Moving North - Boston, Harvard and Brattleboro!

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Friday 19th September (Day 25)

New York City - Boston

We started the day by milling around for a little while and making sure we were sorted out for our bus trip to Boston, without rushing too much. This time we had researched well ahead of time, and booked a bus with one of two companies, operating out of Chinatown for a significantly cheaper fare. We caught the Underground to Chinatown and walked a short distance, where we found the bus company. We were still a bit early so I walked up the road a short way and bought some snack food for the bus ride, as it would take around 5 hours to get there. We befriended a young guy with a guitar, who was waiting for the same bus as us. We passed the time quite easily until the bus arrived and we boarded. It was only a few minutes into our journey and he joined us at the back of the bus where he dragged out his guitar and started playing some awesome tunes for us - the bus was only about half full so there was heaps of room to spread out. He said he had been playing the guitar for about two years, but he was certainly the most proficient guitar payer I have ever met. And we never even know his name - he is forever be ‘Boston Bus Guitar Guy’.

The trip was long (ish) but we saw some interesting things along the way, and we made it to the centre of Boston (Massachusetts) in the late afternoon. We quickly worked out the transport (subway) system and caught a train across the Charles River and over to Cambridge, a part of greater Boston, better known as the home of Harvard and MIT. We made it to our B&B which was in this beautiful period mansion - I have never been in a place quite like it. There were even two full sized grand pianos in the front room! Nice!

We dropped our things off and headed back into the city, before it got dark. After making it back to the city side of the Charles River, we got off the subway and walked along the waterfront, watching the sun set, with a backdrop of small yachts making their way to shore for the night. We took our time at the shoreline as there was a nice park along the water’s edge, but eventually it was getting a bit dark so we headed towards the city, through a pleasant area known as Beacon Hill, which is full of old aristocratic homes and old fashioned street lamps. It was a beautiful area, and we played ‘which way’ for a while, just slowly wandering along various cobblestone streets. We stopped at Acorn Street, a tiny street known as one of the most photographed in America (does anyone see the irony?).

From there we walked towards Boston Common, and randomly found the Cheers bar - well, not actually the bar itself, but the bar that was used for the outside shot in the TV show. We crossed the road and had a quick look around Boston Common, watching the people walking through the park on their way home from work in the surrounding city buildings. We passed one of the grand Government buildings on our way through the city, and stopped off for a while at the gigantic Borders store, as darkness completely took hold. We were getting a bit tired and thought that it was time for some dinner, so we ventured through the centre of the city and over to South Market, a massive food hall, popular with the locals for cheap eats. The food was pretty good and it was just what we were looking for at the time. There were also a lot of restaurants and bars in the area, including a replica Cheers Bar, that also seemed popular (but probably more so with tourists). Outside in the square was a young guy playing the ‘drums’ on a variety of containers, belting out a racket that ended up sounding like some pretty good drum ‘n bass. Loads of people were dancing and cheering him on, and there was quite a large crowd gathered around. People seemed in really high spirits and were really enjoying the beat, which was awesome to see. After a bit more of a wander around the area, we headed towards the subway station we needed, taking another detour back through Beacon Hill and eventually making it over to the Cambridge side of the river. We grabbed some Halloween munchie food from a convenience store near the subway - so many companies have Halloween versions of their products, and we got one of everything we could find. There were loads of students around and the coffee shops were packed full. We got a hot drink from Starbucks and went back to the B&B for the night.


Saturday 20th September (Day 26)

Boston - Brattlebro

Today we had a mission ahead of us but we wanted to take our time looking around before we left. I particularly wanted to visit Harvard, so we trekked up the road (we could have taken the subway but decided to walk), as it was quite a nice day - it was pretty hot, but there were loads of other young people around, and we saw a lot of beautiful old Boston home that were currently being used as student accommodation (pretty fancy). After about half an hour we made it to Harvard - we tried to find the free tour, but as it was the holidays, the tour wasn’t running. Nevermind - we got a map of the university and headed off on our own ‘tour’ past some more Halls of Residence, through Harvard Yard, past the Library, and the Memorial Hall, where we stopped off for a quick look inside. It was quite exciting to be at Harvard, as there were still quite a few people around. We were walking through the School of Science when I saw some people go into one of the massive lecture theatre blocks, so I decided we were going in as well. Despite the two security people walking around near us, I randomly started opening doors to lecture theatres, as I knew no one would be inside. I really wanted a look - cheeky, I know, but how else are you going to get to see things sometimes? They were not as large as I had imagined, but still pretty impressive, and I was glad I had managed to get a better look around. We wandered past Harvard Law School and then over to one of the local convenience stores to buy a drink.

After we had finished up there, we headed into the city to pick up our rental car. The problems from Vaughan’s credit card company persisted, and when we arrived, the payment would not go through and it took about an hour to sort out on the phone to some credit company. Issues sorted, we eventually made it back to the B&B to pick up our gear, before having a drive around more Halls of Residence and across to the city side of the river (yes, Harvard is that big), to see Harvard Stadium - the general size of the university was just so massive. It was really impressive! After that we drove past MIT for a quick look, as the rivalry between these universities is well known (MIT students are generally known as the ‘geeks’ in comparison, although I am sure many people would refute that). The main MIT building was also pretty impressive, although MIT itself is a lot smaller. From there we zapped off north, out of Boston, heading for a small town called Brattleboro (Vermont), taking scenic route 100.

The drive was stunning - all the trees (predominantly maple trees) were starting to lose their leaves, and the countryside was bathed in varying shades of greens, reds and golds. Vermont had an abundance of lush forest, mountains and ‘petrified’ tree swamps. The views were stunning and we were really glad that we had taken the scenic route, and bothered to visit some of the smaller towns along the way. The drive wasn’t as long as anticipated either, so we were able to cruise along without too many time constraints. There also seemed to be a lot of lakes in the area, with private houses/lodges built right down by the water’s edge. Already it would be too cold for swimming, but it just looked like such a beautiful relaxing area, and the lakes and small rivers looked so clean and clear. We passed many old barns and farmhouses as well, and noticed the famous Vermont wood-covered bridges started to pop up on side roads from time to time.

We finally made it to Brattleboro, which was a lot smaller and non-descript than we had imagined, but it was still a very pleasant small town, and we had a quick look around the Old Town end (where we were staying), which looked out over the place where two rivers meet, and the large bridge over both of them. We stayed above an old Cinema with a view of all of this, and were also very close to a local supermarket where we managed to get a few supplies. People seemed to think we were quite different there (I am sure that very few people with a Kiwi accent come through there), and several people asked us where we were from. Even the local skateboarding and youth club ‘couldn’t-care-less teenagers’ from across the street seemed interested, which was quite amusing. We walked down the main street looking for somewhere to have dinner, but didn’t really feel like a proper restaurant meal. It was getting pretty dark by now so we jumped in the car and headed up to the newer part of town (which was actually quite some distance away, with countryside in between, almost like two separate towns) and we suddenly found all the fast food joints and a lot more accommodation which had been lacking down our end (although nothing else was there). We stopped in at a diner and had a pretty good (cheap meal), before heading back for the night. Tomorrow we were moving on to Burlington, up near the Canadian border.

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Comments

[Marianne]

terrific, you must have made very comprehensive notes, thoroughly enjoying my American trip.

[toni lister]

Hello! Thanks for the feedback - the blog is a mission right now, with so many places still left to write about, but I will get there :) All of this info is from memory. I'm a bit worried we have forgotten what we did later on in the trip, but I am sure we will get the gist of it down for you. Thanks for reading (or at least skim reading) :)