The Real Reason for the Boston Tea Party

---

It was not taxation without representation. Forget the actions of a tyrannical king. It was not even the existential urgency of getting Charlie off the MTA. No, the real reason for the Boston Tea Party was Massport. I don't know who was responsible for deciding that this remote outpost of the deepest levels of Hades should serve as an international hub, but it was certainly no one with a modicum of sense. Let's fly through Boston, we said. It will be a fun new way to go to Europe, we said. We can avoid the multiple gate changes and the jitney tango at JFK, we said. Don't listen to us.

We arrived on time. Our plane that was to take us to CDG in Paris arrived on time from Israel. It had a mechanical issue that required an hour to fix. By the time that was done, they had lost their seat in the musical gates game. It then took 5 hours for Massport to find them another gate. We made multiple treks from one gate to another, only to be disappointed each time as another change was made. We eventually were sent to the far end of the terminal to a gate where we would board buses and be taken to the waiting aircraft on the tarmac. But upon arrival after another long walk, we discovered that they did not have enough buses, and it was going to take over an hour to load us. Miraculously, a gate opened up, and after again traversing the entire length of the terminal, we arrived at a gate where we were finally able to board after about a 30 minute wait. The flight that was to leave at 6:30 ended up leaving close to midnight. Of course, that meant they served an evening meal at 1:30 AM. For us, arriving late merely meant less time waiting to take our TGV train to Avignon, but for a lot of passengers it meant missed connections and a very bad start to their planned vacation.

The trip to Avignon was uneventful, and we settled into our small but very nice hotel just off the Place de l'Horloge, which is a busy plaza of restaurants and bars connected to the large plaza in front of the plaza for the Palais des Papes. WE got settled in quickly (it was already 7:30 PM) and went out to eat.

Coming up: eating and other adventures in Provence

---