Kelly Cambridgeport

Cute items in the gift shop. A delight for young people.

Small and enchanting museum. Assessible from Market Street as well as Chestnut Street. If you see the skeleton structure of the Benjamin Franklin House on Market Street, continue walking through that small alley and eventually see the Benjamin Franklin Museum.

Entry fee is five dollars per adult. The museum is Park of the National Park Service. I feel like the fee should be lower so that more people can visit this site. The employees explained that the five dollars is to help with the upkeep of the museum. The museum can be viewed in under an hour, easily. We spent about 90 minutes in this museum.

I enjoyed the cartoon videos, particularly the one with Franklin and John Adams in it about Dr. Franklin keeping Mr. Adams up with his scientific explanations about keeping the window open. They had to share a bed one night at an inn because they were at a conference.

I also like the cartoon about Ben's wife Deborah Reade Franklin accumulating several hundred pounds of porcelain bowls, and how she started the collection. To Ben's credit, he apparently let Deborah spend as she wished.

I liked the Glass Armonica.

Amazing food and service. There are stations for soup, cheese, fruits, dinner rolls, salads, entrees, sides, and desserts. Hot tea and coffee are complimentary with the meal. You do to have a concert ticket first to get admittance into Symphony Hall. So buy your ticket and then make reservations for the symphony Café for the day of the concert. Patrons have up to 2.5 hours to dine before the evening concert starts. $60 for the dinner buffet ($48 plus tax and mandatory gratuity).

There is a lunch buffet for the Friday afternoon concerts and up to 2 hours are allotted for dining at that time.

After spending time at the Tower of London, I walked across the Tower Bridge to the Shard, the tallest building in Western Europe, where I ended up having dinner at GONG on the 52nd floor.

Someone had advised me have dinner at the Shard instead of going on the London Eye. Great idea. There is a strict dress code to be able to reserve a table at any of the restaurants inside the Shard. Also, I had to go through airport-like security. I was wearing a midi length sleeveless dress which can look formal. Yes, I was walking through the city in 90 degree humid weather in this dress all day. Gorgeous views of London from inside the Shard. I would like to go back for afternoon tea.

Very much enjoyed the dinner at Troquet on South. The restaurant is a short walk from South Station. The bluefish pate was marvelous as were the crab spaghetti and duck. I was interested in the 7-course chef selection, but the server wouldn't tell me the names of the dishes, just that they would be whatever the chef felt like serving that day and that the dishes change frequently. I don't if the server just didn't know what was on the menu that day or if he just didn't want to find out. But in the end, I just picked my own dishes. The ladies who came by my table were absolutely lovely and helpful. They checked on whether I liked my dishes. The hostess was wonderful. The service bobble was with my waiter. I sat at my table for a while and had to wave to get attention to get an order in. The complimentary bread is excellent. I'll be back.