Boston

I recently had the pleasure of  combining work and play by squeezing in some sightseeing in Boston while I was there for a work conference (I also managed a mammoth round trip to New York in one day which took five hours there and back but that is a story for another time...) I was most looking forward to NYC, but Boston pleasantly surprised me. Spring is a beautiful time of year there as the sun is out and blossom covers the tree-lined streets.

As I'm sure you know, Boston was subject to tragedy recently when two pressure cooker bombs exploded during the Boston Marathon on 15 April, killing three people and injuring 264. The bombs exploded about about 200 metres away from each other near the finish line on Boylston Street, near Copley Square where I was staying.

On the first day I went out for a run along the river and back through the square. I was touched by the messages of support in all the shops and restaurants, including the large corporate brands like H&M and Starbucks. The square is now home to a make-shift memorial from residents and visitors of the city.

Boston feels like a small city when you're there -- its population is just 625,000 (compared to 8.2 million in New York City or 8.17 million in London) -- and it's hard to believe it sustained an attack of this kind. But the solidarity of residents and businesses in the face of adversity further strengthened my affection for the New England city.

The capital city of the state of Massachusetts, Boston is one of the oldest cities in the US, founded in 1630. The 'Cradle of Liberty' is seeped in American history and it is worth looking in to its historical back story by following the Freedom trail round the city or visiting the JFK museum (which my hosts RMS which I should mention, kindly took me to.)

RMS also hosted a party on top of the the Skywalk observatory, Boston's "only sky-high vantage point," according to its website. It was great for 360 degree views of Boston and beyond, including the university district (where MIT and Harvard are based),Cambridge, over the river.