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Published: November 11th 2007
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Sunday 4th November
Didn't realise that the clocks went back today and woke up too early at about 5am. Caught train to New York Penn. Station at 8am. Had a 2 hour wait in New York for the connecting train, which was delayed as usual (don't know if I've said it yet, but Amtrak must be the worst rail company in the world). Finally arrived in Boston, also known as Beantown (back in colonial days, a favorite Boston food was beans baked in molasses), at 12.30am. A loud mouthed taxi driver drove me round for over an hour looking for a hotel with vacancies. He had a really thick Boston accent and must have been half deaf because he didn't talk but shouted instead (I'm talking loud speaker level). Having had no internet availability in Niagara I wasn't able to advance book a room in Boston. What I didn't know was that there was a big convention on during this week and so most hotels were fully booked. At this point I was so tired that I was contemplating finding a park bench. In the end I had to stay in a relatively expensive (for me anyway) hotel, charging nearly
My Hotel Room
One way windows 120 pounds a night.
Monday 5th November
Had breakfast and then trawled the internet for another hotel. At around midday I caught a tram to downtown Boston. The transport system here is excellent. The trams run overground around the suburbs and then underground nearer the city centre. The service is very efficient with most lines running trains every 4-5 minutes. They also have a similar payment method to Londons Oyster Card. It's called the Charlie Card and is much cheaper than Oyster (just $1.70/85pence per journey, anywhere in the system).
Got a load of information at the tourist center and then walked around the nearby shops. The local street rapper walked up to me and commented on the scarf that Robin had gotten me during his time with the designer in Denmark ("That's a fly scarf brother"). I bought his album, and I don't know who he thought I was, but he asked me to let him know if I could get him any gigs in London. Walked through Chinatown and then back to the hotel, where I sorted out my long overdue dirty laundry.
Tuesday 6th November
Moved to another hotel nearer to downtown Boston. Got a really nice room that's modern styled and has a full entertainment system, including huge TV, stereo, and DVD player. The room is in the basement, and because of this the windows in the room are actually one way mirrors (see photo). This makes you feel like a bit of an exhibitionist (perhaps a shy one), because you can walk around naked and see people in the corridor who can't see you. It's one of the most original hotel rooms I've ever seen before. The rest of the hotel is nice to, with a full bar in the lobby which is open to the public.
Spent most of my day in the local copy shop updating my blog.
Wednesday 7th November
Took the underground down to the harbour to visit the New England Aquarium. It had an indoor penguin pool, with about 3 or 4 different varieties. The males of one group bear a small resemblance to our very own Zaida (see photo - it's all in the eyebrows). In the centre of
the pool there was a huge cylindrical tank which rose about 40-50 feet upwards toward the ceiling. It contained thousands of different fish, a few sharks and stingrays, and a giant 40 year old turtle (giant was an understatement).
Next stop was the Samuel Adams Brewery out in the suburbs. The company is world renowned, and has won an abundance of awards for their numerous varieties of lager and ale (they were actually given a trophy by Guinness World Records for most awards won by a brewery). Went on a 20 minute tour of the brewery which ended in a beer tasting session (which was obviously the most interesting part of the tour). Came out with a free mini glass and feeling slightly tipsy.
Headed back to downtown to find the British pub that the hotel clerk had recommended. Found it and watched the Arsenal match with a meal. Then headed back to the hotel to drop my bag off. Straight out again to go and watch the Boston Celtics basketball team play at the TD North Garden Arena. Managed to get a really good seat near the front and on the half court line. The crowd at the game
were crazy. Every time there's a break in play music is played and people in the crowd are shown up on the big screen (see photo) dancing around and acting nutty. They kept showing this old, toothless guy who was hilarious. Then during longer breaks they have entertainment segments. There was a pair of trampoline acrobats doing stunts with various props, including skis, balls and hula hoops. At one point they had three little kids (about 4-5 years old) racing each other in miniature pedal cars (it was so bizarre). The crowd was getting really hyper because the kids kept crashing into each other and exchanging the lead. Boston eventually won the game by 26 points.
After the game I decided to walk back to the hotel because the station was packed. On the way I passed the bar on which the TV show 'Cheers' was based on.
Overall I'd have to say that Boston is my favourite place I've visited so far. It's not as loud and crowded as New York, a bit more lively than Ohio and Niagara, has a rich historic heritage, and it's easy to travel around.
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Joel
non-member comment
ey up
ey up Jay, Sick you're on the trip... Last I knew you were gonna go Europe for a bit n decide but Robbo said you booked the lot. Nice stuff, keep up the blog. Joel