That's All Folks!

We are now back in leafy Surrey and for both of us, for the moment at least, the last three months seem like a dream. We can’t believe all we have done and seen and everything is still a muddle in our heads. I am really glad I kept this blog going as it will be a reminder about just about everything.

The journey home went well although we spent Monday night without sleep as the flight from Boston to Dublin (where we changed planes for Heathrow) was only five and a half hours, so by the time the drinks trolley had gone down the aisle and dinner was served there was only a couple of hours of the flight left, not enough to have a good zzzzz. We landed in Dublin around 5am local time and finally got to Heathrow at 8am and we were home by 10am. Terry had a couple of hours sleep yesterday afternoon, but I managed to stay awake until around 9.30pm, then went to bed and slept for 10 hours. We both feel fine today.

Leaving Boston Airport

Summing up:

We:
slept in 37 different beds
stayed in 19 different hotels plus the cruise ship
travelled on 17 trains, not including various subways
spent almost 100 hours travelling on trains
visited, or travelled through, 22 different states not including BC and Alberta in Canada and Washington DC (which is not a state)

I have:

taken just under 1000 photographs
travelled between 35,500 and 40,000 miles (including day trips etc)
(Terry will have probably travelled more by the time she gets home to NZ)
….. and it has cost me? goodness knows, I have yet to work that one out!

Favourite place:
Probably New Mexico (Santa Fe and Albuquerque) and we really enjoyed Chicago and New York.

Least favourite place:
It has to be Dodge City although we are both pleased to have been there.

What did I like best?
Surprisingly enough, the clean Americal loos, sorry - 'restrooms'! (not the paper - see below). Especially the availability of tissue seat covers and more especially the loo (we can't remember where) where you could push a red button and the loo seat revolved and the new section was covered in fresh, clean cling film!
Free coffee refills
The viewing lounges on the Amtrack trains

What did I like least?
The paper plates, the styrene cups and the plastic cutlery (just how much waste is generated daily by all that stuff being thrown away?)
Seeing the poor cattle baking in those grassless, shadeless 'fields' in Dodge City and being fed loads of crap to be fattened up before travelling a couple of miles down the road to the meat processing plant.
The thin, crappy (pardon the pun) loo paper - tissue paper is stronger! It's good to be home to the good old Andrex! (Sorry to be personal!)

Best memory – all of it!

To those of you who have followed this blog, thank you for taking the time reading it, and to Terry’s friends and relatives the next section of her travels here in the UK and Eire will be blogged by the lady herself on http://terry-terrystravels.blogspot.com

That’s all folks! Thank you and goodbye
(until my next holiday!)

Friday 17th, Saturday 18th and Sunday 19th July

Sunday 19th July
On Sunday we all went out for the day to Salem. We set out around 10am after a lovely pancake and syrup breakfast - Mike makes good pancakes as well as pizza! The intention was to give Emma some beach time before we did the boring (for her) sightseeing bit so we headed to Plum Island north of Salem and on the Atlantic coast. But it seemed that all of Massachusetts had the same thought and when we saw the queue of traffic we abandoned that idea, much to Emma’s disappointment, and headed for Salem.

Salem was not at all what I expected - I guess I had the Hollywood version of the town in my head - all rustic houses and farms, green fields, and lots of fresh faced girls and dour old men in costume, but it is just another average, but quite nice American town with lovely architecture - quite big and with a scenic coast and harbour.
There were few ‘historic’ houses around but we didn’t go into any. Again sightseeing overload set in and it was very hot. So we paid a visit to the Salem Witch Museum where we were given a dramatic history lesson using stage sets with life-size figures, lighting and a narration - an overview of the Witch Trials of 1692. It was well done.

This picture was taken at the memorial to those people falsely accused of witchcraft and hanged.

On the way home we made a slight detour to follow the Battle Road which is the site of the beginning of the American War of Independence. We visited the Old North Bridge where colonials first fired on British soldiers - ‘the shot heard round the world’

Finally, this is my last blog before departing America for home, and here is a picture of ‘Gogga Blogga’

- a familiar pose over the last 3 months!
I will do a final blog when I get home then, although Terry has done a few of these blogs, she will be taking over for our UK part of the trip on a different site:
http://terry-terrystravels.blogspot.com/

starting after we get back to England on 21st July.

Saturday 18th July
On Saturday, apart from going into Maynard for an iced coffee and a visit to the Farmer‘s Market where Mike was helping on a stall run by a group he belongs to - ‘Maynard Climate Action Network‘ - we spent most of the afternoon preparing for a party that Mike and Nan was giving for us - celebrating 101 days around the world! Mike had spent hours making the most fantastic invitation:

This photo does it no justice at all, and he has kindly printed off a large version of it for us as a souvenir.

It was a good evening but unfortunately a lot of people were out of town for the weekend and could not attend. There were about 16 adults and 6 children in the end and it was good fun. Mike had all of my photo’s running as a slide show on his computer and many people found them interesting to look at. It was a good, fun, evening and enjoyed by all. Mike won a cake in a raffle at the Farmer’s Market during the morning and that took pride of place on the buffet table.
Friday 17th July
We have did very little today. Terry and I had much needed haircuts and in the evening we went to watch Emma in ‘Romeo and Juliet’. She has been attending theatre school for the past two weeks and in that time they rehearsed and perfected a 45 minute version of Shakespeare‘s play. The script had been amended and abridged incorporating modern ‘Americanisms’ with some of the original script. The ages ranged from 15-16 down to about 5, and they all did very well and it was very funny in parts.

We had a lovely ‘take-out’ curry when we got home.

Wednesday 15th & Thursday 16th July - Boston

Thursday 16th July
Once again, we took the morning train into Boston and signed up for another hop on/hop off trolley bus. First stop was Boston Common, a large green area, which was first declared a common in the 1600s. In those days, people grazed their cattle there, but it is now an open grassy space that the public can enjoy. Across the road was a beautiful park - the Public Park - with gardens, ponds and a number of bronze sculptures of important historical figures. The historic Swan Boats, est. 1877 operate on the lagoon in this park.

There was also a group of bronze ducklings, which were attracting a number of small children who were having great fun pretending to ride them.

We walked around the Granary Burial Ground which contains the graves of Paul Revere, John Hancock and Samuel Adams as well as the victims of the Boston massacre - civilians who were shot by British soldiers in 1770. We couldn’t visit Boston without sampling the local delicacy of clam chowder, so we chose an Irish pub which looked promising and ordered a bowl each. We were not disappointed, as the flavour was superb.

The trolley ticket entitled us to a free harbour cruise,

Boston skyline from the harbour

so we took the boat around the harbour and across to the far side of the Charles River, accompanied by an interesting commentary, then disembarked to look over the USS Cassin Young, a WWII US Navy destroyer which experienced the Japanese suicide tactic of the kamikaze aircraft.

We had hoped to go on board the USS Constitution (Old Ironsides) which was constructed in 1797 and is the oldest commissioned naval vessel afloat in the world, but we were running out of time so just looked through the museum instead. (HMS Victory is older, but is in dry-dock, not afloat!). That proved to be a very worthwhile substitute, as some of the rooms were reconstructed to resemble the inside of the old ship. Children could lie in the hammocks to get a taste of shipboard life.

There was a trolleybus stop close to the museum, so we hopped back on and did a complete circuit of the town before catching the train back to North Concord, where Mike was waiting in the car to take us home.

Wednesday 15th July
Today is Emma’s 10th birthday. Happy Birthday Emma! Terry and I had a quiet day today. We wandered into Maynard in the morning and had a walk around the lake (called Mill Pond) and then browsed a few shops. We went into my favourite diner for lunch - Babico’s. It’s decorated in real 50’s style - pink and turquoise vinyl striped booth seating and pink vinyl upholstered stools along the counter. Sounds tacky but it’s great. And they serve the BEST pancakes. Emma had a few friends in during the afternoon for birthday cake, and some neighbours stayed for pizza in the evening. Mike makes great pizza. I recommend this hotel!

Tuesday 14th July - Cape Cod

We spent most of today at Cape Cod, about two hours drive from here. Leigh has a friend, Monique, who lives there he and put us in contact with her. Mike kindly drove us down and we had a great day in that wonderful place. Monique lives in a town called Dennis and she met us in a parking lot and drove us to a harbour side café at Sesuit Harbour for lunch.

She has a jeep with no doors or roof and it was great to drive around in as it was again a hot day.
Lobster is the food to eat in these parts and we had a huge lobster roll with coleslaw and fries for lunch which just about finished us off for the afternoon! From there we went to Chapin Beach

- a beautiful unspoiled sandy beach with very clear blue sea. We walked along the beach for half a mile or so, very quickly leaving the crowded part behind.

We could not understand why, with so much space, people all crowded together near the car park and entrance to the beach and not walk 100 yards or so to get a bit of space and privacy. We have come to the conclusion that most Americans just do not like to walk!

Monique is very interested in marine biology, among other ’nature’ things, and pointed out several sea creatures that were washed up on the shoreline, including a horseshoe crab - huge!

Terry’s foot is there to show the size of it.

And here is a pic of a baby one:
What a difference in size!

Cape Cod was very picturesque and the architecture and colours of the houses was quite different to what we have seen before. A very expensive place to live, I believe. Monique was born and bred there and seldom ‘goes over the bridge’ to the mainland. We didn't get to see the Kennedy Compound - I suppose we should have done really, having seen Rose Kennedy's birthplace in Boston's North End.

Another volunteer ‘job’ Monique does on her daily walk in that area is to keep an eye on an osprey’s nest perched atop a tall pole. There are three fledglings in the nest and we were lucky enough to see the mother feeding them.
. . . . and as a finale to today’s blog - here are a couple of funny pictures of our ‘holiday sandal feet’!!

Sunday 12th & Monday 13th July

Monday 13th July
Today Terry and I made our way into Boston. We caught the commuter train and when we arrived in Boston we had no idea where to go or in what direction - we had done no planning, bad move!

We found our way to Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market,

the touristy centre and allegedly America’s most famous shopping and dining experience. As we were not really into either shopping or dining we eventually found the Freedom Trail - a walk marked by a red brick line in the sidewalk going by Boston’s historical sites. But again, due to not having planned anything, we had no idea what we were passing! At 1.10pm were told that a guided historical walk was to leave Quincy Market at 1.30pm and as we had not had any lunch our great Boston dining experience in Boston at that time was a hasty visit to McDonalds! Interestingly green and yellow, not red and yellow, due, I suppose, to the large Irish population.

The walk was most interesting. It was to North End which is mainly an Italian and Irish immigrant area and famous for its quaint streets and Italian restaurants. We passed by the house where Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy was born - a very rundown street so a classic case of ‘rags to riches’.

We passed many other historical sites and churches, including the house that was once lived in by Paul Revere and is the oldest surviving building in Boston.

Our walk ended at Copp's Hill Burial Ground which is Boston's second oldest burying ground. It was first founded in 1659 and contains the graves of many who died in the Revolutionary War and some gravestones still show musket shot indentations.

By this time we were both weary, so we made our way back to the centre, had an ice-cream then decided to visit a couple more places - but we both faded somewhat and changed our minds so we decided to get the train back to Maynard. I think perhaps adrenalin kept us going while we were travelling and now the ‘busy’ part is over we have both relaxed so found yet another day of sightseeing a bit tiring! The intention is to return to Boston later in the week and take the hop on/hop off trolley bus so we will be able to visit more places without the tiring walks.

Sunday 12th July
Today was the day of ‘the game’. The Boston Red Sox baseball team (practically a religion here) v. The Kansas City Royals.
Terry had decided beforehand that she didn’t want to go so stayed behind with Nan and they went shopping at a local mall for Emma’s birthday which is on Wednesday.

We drove into Boston and left the car at the house of a friend of Mike’s and caught the ‘T’ (subway) to Fenway Stadium’, only a couple of stops. We arrived just about on time and our seats were good - a fair way away from the action,no bad thing considering how hard the ball was hit and how many times it went into the crowd - and when it did people almost came to blows trying to get and keep the ball! I was very pleased to have watched a game on the TV the night before when Mike gave me a rundown on the rules, strategy etc. - I was therefore able to watch the game with some idea of what was going on.

We were sitting in the ‘bleachers’ in the open air without any cover and facing the sun. It was very hot and I was glad I had my black brolly with me as I was able to use it as a sunshade. Sometimes Emma and her friend made use of it too by sitting on the floor in the shade of it.

I am pleased to say that the ‘Sox’ won 6-0.

We walked back to the car - about 45 minutes - it was lovely to walk along a shady path by the river, very cooling after being baked in the staium. A quiet evening followed as we were all pretty tired.

Friday 10th & Saturday 11th July - Boston

Saturday 11th July
After a slow start we strolled into Maynard this morning - it really is a small town, just three small shopping streets and everything is available except groceries. The supermarkets are situated, as seems normal, in out-of-town malls. We went to the local farmer’s market and it was interesting to see the difference between the produce on sale here to that in the UK. Locally grown blueberries - yummy, I wish they were ‘locally grown’ in Surrey.

During the afternoon Emma wanted to go to the ‘beach’, so off to the ‘beach’ we went together with a friend of hers. The beach is a lovely man-made sandy beach alongside a local reservoir, Centennial Lake, about 7-8 miles away and it was ideal. It has been quite a hot day and there were lots of pine trees to sit under. Although I sat in the sun trying to even-out the strange tan I have accumulated over the last couple of months. My feet are very stripy as I have worn the same Teva sandals every day, and as I have been wearing either t-shirts or shirts with short sleeves, my arms are brown up to half way between my elbows and shoulders! Apparently we are very lucky with the weather here, it has been very wet until we arrived yesterday. The hot weather certainly has followed us across the country. Hopefully it will stay nice while we are here.

Another delicious meal is on the menu again for this evening and Mike is, at the moment, baking a rhubarb and strawberry pie. I think I like this 'hotel'!

I have been told I have to watch some baseball on the TV this evening because Mike is taking me to see the Boston Red Sox play the Kansas City Royals tomorrow so I need to know something about the game. I am looking forward to that. Terry is not coming as sport doesn’t interest her so she will be hanging out with Nan and they will be doing their own thing for the day.

Friday 10th July
We left New York for Boston this morning. Well, not exactly Boston but Maynard, a small town about 25 miles west - a bit like Woking is to London. Maynard is a lovely little town - ‘small town America’ with a good community feel to it. I know we are going to have a lovely restful time here relaxing after all our travels.

I felt somewhat sad when we alighted the train - that was the last train journey of this ‘adventure’, but another phase begins now - the running-down bit where life begins to get back to normal.

Mike collected us from the train just after 3pm and we got here around 4. A beautiful mug of tea awaited us, together with home-made chocolate cake - heaven! And a home cooked meal was a real treat too.

We spent the evening sitting on the porch, having a wine or two and catching up.

Thursday 9th July - New York Day 4

Today was our last day in New York. This morning we took a different circular bus tour, this time it was the ‘uptown’ route which took us north of Central Park and through Harlem - a place I had obviously heard a lot about so it was interesting to drive through the area.

We met a friend of Leigh’s (Terry’s son) for lunch and he took us to a local restaurant where apparently a lot of theatrical people eat, but we didn’t see anyone famous, at least not that we recognised anyway. Then this afternoon we meandered around the Times Square area and sat on the chairs and just soaked up the atmosphere for what will probably be the last time this trip. We have got tickets to see a Broadway show tonight. As I live so close to London I have a better chance of going to the theatre than Terry so I left the final choice to her, and she chose ‘Chicago’. I have seen it before but Terry hasn’t but I am quite happy to see it again.

Tonight is our last night in a hotel and tomorrow we take our final train ride. Where has the time gone? Whilst in Boston we are staying with Mike and Nan - my stepson and wife - together with their 10yr old daughter Emma. Luxury - probably (but not sure until we get there) - separate rooms and proper cutlery and china. And most important, a decent cup of tea!

Wednesday 8th July - New York Day 3

Our aim today was to go to as many attractions included in our 2-day New York Pass as possible in order to make sure we got our $110 worth! So we started out this morning by re-visiting the Empire State Building in order to take the ‘Sky Ride’ which we omitted to do yesterday. We hopped on the hop-on bus but it took nearly an hour to get there as there was a police anti-terrorist exercise going on which blocked off some streets. There were about 15 police cars screaming through the city in convoy which caused traffic havoc.

Both Terry and I feel that the $150 - $200 which we would have had to pay for a helicopter ride over NYC/Manhattan was too expensive so we thought the Sky Ride would be a good substitute. We entered a small cinema with a huge curved screen, and when the film started the seating area started swaying and bumping about imitating a sky ride. It was a bit too bumpy and when we ‘swooped’ in various directions I began to feel somewhat nauseous and was pleased when it ended. It didn’t really emulate a helicopter ride at all, it was far too fast - kids stuff really I suppose. Still, we did get some good aerial shots so it was interesting in that respect.

Our next excursion was to the ‘Top of the Rock’ - i.e. the viewing platform of one of the Rockefeller buildings.

We went to the top of this Rockefeller Building

Having wasted so much time on the bus earlier we decided to take the Subway - big mistake! At the first stop we discovered we were going the wrong way i.e. in the 'downtown' direction instead of 'uptown', so we leapt off the train and asked the customer information guy. Having explained our mistake he gave us a somewhat pitying look, rolled his eyes and told us we had to go two further stops downtown and change there for an uptown train. So that journey took longer than expected too.

We both felt the view from the Top of the Rock was slightly better than the Empire State Building. Having less haze around today helped I guess. We did get a far better view of Central Park:


And we were able to have a good view of the Empire State Building too


We had lunch in that area and afterwards we visited the NBC television studios. Not having watched much - in fact no - American TV (it is crap - sorry Shae!) we were slightly ignorant of what studios we visited although fellow American visitors were delighted to see them. We went into the NBC News studio, from where we could see the live broadcast of the 24-hour news programme MSNBC; the ‘Late Night With Johnny Fallon’ Studio (whoever he is although again our fellow visitors knew). This is the studio from which the Johnny Carson Show was broadcast for 10 years - I have heard of him; and lastly the ‘Saturday Night Live’ Studio. Perhaps when we are staying in Boston we will be able to view these shows so we can say we’ve been there!

We walked back to our hotel from there and had a ‘feet up’ session before making one final use of our Pass - a visit to New York’s Madame Tussauds. That was excellent although we both admit not being able to recognise some of the more ‘modern’ film stars. John Wayne, Paul Newman, James Dean - yes, but younger ones gave us a few recognition problems. Many of the other waxworks were really good and we had our photographs taken with 'President Obama'.


We now have jobs at the White House and therefore will not be returning home!
Dinner was at the same Deli Bar that we went to on Monday evening, and, being the two tired though intrepid travellers that we are, we are spending the evening in the hotel.

Tuesday 7th July - New York Day 2

Yesterday evening we made a plan for today - trying to consolidate our sightseeing into a particular area, or at least at places not too far apart. This is such a huge city that a lot of time can be wasted getting from one place to another.

The first thing we did this morning was to go up the Empire State Building. We thought that perhaps the views would be clearer during the morning. But it was quite hazy and a notice told us visibility was two and a half miles. We didn’t pay the extra to go to the very top, we were advised that the extra 15 floors didn’t make much difference. And … golly, were we high! The view to every direction was spectacular. This is the view south over Manhattan. It must have looked quite a bit different pre 9/11.

From there we went to the Ground Zero site. We first of all visited St Paul’s Chapel in Manhattan. Located directly next to the World Trade Centre site, this Chapel was the headquarters of an extraordinary volunteer relief effort after the terrorist attacks. There were several very moving displays inside - photographs, letters, tributes to volunteers etc. From there we took a walk around the outside of the site and found our way to a viewing platform, in a large office/shopping complex, which overlooked the construction site.


We had lunch in that locality, then walked along a very pleasant embankment in order to get the ferry to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.

Ellis Island

We decided not to visit Lady Liberty herself - it was very crowded, so we just gazed at it from the ferry and went on to Ellis Island - the site of the Immigration Centre for entry into America until 1954. This vast building is now the Ellis Island Immigration Museum. It was full of photographs etc which describe the terrible conditions some of those early immigrants suffered in ‘steerage’, although conditions did improve as ships became more modernized. There are also facilities for Americans to trace their immigrant ancestors. While we were there we watched a half-hour play telling of the immigration experiences of Bela Lugosi - an Hungarian born immigrant who went on to be a famous Hollywood actor and is especially known for playing the part of Count Dracula both on Broadway and on film - way back in the 30's. It was extremely good. We could have spent much longer at that museum than we did.

After the return ferry trip back to Manhattan we returned to our hotel area where we had dinner. We both feel pretty tired so an early night is in order.

6th July - New York

This morning we had to get up early in order to catch the 0830 train from Philadelphia to New York. The journey only took one and a half hours and we were in NY just after 10am. Fortunately we were able to check into the hotel early which gave us the whole day to explore a bit of this huge bustling city.

We were both a bit gob-smacked at it all and didn’t really know where to start! Our hotel is ideally situated, only one block (about two minutes walk) from Times Square. When I first booked this hotel the cost for 4 nights worked out at almost $1500 between us (NY is notoriously expensive, especially in this central area), but by compromising and only having one bed instead of two we bought the cost down to $500 between us - a saving of $1000! But it does mean we have to share the bed ….. no sarky comments please! Also the room is small, but as we do not intend to spend much time in it, it doesn’t really matter.

After settling in we first walked a few blocks to the Bus Station to purchase 2-day City Pass - the same sort of thing that we had in Chicago - $110 gives us access (and no queuing) at most attractions, museums, boat trips etc. From there we walked to Times Square and purchased a 3-day on/off bus pass for the price of a 2-day one. We are sure to make good use of both those passes.

We spent some time strolling around the Times Square area, trying to take it all in. It was very busy and all very vibrant and colourful.


After lunch and a short sojourn back at the hotel we got the bus to Central Park, alighting outside The Dakota Building (where John Lennon used to live, and Yoko Ono still does) and then entered the park via Strawberry Fields and seeing the Lennon memorial


We walked around some of the park - it was lovely. Different to what I imagined it to be - quite hilly and there were lots of big natural outcrops of rock. We stopped for a rest by a large fountain where we were entertained by a Japanese Drumming Duo.


We caught the bus back from the opposite side of the Park in 5th Avenue, and then after dinner and yet another ‘feet-up’ session we took a night time bus tour. That lasted over two hours and was lovely.

Brooklyn Bridge at night

The tour ended at Times Square around 10.30pm. It was still heaving with people and the atmosphere was fantastic.

We sat in a couple of chairs and just watched the people and the huge colourful adverts flashing everywhere we turned and just didn’t want to go to bed, even after the very early start this morning! I know we are going to have a great 4 days in The Big Apple.

Saturday 4th & Sunday 5th July - Independence Day in Philadelphia

We have spent the last two days in Philadelphia - a city that could be called the birthplace of the American Nation as it was here the Declaration of Independence was adopted and signed on 4th July 1776.

Being here over Independence Day weekend has had it’s plusses and minuses! The plusses were being able to witness the festival celebrating the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s birth so there was lots going on in the Independence Mall, and the minus was the huge number of people here yesterday. I think a million was forecast - and it certainly felt like it.

After checking into the hotel we went into the centre of things around the Independence Visitors Centre in the historic area of town. There were various stages where re-enactments took place and many people in the crowds were dressed in 17th and 18th century costumes. It certainly has been very interesting and again we have learned a bit more American history although I now need to read about it to consolidate it in my mind.

"The Camptown Shakers"

We didn’t venture out to see the firework display in the evening - it was at the other end of the city, so we watched some smaller displays across the Delaware River from our hotel window as well as watching the concert and magnificent firework display in Washington on the television.

Our hotel overlooks a busy dual carriageway (we are high up and double glazed so do not hear any noise) and last night in the space of a few minutes there were two minor accidents in the road below us - too much celebrating methinks! There were blue lights flashing everywhere.

Today (Sunday 5th) has been a much quieter day crowd-wise so we were able to stroll easily around the historic area. We started by visiting the house of Betsy Ross, the woman who was approached by George Washington among others to sew the first American flag - thirteen stripes and thirteen stars. She continued with her flag-making and other upholstery work until the ripe old age of 76 when bad eyesight forced her to give up. Not surprising!

After that visit we spent the day strolling around the town, saw Benjamin Franklin’s grave and visited the African American Museum of Pennsylvania which traced the history of emancipation and achieving equality. And no visit to Philadelphia would be complete without seeing the Liberty Bell:

We had a 3.15pm ticket to visit the Independence Hall where the Declaration of Independence was signed - it was a privilege to visit that historic hall where it looks much the same as it did in 1776.

Among the Festival displays was a replica Civil War encampment

complete with tents, equipment and a pipe and drum band played by a suitably shabbily dressed ‘soldiers’.

We also watched another couple of performances - one by ‘Abraham Lincoln’ who very cleverly answered questions thrown at him by the public - that actor must have had tremendous knowledge of the history of the day; and the other was a 2-person play depicting Abraham and Mary Lincoln’s trials and tribulations as the First Couple.

All in all, a very interesting day