This past July, we visited Boston with the in-laws, who had done a Home Exchange and traded their DC apartment for a lovely house in Boston for 2 weeks. It was a mixture of working from home for a few days and exploring on the weekends, which was a really nice change of pace and scenery!

On our 1st weekend in Boston, we went to the New England Aquarium to see the penguins. They have an excellent penguin exhibit where you can see the cute little birds getting fed or just lazing about. There are 2 types of penguins at the Aquarium: African penguins and Rockhoppers. The African penguins are the more vocal, with their voices being compared to mule-braying!

The Rockhoppers easily identified by their bright yellow eyebrows.

The Aquarium also has a giant, four-story Giant Ocean Tank, which contains a 200,000-gallon Caribbean coral reef exhibit filled with over 1,000 marine animals.

The star of the Giant Ocean Tank is definitely Myrtle, the green sea turtle. Myrtle has lived at the Aquarium since June 1970 and is believed to be over 90 years old and weighs more than 500 pounds. If you go to the top level of the tank, you can see Myrtle coming up for air.

And of course, no visit to an aquarium is finished until you’ve seen the jellies!

After about 3 hours at the Aquarium, it was time for lunch at the Union Oyster House. Established in 1826, Union Oyster House is the oldest restaurant in Boston and the oldest restaurant in continuous service in the United States. When in Boston, of course I had to have Clam Chowder and a Lobster Roll! We finished the meal off with a delish slice of Boston Cream Pie.

After lunch, we meandered over to Quincy Market to do some souvenir shopping. Quincy Market is famed for their food court, but there are tons of great souvenir to be had in the surrounding streets. If you have the time, check out Faneuil Hall Marketplace as well!