After the bright sunshine at the weekend, today it was teaming with rain so I headed down to the Kennedy presidential library on Columbia Point just south of the city.

It's a fascinating place, filled with memorabilia from the 35th president, including recreations of that infamous TV debate and a mock up of the Oval Office. But perhaps the most chilling exhibit is the one on the Cuban missile crisis. I don't think many know just how close we came to world War three at that time, but the exhibits here hammer that reality home. Kennedy secretly recorded his Cabinet meetings at the time. Who knew, I thought Nixon started that caper. Some of the recordings are played in the exhibition, it's clear neither the president or his cabinet knew just where the consequences of their actions would take them.

The Massachusetts archives over the road houses number of historical documents including the original Royal Charter for the settlement of Massachusetts Bay and a copy of the declaration of Independence. The Bill of Rights is also here, even though Massachusetts didn't get around to ratifying it until 1939. Better late than never