Next stop was Boston, and what a stressful morning we had trying to get there! Because of the weather and general public transport crappyness, instead of taking 45 minutes to get to the airport, it tooks us nearly TWO hours, two fretful, anxious hours which of course meant that we missed our flight. I have never missed a plane before and I assumed it would be a huge deal where you'd have to pay them money and sleep on the ground and get cavity searched, but the check-in lady was like, oh never mind, we'll put you on the next flight. So, after all, not that big a deal. After the minor hiccup of the morning, and a bus that tried to steal Owen's suitcase, we made it to our Boston abode, the land where everybody sounds like a gangster! The hostel was great, pretty quiet (we were in a dorm but had it to ourselves), and the owner drove us to the train station in the mornings (the mornings that we were up in time, of which there weren't many!). It also had a big tv room which was almost constantly populated by a couple of guys who live there - they were pretty funny, and seemed NEVER to leave their grooves in the couch (we'd go to bed at 1 and then get up at 11 or so, and they'd be in the same spot!). TNT was doing a Law & Order marathon, and for those of you not down with our extreme, soulful love of L & O, oh man, we like it. Many hours were spent in that tv room! It was also funny to hear the local Bostonians give a running commentary of each episode (Oh, he's gawing to kill her, that beeaarstard!). Maybe best of all, or at least on par with the L & O, one of the hostel residents happened to be a cat. A cat... with thumbs! I have always said that it is an act of mercy on the part of evolution that cats have not developed thumbs - the moment they do, we are ALL in trouble.
The cat was not really inclined to be photographed, but I managed to get a couple - try to make out his extra digits of doom in this one:
Our first day in Boston was a bit of a write off - we went into the city intending to walk the Freedom Trail, which is a route that runs through the CBD marking historic buildings and monuments related to the American Revolution (which began in Boston) and other American-history-type-stuff. We walked around the Common and Public Gardens for a couple of hours but I wasn't feeling too great, so we ended up going home and sleeping (and watching Law & Order) for most of the afternoon. Before the ill-health set in though, there were squirrels! Boston Common is FULL of tame, cute squirrels, and, being a Saturday, the park was full of people walking, ice-skating and feeding the wildlife. By the end of our brief walk my camera was packed full of squirrels in various poses - being fed, standing up, climbing up trees, climbing down trees, digging, and generally being squirrely. As I said in my last post, you have to understand: in Australia, there are no such thing as squirrels. Illustrated fairy tales show romantic forest scenes, populated by unicorns, centaurs, nymphs and squirrels. My first few squirrel experiences may as well have been unicorn sightings, I was that freaking excited. Squirrels! They're just so darn squirrely!
Behold, more squirrels (I think I took about 50 squirrel-related photographs - for your mental health, I will not post them all):
After our aborted attempt to soak up the local history, we tried again the next day to walk the Freedom Trail. Again, we were distracted by the squirrels, the ice-skaters, and the original Cheers bar, home to the Least Funny Show Ever Made, Including All the Shows That Were Made Before Television Was Even Invented (TM). For the record, we did not go inside, but Owen needed a photo to prove that he has bad taste in tv! Ho, SNAP!
Post-Cheers, we crossed the park to really, for reals, seriously, walk the Freedom Trail. Of course, we did not do it, but we did go to the Fanueil Markets and eat a baked potato. The markets were very cool - lots of great food, although most of the stalls were just selling Harvard/Boston t-shirts and mugs and things like that. Its also quite near the harbour, or one of the harbours, so we wandered around until the icy sea breezes overcame us!
That night, we caught the New Amsterdams again. When we saw them in Chicago, the singer tipped us off about the Boston show, and they were worth a second look. The support bands were mostly boring, the show was in a weird church hall, and the band saved the day! As well as their regular stuff, they played a couple of songs by the singer's kids band, the Terrible Twos. I think the songs were called Math Stomp and We Can All Get Along With Dinosaurs. Very cool!
Our last day in Boston was meant to be spent at the MIT museum and taking a tour of Harvard (Hah-vahd, as the Bostonians say), but because of the Presidents Day public holiday, the museum was closed and the tours weren't running. We gave MIT a miss, much to my disappointment, but went out to Harvard anyway. It was quite cold and we were a bit lost, but the bits of the campus we did get to see were awesome - its quite beautiful, all classical architecture (well, the area we saw anyway), and the bare trees and snow made it a very picturesque sight.
When the cold became too much, we decided to check out Boston's Museum of Fine Arts. Like Chicago, it pretty much blew me away (I am expecting to die when we go to the Met!) - I made a list of all the things I liked that we saw which I will reproduce at some point. Its just great to see such a range - Australian art galleries have NOTHING compared to galleries over here. The Art Gallery of NSW has ONE crappy, unheard-of Picasso, and even in Boston, there are more Picassos than you can count. (Well, on one hand at least.).
That was all there was time for on our whirlwind tour - the cold, coupled with the pull of take away and sweet, sweet Law & Order meant we spent most nights safely tucked away indoors. I really loved the bits of Boston we did see - downtown and the park is really pretty, and the city is full of great old houses and buildings. It seemed quite relaxed too (despite the fact that everyone talks like a mobster in a hurry). I'd like to go back and spend some more time there, maybe in summer when the waterfront is a little more inviting!
I did learn one thing though - Bostonians LOVE steeples. If it's got walls, why not give it a steeple? Why not indeed, hey?