Monday 6 May 2013

We started today by walking to the memorial for those that were affected by the Boston Marathon bombings three weeks ago. They have used part of an open area very close to the actual sites. As you can imagine it was very moving. I have noticed quite a police presence in Cambridge but whether that is more or less than the day of the marathon I don't know.
We then hopped on the Old Time Trolley again and travelled through the campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. As old as Harvard, it is considered one of the top three schools in the US alongside Harvard and Yale and has 1750 teachers. Out of 18,000 applicants they took 1600. 89% are on some form of financial aid to pay the $42,000 yr tuition.
The trolley then headed down to the waterfront and we got off to have a look and happened to see a seagull who had a lucky catch! After having a look at the view from the waterfront and admiring the amazing architecture, we hopped on the trolley again and headed to Bunker Hill and decided to climb the 294 steps to the top...amazing view!!
The Bunker Hill battle was soon after the Boston Tea Party and involved the colonists fighting the British. Although the colonists lost the battle they suffered significantly fewer losses than the British. This gave them lots of confidence as the British were a very highly trained militia.