A little after the fact (well, I can’t believe that’s already more than a week ago): after a few days in New York last week, we decided it was time to head north to visit Boston.
Now, getting to Boston from New York is almost ridiculously easy. All you have to do is pay about $ 15, get crammed into an uncomfortable* bus by a bunch of Chinese people for about 5 hours, and you’re there.
*Not just uncomfortable, but also a tad unsafe, I heard. Jay in Boston related stories to me about wheels coming off during the ride, for example. Luckily by then, we only had to get back to NY with these buses.
Picking us up in Boston was our host, Anthony, who runs a small web design company. Chance would have it there was a Couchsurfing meeting that very night, so we all went there and mingled with some very interesting people (though I think we forgot to take pictures).
Towards the end of the night, the party proceeded to the next bar, where Dieter and I had our first unfortunate incident with American drinking policy: not only could he not get a drink (being under 21), I couldn’t even get a drink because I was only carrying my I.D. and not my passport. It’s a shame, when bars in an international academic hub such as Boston lose themselves in the small print of policies.
The day afterwards, July 3rd, we thought it would be a nice idea (well, actually it was Anthony’s) to walk the Freedom Trail, which basically is a walking tour of Boston that leads you past all the historic sites. Since Anthony lives in Charlestown, just north of downtown Boston, we actually hiked the trail backwards, starting at Bunker Hill Monument, where we climbed all 294 steps to the top (real smart move if you know you’re about to hike for 10+ hours).
View of Boston from the top of Bunker Hill Monument
We followed the trail, passing the USS Constitution (the oldest commissioned ship afloat in the world), and heading across the river to Boston where we visited the museum that is housed in Paul Revere’s former residence. For those who don’t know, Paul Revere is considered somewhat of an American hero because he undertook a midnight ride from Boston to Lexington to warn American generals of the movements of the British troops, immortalized in the poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (I actually first heard it when watching the movie Quiz Show, but that’s another matter).
On to the statue of Franklin in downtown Boston then. Behind him, a old State building (forgive me, my American friends – I forgot which). Nevertheless, how American: inside the building, a steak house now resides.
The USS Constitution (girls singing patriottic songs not depicted)
By the way, I managed to pick up a copy of the book Treasures by B.B. King around here for about 1/6th for what it’s worth. I’ve always loved King’s style, and for $8, an illustrated hardcover book with CD is a steal.
We almost were at the end of our proscribed walk, which still took us to the Massachussets State House, and ended with strolling through the Boston Common. Although I’m a bigger fan of Central Park, I must admit that the Common looks pretty good on a sunny day (as opposed to two years ago, where it just looked like one foggy swamp on the day I visited Boston).
Statue of Paul Revere
By now it was only 4 pm, so we decided to grind it out and really see Boston. That still meant walking all the way to Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox, and (just for the hell of it) walking back to Tony’s place all the way through Cambridge, home of the fabled institutes MIT and Harvard (no pictures of that, sorry. It was, as you might guess, dark). All of this meant though, that we arrived back at Tony’s house in Charlestown by 11 pm. That’s about 12 hours of walking. Doing those 2×294 steps in the beginning of the day are really being put into perspective now, no?
On the last day, we still went out to briefly visit Cambridge (by day, this time), and then it was time for us to head back to The Big Apple. As a final treat, we got to witness the USS Constitution’s annual turnaround cruise, before we were subjected to another five hours of the Chinese idea of a comfortable bus ride. I slept most of the way luckily, and didn’t once wake up bathed in sweat from all the terror dreams about bus accidents. Lucky us. (and lucky me, for being at the end of this long, rambling post).
Me in front of Paul Revere's house. I didn't mean to look disinterested, I swear.
As a final note, thanks again to Tony for hosting us and driving us around, he made visiting tremendously easy.
-Wouter
Dieter in his customary pose before the Massachussets State House
) for getting what the title of this blog’s about.
