boston, since 1768 in order to protect and support crown-appointed colonial officials attempting to enforce unpopular Parliamentary legislation. Amid ongoing tense relations between the population and the soldiers, a mob formed around a British sentry, who was subjected to verbal abuse and harassment. He was eventually supported by eight additional soldiers, who were subjected to verbal threats and repeatedly hit by clubs, stones and snowballs. They fired into the crowd, without orders, instantly killing three people and wounding others. Two more people died later of wounds sustained in the incident.

Old State House

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· Boston Common – central public park in downtown Boston. This is the oldest city park in the US.

· Boston Tea Party – the ship where the US Patriots, in political protest, threw the entire shipment of British Tea chests overboard into the harbour back in 1773 in defiance of the Tea Act.

Granary Burying Ground – final resting place for many notable Revolutionary War era patriots including Paul Revere, the Boston Massacre victims and 3 signers of the Declaration of Independence.

We also saw from a distance USS Constitution (worlds oldest commissioned boat afloat) and Bunker Hill Monument. 

I was totally fascinated by the history and again, it was putting more pieces of the revolutionary war puzzle together. We took a tour around the city and also a cruise around Boston Harbour. Boston was lovely and reminds me of Philadelphia. I’d love to visit in winter with the snow and as said before, walk the entire Freedom trail and absorb all the history.

 

We wandered down to Little Italy in search of a late afternoon coffee and some good Boston Cream Pie. Apparently, the place for the pie is called Mike’s Pastry Shop as evident by the line of tourists. We bought one and few other sweet treats but couldn’t get a seat. So we went next door to a cozy Italian café and got a great expresso. We bought a sweet here rather than crack open the Mike’s box. I was at the counter trying to decide what to eat and I asked what ‘that’ was. The old Italian lady says Boston Cream Pie…and then screws her face up and says ‘you can’t eat that in an Italian shop’. I felt like that Seinfeld episode of 'no soup for you !!'. Feeling very pressured I asked her what should I eat then? She pointed to the Tiramisu so that was it. I get back to the table and find Deb had got the Boston Cream Pie – but she didn’t get any grief from the lady. Have to say, that Tiramisu was fantastic and the cream pie was pretty nice also. It was much better than what we bought at Mike’s next door as we soon found out later than night at home. I’m not sure what the rave is about but the pie is like a vanilla sponge with some cream custard and chocolate icing on top. Could be related to the lamington I guess if you look up the family tree and do the seven degrees from Kevin Bacon thing !!

Now, on top of Faneuil Hall marketplace is a little grasshopper on top of a weathervane. The history is interesting so I’ve googled the following.

Shem Drowne was a coppersmith and Boston’s first tinplate worker, with a shop in the North End. In 1716, Shem Drowne made America’s first documented weathervane, a gilded archer on top of the royal governor’s house. He created a rooster weathervane for the New Brick Church on Hanover Street. (It’s now on First Church in Cambridge). He also made the copper swallowtail banner vane atop Old North Church in Boston. In 1742, he made the copper grasshopper weathervane with glass eyes for Faneuil Hall. It was later gilded.

In 1755, an earthquake threw the golden grasshopper to the ground, severing a leg. Boston selectmen voted to pay Shem Drowne’s son Thomas to repair it. Thomas made a time capsule with the words ‘food for the grasshopper’ on it. He placed it in the grasshopper’s belly with a note:

To my brethren and fellow grasshoppers, Fell in ye year 1753 (1755) Nov. 13, early in ye morning by a great earthquake by my old Master above. Again, like to have met with Utter Ruin by Fire, by hopping Timely from my Public Station, came of the broken bones and much Bruised. Cured and Fixed. Old Master's son Thomas Drowne June 28, 1768, and Though I will promise to Discharge my office, yet I shall vary as ye wind.

Since then, the golden grasshopper has been periodically refurbished, and new items placed in the time capsule, including historical newspapers, coins and messages from mayors.

Boston was the end of our road trip and we drove back to DC in one hit. During our road trip adventure, Deb was thrilled that my sister enjoyed listening to murder and crime podcasts. Normally I wouldn't endure such scary stuff but it was 2 against 1 so crime won the radio. It was a good way to pass the time in the car and we did miss a few highway exits through lack of concentration !! We listened to many high profile podcasts including the Claremont murders in Perth, the Snotown bodies in the barrel murders, a US husband/wife diving murder on the Great Barrier Reef, the woman in the boot in Melbourne....these were dreadful to listen to and I think we each had a few scary dreams on some nights. Anyway, home to DC and my sister and I still had many things to do in her remaining time.

Here's a recap on our road trip map. We ticked off two more states - Vermont and Massachusetts. While we drove through New Hampshire, I won't take that one yet.