In a brave new strike at experiencing the world, my brother and I have packed our suitcases, and changed locations to Boston, MA. We have 12 days until our return flight takes off in DC, and for the intervening time, we have our suitcases, a rental car, and very few plans. All of yesterday was dedicated to travel, anyway. From Aachen to Düsseldorf by train, the long flight to Detroit, and then a much-delayed flight to Boston. We located our hostel pretty easily and managed to snag jetlag with a well-timed six hours sleep after 24 hours on our feet.
The first day was mostly spent on rough orientation and the Boston Freedom Trail. We now know how to handle american money (I maintain that it is a horrible pain in the ass: no 50 cent piece, no 2 dollar piece, and 1$ really ought to be a coin). We have also secured the bare necessities: Water to drink, a backup stash of bread and apples and deodorant after my axe spray was snatched by the airport security people. OK, they had a point, I ought to have put it in the suitcase. What shall I say, I forgot.
The Freedom Trail is a worthwhile thing to do – it’s a series of historic sites organized into one long walk. Most of them relate to the founding of Boston or the war of independence, but some stem from more recent times, like Old Ironsides, the first fully-armed frigate of the US Navy. She’s 200 years old and for some reason, still commissioned. We had a guid for the first two hours of the trail, drawing all and sundry with his booming voice, then to clarify that all recent adjoinders please pay the fee at the end of the tour. I think some of the people who had drifted into the group actually did just that. Personally, I was pretty satisfied with the tour. Evocative, detailed accounts of some persons and events surrounding the formation of the Sons of Liberty, so mostly the build-up to the War of Indepence.
After the tour finished, we had lunch (some local fish dishes in a food court) and headed on to a quarter on the other side of the river to look at the two military ships on presentation there. Old Ironsides – formally USS Constitution and a more recent object, a destroyer from WW2. The former had a guided tour by an actual navy sailor. After the ships, we walked over to Beacon Hill Monument, which looks rather like the Washington Monument, but commemorates the first battle against british forces by american revolutionary miltias. The top may be reached by stairs, which certainly got the circulation going. We were generally suffering a little bit from the hot weather: about 30 degrees, nary a cloud in sight, moderate humidity. At the end of the day, I’m very glad for the stop at the drugstore this morning that netted us some good sunscreen.
We are due to head out to Boston U’s observatory later this evening, and for tomorrow, we’re planning to visit the campus of MIT and Harvard. Expect more updates.
