Blogs from Concord, Massachusetts, United States, North America

Geo: 42.4585, -71.3548... read more

Today almost ended very badly. Rather than going all the way back to Boston ready for the flight home, we thought we would stop off at Concord on the way back. I thought we were going to the small peaceful, historic town of Concord in New Hampshire. My wife thought we were going to the small, peaceful, historic town of Concord in Massachusetts. Luckily we discussed the plans for today last night and realised our misunderstanding. My wife had booked the hotel, so we set off for Concord in Massachusetts. The capital of New Hampshire will have to wait for another time. The Concord in Massachusetts is also near a massive shopping mall apparently, so I'm not completely convinced that it actually was a misunderstanding! We left Quebec with over six hours of driving ahead of ... read more

After nine months away, being back feels really strange. Home has an odd duality, so familiar I can navigate with my eyes closed yet also very different to how I remember it. T.S. Eliot once stated that someone really can’t know their home until they go away, and it’s certainly true for me. I finally decided how to handle these feelings, with one last day of exploration. Like most Massachusetts kids, we learned about the start of the Revolution: Paul Revere’s ride, the Battle of Bunker Hill, and so forth. In grade school, we visited most of those sites. I haven’t been back since. One of the ironies of travel is many people seek out thin... read more

A major part of the history of Boston and the area is related to the start of the American Revolution. Here the Boston Tea party was held (years later they sell tea and tea related stuff to make up for it, I think) here Paul Revere rode to warn the colonists that the British are coming, here the first shots fired by colonists on the King soldiers were heard. So naturally a major part of the museums and monuments I saw depict those events. The thing I found interesting, beside the actual history itself, is the way they relate to the British. In almost no place they are depicted as the "Enemy", or considered as a ruthless foreign power. More than that, the feelings of the colonists themselves as loyal subject of the English king are ... read more