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Published: December 25th 2007
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I arrived at my hostel in the Back Bay area of Boston at 2am on Wednesday morning, after a 14 hour Greyhound trip which was no fun at all. I got up at 9am to cash in on the free breakfast, and then phoned a friend from Penn State who I knew was in Boston with another friend. Turned out they were both staying two doors down the corridor from me. I had a well earned shower and then headed to the middle of town, the Boston common, with Lois and Sam. The girls went shopping, and I went to the tourist booth at Boston common to start on the freedom trail historical tour of Boston. It was probably a couple of degrees below freezing, and there was snow everywhere. The whole common was covered in about a foot of snow. I hired the audio tour and set off along the red line on the pavement for the self guided walking tour. It could have taken about two hours, but with distractions, detours, and losing the red line under piles of snow, it ended up taking me about four hours. It was a fascinating tour, including old cemeteries, public buildings, statues,
monuments and houses of famous people, including Ben Franklin, Paul Revere, Sam Adams and John Hancock. The trail was also a great way to get to know the city and find out where things are, which came in handy later on.
Back at the hostel, I randomly met a couple of Australian guys who had been on abroad at the University of North Carolina, and happened to know a guy I knew at Penn State. Small world. That night I went to a really good Thai restaurant with Lois and Sam, who were in Boston for their last night before going to New York and then both flying home to England for Christmas. We had a few wines and reminisced about Penn State before saying goodbye and hitting the sack.
The next morning I ate, showered and then got ready to go visit Harvard and MIT. While I was getting ready, I met a very interesting character, a 40yo punk with facial piercings and long pink hair, apparently fresh from LA where he's trying to break into the music scene. Pinky, I hate to say it but I think the dream is over. While talking to Pinky, I
met (or was rescued by) a young Tasmanian journalist who was also going to visit Harvard. Nick and I managed to escape Pinky and his requests for money, and got on the subway to Harvard Square. Nick had met a girl on a bus the previous day who was staying at Harvard with a (student) friend of hers. We met up with the girls and were extremely lucky to get a swipecard access tour of Harvard University.It's very grand and prestigious on the inside, though quite bland on the outside, almost all of the buildings are exactly the same, old square red brick buildings. The libraries and dorm rooms "smelt of rich mahogany, with many leather bound books" (cr. Anchorman).
After our tour, we hung out in one of Harvard's luxurious residence halls, played a grand piano and tried to dry our shoes. We the got the subway back into town and had dinner at the Quincy mall in the middle of Boston. After dinner, we met up with a friend of Nick's, I called my new Australain friends from the hostel, and the big group of us went to a pub for a few beers. I had a
James Boags which didn't taste like Boags to me, maybe my taste buds have been ruined by American beer.
The next morning I had breakfast and said goodbye to Nick, who was going to New York to meet his girlfriend. I went out and hung around Newbury Street in Boston, and then went up the Prudential tower, which is an observatory in one of the biggest buildings in Boston. After the tower, I went to a local guitar shop, got some dinner and met up with my Australian friends, Greg and Matt, and we went to the Basketball stadium to see the Boston Celtics play the Chicago Bulls. Boston had been doing extremely well, but Nick had watched them lose in the final second two nights before. Our game was much less exciting, Boston won by twenty five odd points and the result was never in doubt. It was good to see a game though, even with the worst tickets in the house. After the game we went back to Harvard and to a couple of pubs.
The next morning, I gathered my stuff and headed for New York. Stay tuned! I have six days in NYC before
heading to London on the 28th.
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Logan
non-member comment
Fun in Boston
Looks like you had fun. I liked the variety of photos you posted. You even made it to a Celtics game, yes!