The Boston Duck Tours, for instance, take visitors around the city in amphibious vehicles. One time I was driving along past the USS Constitution and I hear a smack on the side of my duck. I like working outside, dealing with people. The competition to become a paid Duck Tour guide can be pretty stiff. Those who are hired already have a captain's license, but they also go through a six-week training course that includes mastering Boston history and learning to drive the ducks.
Candidates even take acting lessons and a final exam.
I was really nervous. Canada's small farmers unite Claudius Lord, who has been a Duck guide for three years, says he dislikes the repetition sometimes, but he's happy about the breadth of knowledge he's acquired. The city filled 450 acres in the Back Bay area in the early part of the 1800s. Boston in the 1600s was only a mile and a half in circumference. Today, it's 42 miles in circumference - and they're still expanding.