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Published: January 24th 2007
Stairwell
In the old part of town.After arriving in Boston from Nova Scotia we dumped our bags at our crumby hostel and set off to explore. Our intended route took us up through the main area of Boston following the path of the river. It was immediately obvious that Boston is a city of many different contrasts and has, over the course of its long and interesting history, been subjected to many varied influences and cultures the result of which is a city where a 10min walk can have you in a completely new and interesting neighbourhood.
Boston and Sports It is also immediately obvious that Boston is a city that lives and breathes sport. We had no sooner left our hostel than we bumped into the
TD Banknorth Garden, home of the Boston Celtics and the Boston Bruins. To show just how spoilt the Bostonians are with world class successful sport teams consider the following professional teams that are based here or in the surrounding area. Not only are the following teams all within the greater Boston area they are some of the most successful teams ever and elicit a feverish following among the locals. Makes you sick to your stomach😊
1.
Boston Celtics (NBA) From
Excellent
Hands up those who do civil engineering. the 56-57 season to the 68-69 season the Celtics won the title 11 times out of 13 and in total have won the title a league high 16 times. They are the most successful pro sports team in North America
2.
New England Patriots (NFL) They have won the Super Bowl 3 time since 2001 and as I write this have just lost the Conference Championship/Semi Final game by the narrowest of margins.
3.
Boston Bruins (NHL) One of the Original Six members of the league, home to some of the greatest players to ever play the game and winner of 5 Stanley Cups, lagging a little behind the Montreal Canadiens who have 24😊
4.
Boston Red Sox (MLB) Need I say more except winning the 2004 World Series and beating their hated rivals the New York Yankees in the process after a 86 year hiatus.
And this is not even mentioning the lesser North American team sports of soccer/football, lacrosse and college sports, anyone obsessed with sports should really move to this city. Of all the teams mentioned above I got the feeling that the city lives and dies for baseball, I am quite sure that the 2004 victory was a moment of delirious
and unadulterated joy for the entire city. I must admit that I became quite the fan of the Red Sox after our tour of Fenway Park, but more on that later.
So where were we, ah yes, past the TD Banknorth Garden and past this pretty cool looking bridge, I am a sucker for bridges and then onwards around the river. Boston is truly one of the most beautiful cities I have ever had the pleasure of walking around. Due to its age its has some amazing colonial era government buildings with their beautiful stone facades contrasted, due to its status as one of America's leading city's, with some stunning modern steel and glass towers. All this more often than not as I have said before within a 10 minute walk of a small quiet residential neighbourhood. Anyone going to Boston should spend at least one of their days just walking the streets and getting a feel for the atmosphere of the place, it’s awesome. That night after dinner we spent some time sitting at the North End of the Boston Commons, a massive park in the middle of the city, just chilling and chatting, it was quiet and
Art
Cool piece of art outside Boston Uni peaceful and incredibly relaxing for a big city.
The next day me and Jacqui found a slightly nicer place to stay and the later that afternoon went for another walk, this time to one of the world's premier tertiary education institutions.
Harvard University The walk was awesome in the late afternoon sun and I was enjoying just being with Jacqui on our own. After the sun set though it was bloody freezing. We made a half arsed attempt to do a tour of the campus, we saw the statue of James Harvard, founder of Harvard and that was about it. For reasons which will become clear in future blogs I later saw much more of Harvard campus and will write about it later. Driven in by the cold we had an amazing dinner at an Indian restaurant off Harvard Square and then headed home.
Fenway Park When we came to Boston the tour of
Fenway Park, the legendary home of the Boston Red Sox, was what I had wanted to do most. I was not disappointed; it was awesome, interesting and funny. Disaster nearly struck though as we thought it was closed for the off season and there
seemed to be lots of construction going on, luckily we were just being stupid and the tours were leaving from the nearby souvenir shop. It started to snow just before hand so everything looked white and clean. Of course we were late and had to chase after the tour, the result of poorly timed need for food. The stadium itself was quite beautiful I thought, it was all the same green colour as I am sure it has been for ages. Rather than try and describe the stadium with my poor attempt at witty prose I will let the pictures do the talking and just relate an interesting and funny story the tour guide told us.
The Lone Red Seat: I cannot remember when this happened but I remember the details which is what is important, right? Anyway
Ted Williams, one of the greatest hitters of all time was playing and hit what was later measured to be the longest home run ever hit at Fenway. It bounced off the head of a gentleman sitting 153m from home plate, a journalist rushed over to ask the man some questions and it turned out that he was a Yankee's fan in
Ice Penguin
Sculpture down near the museums on the waterfront town on business. Quick as anything the gentleman asked the man "Given that you have just been hit with one of the longest hits of all time on your one visit to Fenway, don't you think that it is a sign from the baseball gods that you should change your allegiance from the New York Yankees to the Boston Red Sox." The man thought long and hard about this and eventually agreed and good to his word supported the Red Sox for the rest of his days. On Ted Williams’s death the Red Sox wanted to honour him in some way so they decided to put in a red seat where the aforementioned gentleman had been sitting against the sea of surrounding green ones and leave it open forever onwards. Unfortunately seats are sold out years in advance so they came up with a new plan, an usher waits in the red seat and when the ticket holder arrives they, plus guest, are escorted from the cheapest seats in the house to the best seats in the house, right behind home plate. Now that is lucky.
Boston Common As the snow continued to softly fall we went for a
South Station Terminal
Contrast of old and new walk through Boston Common a huge grassy expanse near the CBD. It was lovely all covered in snow and it was good to escape the confines of the city for a while. We spent some time just wandering around through the snow and generally not doing anything of any importance, we watched some ice sculpture carving and people skating on the outdoor rink. Boston Common much like Central Park in New York is a pretty cool place to escape the buildings and sit on a bench outside under the trees😊
Beacon Hill This is the really old residential area of the town where prices are impossibly high and all the cars cost more than the average house price! Having said that it would be amazing to live in one of the huge terraced houses that grace this area as the ambience has to be experienced to be explained. It is almost as though time has stood still, the side walks are made of cobblestone warped by roots from all the overhanging trees, the streetlights are still old fashioned gas ones which splutter to life in the dark, the only give away sign of the 21st Century is that Audi
hehehe
Just to go with the other one! I just walked by😊 One place older looking than most is little
Acorn Street where you can see the grooves in the cobblestone from the horse carts from way back when.
And that was Boston, now one of my favourite cities in the world, somehow seemingly retaining the grandeur and quiet reflection of early American history, the peace and comfort of a small town and the hustle, bustle and excitement of a major city. Go to Boston. Now if only I'd have been 21 I could have had a sweet pint of Guinness that I had been craving after, Oh well.
Next up New Years in New York.
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Go Larry Bird!
Boston indeed sounds like an almost-perfect city; I especially envy their highly successful yet also diverse sporting culture. But despite all these clear positives, I can't help but forever believe that baseball sucks.