Today saw a much welcomed air change with a cool, northerly breeze coming into the city. This has made it far less sticky and significantly better for exploring. As soon as we were all up and about, somewhat later than I had anticipated (although it is a holiday so I’m allowed to indulge in leisurely-paced mornings!), we headed down to the New England Aquarium, one of the recommended attractions to visit in Boston. I had done some research so was aware it was going to be an expensive day, but vowed to ignore the cost and just enjoy it! In case you're wondering, it's $20 each entry, and the nearest car park is $30 for anything over a 90 minute stay. We could probably have found something cheaper five minutes’ walk away, but nothing cheaper than $20 and the busy traffic put us off searching.
Anyway, we arrived just in time for one of the seal shows in the external enclosures, which was feeding time with a running commentary. Was quite interesting and a good way to get us in the mood. The rest of the aquarium basically comprises quite a number of small tanks with a wide range of aquatic life including quite a good collection of tropical fish. In the middle, there was a very large central tank with everything from large fish to turtles and a tiger shark (at least I think that's what it was), it seemed pretty well stocked to the point of apparent overcrowding. There was also a penguin exhibit, which was pretty impressive and full of cute little penguins, which we also saw at feeding time. Finally, outside there was a second seal enclosure, with about five fur seals, which again were quite cute, and seemed to be pretty intelligent and reading up on them they apparently had their own distinct personalities.
Overall it was quite a reasonable aquarium, although nothing outstanding and it was lacking a underwater tunnel which seems to me an essential part of any aquarium! The one thing that was noticeable was the huge numbers of American schoolkids, who I think seemed to drain my dad of the will to live - although I can't say I was really that bothered either way! Once again this visit was something that didn't really seem to appeal to either my Dad or Steffen, but to be honest I knew this from the start so didn't really expect anything else. I guess my interest in aquariums stems from my Ph.D. research, which was actually studying the interaction between fisheries officials and scientists rather than fish themselves, but nevertheless piqued my interest in the little blighters. Of course, whatever I say I will always be Dr Fish to my friends so I might as well live up to the name!
After the visit to the aquarium we popped over the street where we strolled around Quincy market and Fanueill Hall marketplace, to look at the shops and restaurants. We stopped at Sam’s cafe at Cheers, which I guess was a replica of the cafe used in the TV show - we've already seen the bar elsewhere. I'm not really sure or particularly care that much how genuine they are as I never watched the show - a bit before my time really, although I did watch Frasier, the spin-off.
On our way back to the car we stopped to look out at Boston harbour and take some photos. It's quite an impressive view and was nice to just sit and enjoy the breeze. That was it for the day pretty much, and in the evening we returned to the pizza place we visited on the first night. Not particularly groundbreaking as we are all a bit exhausted of trying to find new places to eat and sometimes just feel like being lazy! We determined that tomorrow we would try to be a bit more adventurous in seeking out somewhere to eat.
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