On a roll in Boston

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This was published 13 years ago

On a roll in Boston

Electric ... Long Wharf.

Electric ... Long Wharf.Credit: AFP

Susan Gough Henly glides from piers to parks and back.

‘‘One if by land, two if by sea, three if by Segway,’’ laughs my guide, Eric Kennedy of Boston Gliders, in a modern take on the Longfellow poem that describes the signal from Boston’s Old North Church to Paul Revere as he rode to warn colonists when the British were coming during the American War of Independence. These days, visitors and Bostonians alike don’t need a signal to use electric-powered Segways when exploring the capital of Massachusetts.

Far from being a stodgy place preoccupied with its past, Boston could more aptly be named a city of firsts. The Boston Common, for example, was the US’s first public park; the Boston Public Library was also the first in the US. Alexander Graham Bell’s first telephone? Boston. Just across the Charles River in Cambridge is Harvard, claimed to be the country’s first university. Greater Boston is home to 38 universities, a key reason for the region’s innovative ways.

The Segway, a two-wheeled zero-emissions vehicle, is easier to ride than a bicycle, largely because the motions you use to manoeuvre it are so intuitive. While you don’t go faster than about 10 kilometres an hour, you cover a lot of ground efficiently.

After a five-minute lesson, we’re ready for two of Boston’s newest experiences: the Boston HarborWalk and the Rose Kennedy Greenway, a parkline through the heart of Boston where a freeway once stood.

We start from the end of the 18th-century-built Long Wharf, once the focal point of Boston’s maritime industry. In the mid-19th century, Boston’s clipper ships brought the world’s loot back here. Next, we roll to the New England Aquarium, with its fur seal Marine Mammal Centre, and then continue our zigzag path up and down each wharf. At the swish new Rowes Wharf Marina, chock-a-block with yachts and commuter boats, we sashay under the multi-storey arch of the Boston Harbor Hotel, built on the site of a 17th-century artillery battery. On summer evenings, musicians perform and movies are screened here, bringing throngs of people to the waterfront.

Crossing a rickety bridge to South Boston, we cruise along Fan Pier, with its fabulous views of downtown Boston. Next stop is the Institute of Contemporary Art, a soaring space that accommodates vast installation artworks. South Boston is also home to Harpoon Brewery, one of the earliest microbreweries in the US and famous for its India Pale Ale and other specialty beers. At the intersection of historical South Station and a sleek, new Federal Reserve building, we encounter the marvellous Rose Kennedy Greenway, four contiguous parks that link Chinatown, Dewey Square, the Wharf District and North End.

We Segway past gardens, stop to watch children playing in the Rings Fountain and are ourselves of passing entertainment to older Bostonians sitting under the North End pergola.

We head over Charlestown Bridge and sweep down to the new Paul Revere Park, alongside the Charles River. From the new to the old, we detour past rows of colonial red-brick houses in Charlestown before returning to the HarborWalk to see Old Ironsides, a wooden-hulled, three-masted frigate considered to be the oldest commissioned naval vessel afloat in the world.

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Cruising back over the Charles River Locks, marvelling at the fish ladders nearby, we head along the bucolic harbour fringe of the North End and meander through Langone Park. All the while, the white spire of the Old North Church can be seen, part of a city that is constantly reinventing itself.

The author travelled with assistance from the Greater Boston Convention, the Visitors Bureau and Boston Gliders Segway Adventures.

Trip notes

Getting there

- Qantas, United Airlines and V Australia fly to California, with connecting flights to Boston.

Touring there

Boston Gliders Segway Adventures cost $US60 ($62) for one hour to $US125 (three hours) and operate between March and October. +1 866 611 9838, bostongliders.com.

Staying there

The Seaport Hotel, on the Boston HarborWalk, has rooms from $US319 a night. +1 617 385 4000, seaportboston.com. In downtown, Nine Zero has rooms from $395 a night. +1 866 906 9090, ninezero.com.

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