Blogs from Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, North America

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Walking tour of Harvard. Saw the historic buildings and learned a lot about the history of the school. This Thursday is the graduation. We didn’t see any past HOM students today at Harvard. However, we saw a former HOM student that just graduated Tufts.... read more
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What does one do when coming off the amazingness that is spending the 4thof July in Boston? Why, visit the places that presidents and future presidents lived, of course! My whole reason for staying in Cambridge was to visit the house that had once been General Washington’s headquarters during the Siege of Boston. The house was originally owned by John and Elizabeth Vassall, who were Tories (Loyalists). Their house is one of several – including that of John’s uncle Henry – that are on present day Brattle Street, once known as Tory Row. I spent part of my day walking Brattle Street and seeing the exteriors of these houses – they are privately owned and not open for tours. The only one that is a National Historic Site is the Longfellow House (formally Vassal House)-Washington’s Headquarters. ... read more
The Longfellow House-Washington's Headquarters
Formal Dining Room
Fanny's Parlor


Drove by MIT and walking tour of Harvard. Do you know the three lies about the statue of Harvard?... read more
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North America » United States » Massachusetts » Cambridge August 5th 2014

Today we went for a leisurely drive from Cambridge to Portsmouth, passing on the way Newbury, Sailsbury, Exeter, Manchester and York. Yes, many of the New England place names sound very familiar. Today we are very sadly leaving Boston and heading north. We have loved Boston, and two of the four of us agree that it's our favourite city in the USA so far (and it has some very tough competition, mainly New York), which I'm sure they'll be very happy about. We could have probably have done with a bit more time there. Whilst packing, for the first time, we put on the TV. It's like having the One Show running all day, but with the irrelevance times by 100, coupled with over-the-top sugar-coated sincerity and a constant stream of unimaginative, in-your-face commercials thrown in. ... read more


Geo: 42.371, -71.1139HISTORYThe first settlers of Boston arrived in 1630 (750 colonist) and named the settlement after Boston in Lancashire. The town quickly developed and was almost ignored by Britain until around 1660 when Charles II took control of the New England Colonies. Merchants were then forced to trade exclusively with Britain but smuggling was rife. The colonists were outraged by unfair taxation (without representation) and keen to establish their own rule but Britain's objective was to extract as much money as possible out of the Colony. In a nutshell things came to a head with events such The Boston Tea Party (where a load of tea and British Sailors were thrown into the harbour) , Boston Massacre and The Battle of Bunker Hill. This heralded the start of the American Revolution and culminated in the ... read more
Beacon Hill - with real gas lamps
Massachusetts State House
The Helmand Afghanistan Restaurant

North America » United States » Massachusetts » Cambridge September 6th 2012

Less than ten minutes into the student orientation for the Harvard Summer intensive English program, the third cell phone rang. Actually, it didn’t ring. It made the shut down noise. Voldermort’s (names have been changed to protect the not so innocent) head whipped up like a vulture startled from its scavenging. Glaring with beady predator eyes into the darkness of the auditorium, she snarled, “Bring me that cell phone this instant!” Nobody moved. She repeated herself. Still nobody moved. “Are you a coward or a liar?” she mocked. Then for the next twenty minutes, some 440 students, many of whom didn’t speak enough English to understand anything she said, and 40 teachers, who unfortunately did, sat in silence staring at the ferocious sneering gorgon on the stage. This may have been when she finally snapped and ... read more
Voldermort welcoming new students
the victims


There are times in your life when all the elements seem to come full circle and you are struck by the patterns and pathways that have formed you. This past week certainly has been that. As a young child one of my favorite places to visit was to my mother’s cousin Natalie Frohock and her husband Brick, a professor at Harvard, in Cambridge, MA. They lived in what seemed to be a huge home near Harvard and there was always a somewhat mysterious air in the house – Brick was in his third floor study doing serious, intellectual work, Natalie had just come back from a trip to the gourmet grocer Savenour’s and was cooking something marvelous in the kitchen and my two cousins Natalie and Sarah were off and about in Harvard Square, seemingly much ... read more
Flowing banners in the breeze
Widener Library
HGSE and its Sesame Street emblem

North America » United States » Massachusetts » Cambridge April 17th 2010

On the 4th of April we had the privilege of visiting two of the most prestigious schools in the world Harvard and MIT. I’m sure most of you have seen Legally Blonde and 21, how they try to capture the lifestyle at these schools however they do little justice for them as they don’t show what’s beyond and within. Antony’s friend, Martin is a Kenyan who graduated from MIT and now works at Harvard in the Treasury Department. Despite his busy schedule he managed to give us a day long tour around the two campuses. Elvis the only Kenyan senior at Harvard gave a short tour; we went round to their dining hall and met their friendly Dining Hall Manager who told us that their number one priority is preparing good quality meals for the high ... read more

North America » United States » Massachusetts » Cambridge February 8th 2010

There is always some plan to avoid the jetlag. "I won't sleep before the flight so I'll be very tired and fall asleep easily during it it". Yeah. Rubbish. I didn't sleep more than two, maybe three hours on both flights. From the minute I took off it was light and food all the way. Even managed to get me a couple of Frankfurters and beer in, well, Frankfurt. Oh, and you really shouldn't drink beer when you're so tired. It doesn't agree with your head and didn't make me sleep at all. The only thing that does work is making sure that eventually you go to sleep in the evening and not before. That is why I'm still up for the last way-too-long-time (I really lost track). Landed here in the afternoon and kept walking ... read more

North America » United States » Massachusetts » Cambridge August 30th 2009

Before i hopped on a plane back to Mickey Mouse's home of Orlando we grabbed some dunkin donuts and headed off to the prestigious Harvard University to walk around the campus. There is an unofficial tour of the campus but we opted to wander aimlessly on our own. The weather definitely had a change of heart and we got a day of the sun shining as we walked around.... read more
harvard hall
campus dorms
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