The official holidays started on 26th June, but Bruce had the previous few days student free so he was pretty relaxed. We decided to stay around Mississauga for Canada Day and then head off on our big trip. We went down to Port Credit (on Lake Ontario) for the afternoon entertainment there and were a little disappointed.
A lot of activities were organised but you couldn’t see a lot of patriotism (very similar to Australia in that way I suppose). We had a nice stroll in the sun (which was rapidly disappearing), went to see the enormous Canadian flag cake and then went home. The rain clouds then started to come in so we just watched the fireworks around the house.
On Thursday, July 2nd, we drove off to Saratoga Springs so that we could visit Saratoga National Park to get the whole War of Independence experience. We took the scenic route down past the Finger Lakes and saw some beautiful scenery and some great houses. We stopped in for breakfast at a little cafe near Geneva and had another great American experience.
The battle of Saratoga is meant to be the turning point of the war, since it was the first time the Americans beat the English in a traditional battle. It encouraged the French to join in and support America which made the whole concept of fighting a war so far from England much more difficult.
The visitors centre is excellent with hands on activities for the kids, Liam enjoyed handling the guns and making a “redoubt” (defencive position made out of logs).
It was really interesting to see a field in the middle of nowhere being so important, but with virtually no roads, the Americans were able to block the only road and the Hudson river at this point. It wasn’t possible to just go around them so a major battle ensued which the Americans finally won.
The Red house was the American HQ, and was reinforced by their forces. We went for a nice drive around the battlefield, stopping at several points to find out how the battle progressed. The British had their HQ about a mile away on another hill. Everything seemed so close, and it is hard to imagine how they stayed blocked here for quite a long time. The walk around each stop was very relaxing and by the time you finished the tour you had a good understanding of the structure of the battle.
One of the more successful Generals in this battle was Benedict Arnold (who later became a traitor – felt unappreciated and was tricked by a women). There are some interesting monuments that mention his heroics, but not his name. His boot has a memorial, but not him.
Several Obolisks have been built in the surrounding towns, and the one in Saratoga is interesting in the fact that it was planned to have a statue of the four major Generals of the battle, one in each window looking out. When Arnold became a traitor, they left his window blank so that everyone would be reminded of his treachory.
On July 4th, we went back into the town of Saratoga Springs to watch the parade. It was a bit of fun, though we would have liked a couple of marching bands pumping out some music.
The parade was a mixture of our Anzac parade and a show. You had the RSL and the SES groups followed by various community groups. People showed respect to the first groups and had a good laugh with some of the other groups. Lots of families lined the streets and the kids all flew the flag.
Leading parts of the parade were people dressed in period costume depicting some of the major players in the revolution. Strangely they had General Bourgoyne leading a group, he was the leader of the English army. You can tell that people were quite split at the time, with some neighbours joining the English and other the Americans. Some families even sent a son to each army to make sure they were on the winning side and hence wouldn’t lose their farm.
The guys in this group were funny, as they argued with Darth Vadar about the fact that he was stealing their thunder, no one was even noticing them. Liam liked the the Storm Troupers (there were 4 of them) who left the parade and strolled down the pavement.
There was a good display of vintage cars to add a bit of flavour to the parade, Bruce particularly liked the two steam driven cars. People in the cars and the fire trucks were throwing out lollies to the kids as they drove by which kept Liam amused.
Saratoga Springs also quite famous these days because of the Summer Horse Racing carnival. This lasts for two months and during this time you struggle to find accommodation anywhere. It is for this reason that the main street reminded us a lot of Claremont. Little cafes and restaurants everywhere with speciality shops everywhere. All very upmarket. They have statues of horses on corners and down the main street, some brightly coloured and others looking very regal. It reminded us a bit of the cow parade that Margaret River was going to have.
After the parade we went back to the National Park to see a reinactment of the reading of the Declaration of Independence.
We were a bit early so we went for another drive around the battle fields, this time stopping off at the Barber Wheatfield to listen to this very dedicated historian talk about why this was the most important piece of real estate in the area. Interestingly, he was talking about how the British were routed, yet he was dressed as a Canadian Indian fighter (his heritage), who were fighting for the British.
The reading was excellent, with lemonade given out to everyone so that we could toast at the end and then have thirteen more toast, for each of the states in the original union.
After the reading the National Park officers, dressed in period costume, fired a salute with their muskets (very loud and smoky, most impressive) and then the cannon was fired (even louder and more impressive).
Strangely it was all very low key, but they had a few hundred people turn up to watch the event and it was an experience that we wanted to have on this day. The National Park was all very impressive, with good displays and excellent guides. You were not really charged for the experience, though you were encouraged to pay to drive around the park. Many people went there with their bikes and rode the whole route regularly.
After the reinactment, we drove down to Stamford to stay with Chris and Fritz and go to the fireworks at Oneonta. This was interesting since instead of going down to the park and watching the fireworks a lot of people sit in the carparks on the outskirts and watch them over the trees. People take their deck chairs and have a little picnic while waiting.
This is what were doing in the photo, but about ten minutes after this we all had blankets wrapped around us and were quietly freezing to death. Summer is a strange time in this area. You get a few warm days but then it starts to rain and in this case get very cold. The fireworks were still great though and we had yet another traditional 4th of July experience.
The next day, Fritz and the Rotary club organised a huge car show in a park just around the corner from their house. We didn’t know what to expect from this, but it was all very impressive. They had over 150 cars on show and they ranged from extremely vintage to production cars to brand new sports cars. There were a couple of 2008 Ferrari’s and other sports cars.
Liam got to sit in a couple of cars and he got to vote for the one he liked the most. This happened to be a 2008 Spyker that looked like it came straight out of a science fiction TV show.
Rosie took a lot of photos of the cars to show her brother-in-law Johnny. We are sure that he would have been very impressed. It was obvious that the people showing off their cars were extremely proud of them and would happily tell you all about them if you gave them the chance.
The weather on this day was perfect and they got a good crowd along, which made everyone happy.
After the event we had a really nice BBQ back the Chris’s house and just relaxed. Bruce was given the largest steak we have ever seen for dinner and managed to eat it all so that he wasn’t impolite. He won’t have to eat meat for a week now, but it was extremely good.
The next morning we set off for Boston, where Bruce booked us into an extremely dodgy hotel – his criteria were an indoor swimming pool, free breakfast and free parking. Price was then considered and the hotel he chose was $AU70 a night. It was with a lot of apprehension that we booked in, but are currently very surprised, the pool area is fantastic, big open and airly – in an atrium style. The breakfast area is in the same area, making it quite appealing. The room is pleasant enough and we feel we have a bargain.
Boston was the city which first rebelled against British rule, mainly because of taxes, and hence has a lot of history attached to it. We decided to walk the Freedom Trail first, which is a trail past some of the important events at the start of the American revolution. We started off at the State House (left) which was most interesting. Unfortunately it rained consistently throughout the day, which we are beginning to realise is pretty normal in North America (3 or 4 good days then it rains). Liam really struggled with the concept of walking in the rain and looking at historical sites so it wasn’t that pleasant for anyone.
The next day the weather was a bit better, but we still started off the day inside at the Boston Children’s Museum. This is a bit like our Scitech at home with lots of interactive activities that teach children about science and livestyle. Liam really got involved in all the activities here, playing with bubbles and producing electricity through pedal power.
We bought a 7day pass on the subway system which was a bargain. For $15 for the adults and kids under 11free, we were able to catch all the busses, subways and a couple of ferries. On the first couple of days we drove into the subway station and parked for $7 then caught the subway trains all over Boston.
Liam was happy to wait around until he could dress up in the astronaut suit, which he found to be very heavy.
Rosie and Bruce didn’t find too much there, but it was still very interesting. Rosie decided to go outside onto a building site and practise walking on the scaffolding. Bruce played with IPhone, downloading the Skype app so that he can now Skype people of his phone.
Inside the museum they had a “Black People’s” display, which had a real Carribean feel to it. Liam spent 15 minutes in the hair dressing salon (which worried Bruce a lot) and then moved over to the grocery shop where he spent another 20 minutes. It was interesting to watch the kids role play inside the shop, none of it was organised for them, they just started acting out.
Liam stood behind the counter and before you knew it he had a steady stream of customers were coming up with baskets full of food. He would make up a price and they would hand over the money, some giving him a tip in many cases. There was complete interaction of all the different kids which was fantastic.
We spent 3 hours in the museum before catching the subway to the ferry terminal and catching a ferry across to the USS Constitution and finishing the Freedom Trail with a walk up to the Bunker Hill Memorial, yet another Obelisk. This was the first one we could actually climb to the top of. It was exhausting and our legs were in a lot of pain for the next couple of days.
Liam enjoyed playing on the old war ship and the weather had improved considerably so the walk around was now pleasant. The obelisk was impressive, but Bruce can’t help thinking that some very cunning entrepreneur went around from town to town in the mid 1800’s telling them all that if they built it, they would come. We have seen three now, all within 200kms and they all look very similar.
On our third day, the weather was perfect and we decided to have a relaxing day walking through Boston Common and have a leasurely lunch on the wharf. Since our subway ticket covered busses, we decided to catch the bus from outside our hotel (a little surprise that no-one had ever mentioned in the hotel reviews or the hotel itself – serious mistake from an advertising perspective).
We turned up on time and the bus took us for a leasurely drive through the little townships on the way to the subway station and then onto the train. The trip home later was just as easy and dropped us off outside the hotel. Made our ticket even more of a bargain since saved $7 parking.
Boston Common was established in the late 1600’s outside State House and is most famous for the Swan boats that people take rides in around the lake. Bruce had looked forward to taking this ride and we were all pleasantly surprised by it. The cost was very reasonable and to our surprise the boat was paddle powered by the driver on the back peddling. We thought that it would have been great training for the Tour De France. It was a very quiet relaxing trip around the lake, that served no purpose at all except to sit and contemplate for a few minutes.
After the walk around the park, we caught the subway to the wharf and were amazed by the transition from the previous days. When it was raining everything was quiet and you could walk around easily.
On this bright sunny day, all the restaraunts along the wharf had tables outside and were packed with people, you could hardly walk along. There were queues to get onto the ferry, that we just walked onto the previous day. We had decided to have lunch at this funky looking shed called the Barking Crab that looked popular, but off the track a bit. When we arrived, we queued up to get a table and then we were given an electonic lobster that would vibrate when our table was ready. We were then able to walk along the wharf and take a look at the tall ships that were scattered around the harbour. After 15 minutes, our vibrator called us back and we had a very relaxing lunch overlooking the harbour. Bruce had to order a crabby patty, which all Sponge Bob fans would know about.
