BOSTON & PHILADELPHIA

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We have completed our flights with American Airlines and are now using Boston as our hub for the last few weeks. I must admit that AA has been fantastic and their inflight service excellent. We have had good inflight meals and they have also been very generous with the scotch! Apart from our little delay on day one we could not fault them. Our form of transport for the next few weeks as we travel between Philadelphia, Washington DC and New York will be Amtrak, which we are looking forward to. Our next flight will be when we leave the USA on May 6^thto fly to Heathrow on British Airways.

So that is how we came to be at Boston’s South Station early on Saturday morning ready to board the Acela Express to Philly. Of course we are still carrying the same amount of baggage with us so we opted to use the Red Cap service, which means you leave the bags with an Amtrak staff member and they place them on the train all for a small but well-earned tip. It also meant that we boarded the train before most of the ticketed passengers – thankfully as the train was packed with not one spare seat available. There are only two classes on the train Business or First – we opted for Business and the Quiet Car. In this car you are not allowed to use ‘phones or talk loud; perhaps the noisiest people on the train were the Guards telling us NOT to use our phones. Think library environment they said. The best thing was the free Wi-Fi, which allowed you to log on and also follow the train’s journey.

And that was how I could record the stunning trip out of Boston to our first stop in Providence, Rhode Island. My only connection with Rhode Island was remembering the 1983 America’s Cup when Alan Bond’s Australia II wrested the Cup from the New York Yacht Club tenure of 132 years. I thought of this as we chugged through the countryside and remembered watching the race at primary school and realised that this was the moment that the sailing door opened to allow New Zealand’s finest yachtsman a chance of winning the Auld Mug. It may have taken us longer than we all thought but one of NZ’s finest moments was finally winning and defending the Cup – perhaps one day it will return. Anyway, I was day dreaming again.

That whole area is stunning. There is a mix of agricultural areas and what must be seafood meccas. You could see the fishing boats that had returned to shore and readying themselves to go out again. There were also seafood collectors out in the shallows gathering shellfish – I can only guess they were farmed cockles or scallops. All through this area you see the beach homes that have been made famous in many movies – I would call them Cape Cod style homes, which may or may not be right. All I can say is that they are beautiful in design and setting. Many will have been empty awaiting the summer vacationers to head back in the upcoming months hence the boats were up on the hard. I am sure that in the next few weeks it will become a hive of activity with New Yorkers heading there. Just north of New York we were into Connecticut – the properties and real estate were out of this world.

Our train made a stop at Penn Station in New York. This meant that we had quite a slow trip through the NY suburbs and a great look back over the skyline. It was a skyline I last saw first-hand in April 2001 as I left the city in a taxi to JFK. Of course when we left that day we just expected all would be the same forever but as we know there are two large towers missing from that all too familiar vista. No one needs to be reminded of the events of September 11 but I must admit I did allow myself some reflection time. The skies seemed as blue as they were that fateful day but the city looked just as vibrant. The new One World Trade Centre has nearly reached its final height on the site of the original WTC – you can see it stretching into the NY sky. By this time next year it will be complete and the first major part of the new complex will be ready for the public and businesses to use.

The rest of the trip was fairly uneventful until we reached the outer suburbs of Philadelphia. From our train seats we started to get nervous as the entry into Philly could only be described as depressing. We passed empty warehouses and factories that were not far off being demolished. It was obvious that a lot of industry had moved away from the area or closed down. Perhaps it was because we were on the train not descending from altitude but in all our travels through the US we had not seen such a depressed and sad area and we did start to think about whether we had made the right decision – this was not alleviated by the taxi driver who was unresponsive and rude on our way to the hotel; our first average moment in four weeks. Anyway, we made it to the Club Quarters in the middle of Philly and for a brief moment after checking in we thought that we had been upgraded – they sent us up to the Penthouse Floor. Unfortunately, it was not a Penthouse Suite rather a small corner room next to the large function area on the PH Floor. As they seemed to be setting up for a conference evening we took the hint and went out for pizza. Sadly for us the two nights of functions next to our door wasn’t that much fun. In all other aspects the hotel was fantastic.

I can officially say that I learnt a lot in Philadelphia and it was a city that grew on me. My previous experience was mainly round a Tom Hanks movie in the 1990 so I was starting afresh. Its history stems from the very first days and years of the USA when the former British Colonies overturned the authority of the King and sought independence. Our first visit was to Independence Hall where the debate and adoption for the Declaration of Independence and then the first Constitution took place.

Independence Hall is made up of two large areas. The first you enter is the original Supreme Court set up to mirror the British system. It is not big just a room made up of a Bench and the original caged stand for the defendant – it is called a stand for precisely the reason you think. A defendant would have to stand throughout all proceedings; hence today we still have the saying “to stand trial”. The jury areas were split into two parts. The first two were used for Grand Juries and the third for standard jury trials. The large expanse where we stood was for the public gallery and would often spill over into the street when there was a big and popular case. It was most probably easier to get inside in those days. We were subjected to a security search and bag check on the way in and our tickets had to match the tour we had turned up for. I believe the security is warranted as an attack on Philadelphia would be an attack on the most important heritage of American life.

In the building next to this is the original House of Representatives and Senate. We have been really lucky on our visits to the US as we have got to see a lot of the political rooms up close. In 2002 we were taken on an “off tourist” trail around the Capitol in Washington. A very kind guide that I spoke to took us onto the floor of the US Senate and we got to see the senators’ desks up close – I was especially keen to see Edward Kennedy’s. He had held that seat since his brother, JFK. I guess we can now say that we have ticked off all the US Senate areas – the original in Philly is not that large as there were only 26 Senators to begin with. Of course with 50 States today that number has risen to 100.

The design of Philadelphia was originally based around five large squares. Four of these squares still exist today. We walked through most of them and with the weather they were pretty popular in the early evening. We walked through Rittenhouse Square on the Saturday and it was filled with early evening revellers and groups meeting up. It was obvious that this was a place people meet in the inner city and share conversation and picnics. The square is now surrounded by high rise buildings with restaurants at ground level – many sat having a drink outside these bars watching the world go by in the park. Washington Square has quite a macabre side to it as it also a mass grave a large amount of unknown Colonial troops from the revolutionary wars. The city’s Tomb of the Unknown Soldier sits within this park.

I must admit that I was a little disappointed that the Moon Tree was dead. This was a tree that was grown from a seed that went on one of the Apollo missions to the Moon. There is a plaque that explains the tree and where it stood – sadly it now sits in front of a stump. Not the best advert for Moon Tree cuttings!

Perhaps the most iconic symbol of American independence is the Liberty Bell. A bell that generations of people have flocked to see either in its home city or while it has toured America. It is a bell that has long been silent due to a crack that runs nearly up one entire side and has been held together for many a year. Its preservation is most probably one of the most important in the US; they considered lowering it into a basement vault during WW2 due to the threat of air raids. It is the epitome of American freedom and I was staggered by the numbers wanting to view it. It now sits across the road from the Independence Hall in its own building. Long ago it rang out from the tower in the Hall. Famous people from all around the world have visited the Bell – Nelson Mandela on his release, the Dalai Lama, presidents through the ages. It travelled the US in the early part of the 20^th century to massive crowds and adulation. Some feel that its fragility and imperfection is what makes it an icon – it is mirroring what democracy is really like.

We went to our first American Open Home in the cobbled streets of Elfreth’s Alley. This is the oldest residential street in the US and people still live there today. One of the houses was for sale so I stuck my head in to say hello to the Realtor and next thing we knew we were on the home tour. It was an amazing home that had just been renovated on each of its three levels. To live there you have to accept that you reside in a place of national interest and you cannot change the exterior of the building. You may also find that you have busloads of tourists and nosey parkers traipsing down your road. The house would have been very easy to buy as it was so well done – I think it would have come in around the US$600K mark.

It may sound a bit strange but I stood outside a Fire Station. The alarms were going off and I thought that I was about to watch them run to the tenders and get ready to go. All the gear was sitting next to the fire engine. However, I was a bit out. It was the ambulance leaving not the engine. It has been a sad and tragic week for the Philadelphia Fire Department as they lost two firemen due to a building collapse. The flags have been at half-mast on all stations and city buildings.

It is Stanley Cup playoff time in Philly and their beloved Philadelphia Flyers are 2-0 up against the Pittsburgh Penguins. They have won both their games on the road so this was the chance to come home and win in front of their fans. Fans were out and about in the city in their colours waiting for the start of the match – it was a sell out and there was no chance of picking up a ticket. Anyway, I watched the game and it was brutal. Within the first quarter there were a lot of goals but the fights on the ice were of the old school variety. Players seemed to be ejected or stood down. It was quite the spectacle and the first game of ice hockey that I have watched through. The Flyers ended up winning 8-4 and have the chance to wrap the series up in Game 4. I have been quite taken with the sport and how it seeps into all levels of society. We have seen the NCAA finals, the NBA playoffs are just about to hit full swing, the baseball season is all go, and the Stanley Cup Finals are only weeks away. Even the NFL is not missing out as they are just about to do the Draft for next season – a whole swag of young college graduates are about to become millionaires. The baseball community had Jackie Robinson Day on Sunday; a chance to remember the famous player who broke down the last barrier to American sport and became the first black Major League player. His shirt number (#42) is the only number in baseball retired for perpetuity. All Major League players wore #42 on Sunday – a wonderful touch for a much loved player who died all too young.

We found one of the best Chinese restaurants in Philly. Wok restaurant was stunning – we had two of the most fantastic dishes. Once again we overindulged but it was fantastic and nice to try something different – we thought something other than pizza, burgers and calamari would be good. I forget to mention that we had an Indian in Chicago – it doubled as Oliver’s birthday dinner; he may have been back in NZ but we toasted him! Think he would have enjoyed it.

One of Philly’s much loved movie moments is Sylvester Stallone’s ‘Rocky’ running up the 72 steps at the Museum of Art. After overeating at Wok restaurant we felt we should do a walk – this walk ended up being about 5 miles in total as we went out to the steps along the beautiful Benjamin Franklin Drive. It was just going dark as we set out but the streets were filled with couples, runners and families all out doing the same thing. There were also a good number of tourists heading for the same statue. The City has done a great thing and commemorated the ‘Rocky’ moment by putting a bronze statue of him with arms aloft next to the steps he made famous. I brought it up on Youtube as we walked towards it – makes for great watching.

So Philadelphia was the city that grew on us; from our first glimpses we were worried but after walking the city we actually started think that we could have stayed another day. The history and the architecture was just what we wanted. We have another early train trip tomorrow across to Washington; one of my favourite cities in the world and I cannot wait to see the National Mall and the White House one more time.

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