Greetings from Boston! It is 10:30 at
night and I am witnessing something I have not seen for a while:
darkness. I actually had to turn the lights on in the hotel room. I
also took a hot shower and the water did not smell like anything at
all. I kind of miss Iceland. I flew from Reykjavik this morning and
landed in Boston where it was a sunny 83 degrees outside. The
captain on my Icelandair flight said it was beautiful weather but
I've been so used to 40-50 degrees that this felt really hot to me
and I was sweating in the cab ride already.
I checked into the Fairmont Copley
Plaza Hotel – the “grande dame” of Boston, and it's in this
great location in Copley Plaza in the Back Bay area. My cab driver
said it's where the presidents and governors always stay when they
visit. I found this decent online deal for the most basic of rooms,
which is a nice queen-sized room with absolutely no views at all. It
reminds me of my hotel in London actually, except the quality is a
bit better. Of course right when I got back to the U.S. I had to get
into that pesky habit of tipping again, so one for the cab driver and
another for the bellhop. What is the appropriate tip for a bellhop I
never had a clue. But I felt a very important person coming out of
the cab with the hotel doorman opening the door for me, taking my
backpack and both my luggages and placing them on a luggage rack and
wheeling it behind me as I walked to the lobby. I suppose a little
service every now and then isn't a bad thing. The hotel is a
nice-looking building from the outside, but it does not prepare you
for the inside, which is so ridiculously ornate; the main entryway is
lined with chandeliers and my jaw dropped when I stepped in.
I did not plan anything in Boston
before I came here other than my hotel. I had bought a day-to-day
guide but didn't set out any itineraries because everything on my
trip has been planned only the night before, so after unpacking my
things in my room I went down to the lobby and asked one of the
bellhops where the Public Gardens were. This guy had a really strong
Boston accent and he didn't understand when I said, “gardens.”
Then he said, “Oh, Public GAHdens,” and pointed me to the place.
I stopped for a bit in Copley Plaza because there were some booths
selling fresh fruits and vegetables so I walked a bit around there.
I also bought a Polish sausage. Yeah, I'm on a hot dog kick.
I followed his directions and it's a
pretty nice park. It was very crowded and it's not a huge park but
still felt peaceful. There were loads of people taking naps in the
grass (with the majority NOT being homeless). I bought a ride on the
swan boat on the lagoon, where there's one worker who pedals and
steers in the back for the entire boat. That's probably a decent
workout. There was a breeze on the lagoon so it felt pretty nice –
very relaxing. There's also a very tiny and cute suspension bridge
that the boat passes under. All the workers seemed to be kids and
this one guy was working this as a summer job before starting
college. Then there was a family behind me and the mom told one of
her kids that they could work here once they go to college in Boston
– like it was the most common summer job in the world.
After the park I went to the Granary
Burying Ground, which has the graves of the victims of the Boston
Massacre, and such famous patriots as John Hancock, Samuel Adams and
Paul Revere. (I hope we all know who Paul Revere is and who he
warned on his famous midnight ride). It was a very small cemetery
and according to this guide in a tricorner hat who was giving a tour,
I overheard that even though there are only hundreds of headstones,
anywhere from 5.000 – 12,000 bodies might be buried there. The
area was under heavy construction, particularly with the paved paths.
Actually a lot of Boston seems to be under construction so they're
not really good photo ops. On the taxi ride we passed by the
Esplanade which is where they're holding the 4th of July
celebration with fireworks and Boston Pops. Everything's in setup
mode with bleachers and whatever stages they're preparing. I'm a bit
bummed that I won't be here for that; it looks like it's a massive
celebration.
Then I headed to the Boston Public
Library, which has a really gorgeous interior. There are frescoes on
the walls and these 2 lion sculptures that adorn the staircase. The
architecture is pretty neat-looking. The reading room was pretty
nice too but there were a lot of students who were studying so I
didn't take any pictures in there and just sat down and pulled my
guidebook to choose what looks interesting. Finally I settled on
heading to the Prudential Center (or the “Pru”) which is a huge
indoor arcade/shopping center. Yes I actually missed this too while
abroad. Food courts! I opted for a cheaper dinner tonight and had
Wagamama, which is a British noodle chain. I had it once in 2009 in
the Auckland Airport in New Zealand I think, and I forgot to visit
while I was in London, so this was a nice way to make up for it. It
was located directly over the subway though, and the first time a
train passed underneath I wanted to duck under the table because I
thought it was an earthquake. After dinner I was still pretty tired
from packing late last night so I called it a really early night and
just had a Pinkberry frozen yogurt for dessert and then did the short
walk back to the hotel.
Some things I had missed while I was
abroad: American TV, American chains, free soda refills, cheaper
meals, and of course the general sort of excess comfort level that is
not provided internationally. And I did miss Americans too. Sure,
they can be pretty annoying abroad, but on homeland everyone has a
sort of joyful energy that I didn't see a lot of in Iceland and
definitely not in London. One thing I did not miss was my cell phone
however. I grudgingly turned the network back on when I got to
Boston and there were so many hundreds of work e-mails coming in on
my phone I had to delete the account entirely off my Blackberry. Now
that I'm back in the U.S. I have this compulsive need to keep
checking it even though I don't hear any notifications. You'll find
it's hard to turn off your smartphone but when you do it's a really
nice break from information overload – a return to simpler
times if you will.
Tomorrow I am either doing the duck
tour or visiting the USS Constitution or both or something else. I
hope the weather is good. If it's not I'll duck into some of the
museums. I only have 2 full days left and even though the city is
compact and easy to get around just by walking, I won't be able to do
everything I want here. If I can just do a couple of neat things and
get one really good seafood/lobster meal I'll be happy with my time
in Boston.
