Sunday 12 June (Anne’s and Niamh’s birthdays)

Woke around 8.15 and sat in bed with coffee while Anne opened her cards. Got ready and had our fruit breakfast. As it was Sunday we didn’t bother rushing as the weather looked grim - the shops generally don’t open until 11 on a Sunday. We thought we’d take a chance and walk to the Prudential Centre so we set off along Stuart St. Found that immediately beyond Vapiano you’re in an area of very posh restaurants. Look nice and actually by comparison with central London they’re not too expensive.

When we got to Copley Square, Trinity Church was in the middle of a service. We looked round for a coffee and ended up in Burger King simply because all the others meant going up or down stairs to seating areas! After coffee we walked along Boylston looking at the interesting old buildings that had been converted to shops. The exception is the Apple Store which is the standard plate glass box with a glass spiral staircase up to the 3rd floor. Talked to a nice young man who showed us how to stitch Anne’s bear movies together to make a single movie which we’ll perhaps try later.

Came out and continued a few yards along the street to the Prudential Centre. A typical American indoor mall - very smart. As it was around 12.30 we went into the Food Court. After a scout round the numerous outlets Anne decided on pizza and Les on crispy chicken wings. Les’s came with a Caesar salad as a side so Anne was able to share that. Once again a single slice of pizza in America is enough for a meal.

We wandered around the shops still looking for Holly’s UGG boots. We eventually found a very helpful man in Lord & Taylor who initially laughed at the idea of finding UGG boots, especially Adirondacks, at this time of year and kept saying that these are winter boots. He offered to go and check the store room and after some time came back with the only pair that they had. Unfortunately these weren’t the right size.

We went and found the Skywalk desk but decided not to do the walk as it was very cloudy and it had kept spitting the odd spot all morning. Amazingly just beyond the desk we found a chapel built into one of the units in the Mall.

We left the Mall and walked to the Christian Science Plaza. Didn’t look as attractive as last time we saw it - probably because of the dull weather. We walked back to the church passing the start point of the Duck Tours - interesting to see all the different coloured ones lined up together.

In the church we paid $5 each for the self-guided tour but we were really lucky because as we went in we were able to tag onto a guided tour that had just started. The guide spoke really well and was extremely entertaining and knowledgeable. This was great fun when we had to deconstruct the meaning of a stained glass window - David charging Solomon (with the building of the temple).

The tour took the best part of an hour, ending up in the undercroft. Originally this was barely head height but in recent years they ‘ve done a fantastic job in excavating down to provide a huge space under the whole of the church. This is now extremely smart and consists of a series of interconnected meeting rooms divided by moveable engraved glass screens. The most interesting thing is to see the pyramidal foundation pads beneath the four main columns at the centre of the church. These are made of rough hewn granite blocks which sit on 30ft wooden piles. Interesting for Les anyway. There is also a geothermal heat exchange system. The wells for this go 1500ft into the ground below the basement - twice the height of the Hancock Tower. The guide said that this had been extremely expensive to install but they’ll never pay another heating or cooling bill again.

Coming out of the church we decided we’d go back to the Prudential Centre and visit Ben & Jerry’s for sorbet and ice cream. Sat next to two English ladies who told us they were there for an international flower arranging show.

After the ice cream we had another look at the weather - the sun had actually come out briefly whilst the church guide was describing the stained glass windows. The girl at the Skywalk desk said visibility should be fairly good so we decided to go up. An interesting lift ride up to floor 50. The lift seemed slightly better than the ones in the Hancock Tower. Views were great over the city but obviously the far distance was shrouded in mist - we couldn’t see Harvard although we could make out most of the Boston Harbor Islands. We spent about an hour slowly making our way round the 360 degrees with the audio/visual guides.

Quite tired when we came down but decided we’d walk back to the hotel. This was okay until we got almost back and found we had to detour one block off the last section of Stuart as it was closed for a street festival and they wanted $10 admission. Les was not best pleased as he knees were quite sore by this time. Got as far as Vapiano and decided to go in for a beer. It was past 6pm by then and we really needed the drink. After a nice sit down we went to the 7/11 to top up our fruit and water.

Got back about 6.45. After a brief rest we went back out at 7.30. It felt like the rain was starting so we went to Rock Bottom rather than original plan of going along the Uno Grill which we’d seen on Boylston in the morning. A very nice and reasonably priced meal once again. We asked about desserts (Les needed a NY cheesecake). They said theirs weren’t very good and we should try next door! As it was Anne’s birthday we went into the Encore Piano Bar in the foyer of the hotel so that Anne could have a birthday Seagram's (Les took opportunity to have a cognac). Back to our room about 9.30pm.

The last two photos show a strange thing. In the hotel lobby there are three lifts, but on our floor there were four. Wonder where the other one takes you ......