I've heald dreams of Boston all my life
Trip Start
May 31, 2010
1
73
Trip End
Nov 28, 2010
Boston, Massachusetts
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Dave and I headed towards Boston by bus, something which greatly amused me as seemingly Dave would transport himself everywhere by taxi if he could. As soon as we got on the bus we were in a bit of trouble... I've got used to ignoring the weirdo freaks on the busses and just humouring them or ignoring them entirely, David on the other hand famously isn't one to hold back on his thoughts. After about ten minutes of the journey, a lady sitting in front of us started huffing and puffing at the noise of David's laptop. Being rather tactful for Dave he turned the sound down and apologised straight away. That wasn't enough for ole huffy puffy however, who had obviously got herself into a tizz by now and started a barrage of abuse towards Dave. Cue the verbal wrath of David K Lappin. I've never been more amused and embarrassed all in one, it was rather emotionally conflicting. Luckily the woman got off at the next stop and the rest of the journey was nice and calm, not before she decided to tell David that 'his mum's a b*tch, his sister's a b*tch and his friend (yeah she was meaning me) is a bitch. How, very dare she? Rude!
Once we arrived into Boston the people were a little friendlier. A bit like Blanche DuBois, I've relied on the kindness of strangers during my trip and a Bostonian (?) woman pointed us in the right direction as soon as we arrived.
We were both instantly impressed by the size of Boston, it's skyline was much shorter than New York, and the architecture was uncharacteristically beautiful for an American city (sorry Americans reading this). After a quick stop off in Starbucks to use the free wifi (Mr Lappin wasn't happy), we headed towards Boston Common, Boston's central park. The Common was first owned by William Blaxton, the first European settler in Boston and is a beautiful place for a stroll on an autumnal afternoon. Dave and I decided that our first stop should be following The Freedom Trail, a large red line through the centre of Boston which passes by 16 places of historical importance for Americans and starts on the Common. However, after following the red line through the park, reaching State House which was closed and then realising we had to loop all the way back down through the park in the cold, we cut the stroll short and decided instead to head to the Institute of Contemporary Art for a free viewing of the gallery.
The ICA building is in a great location, although set a little out of downtown, it's set on Boston Harbour and has great views over the water both at night and during the day. As we'd been walking through the city to the ICA, I pointed out an Andre the Giant sticker to Dave on a lamppost and amusingly as we arrived at the gallery, I then noticed a huge Andre the Giant poster in the gift shop. I didn't even think twice about it and headed straight up to the gallery floor, where I spotted a wall filled with posters reminiscent of Soviet propaganda. Beauty itself.
Turns out that Shephard Fairey had some prints there, getting sick of my constant mentions of Shephard Fairey yet? It gets better, after a wander around the gallery, and watching an odd film featuring Daniela Sea, Dave and I exited through the gift shop and found three huge signed Andrew the Giant posters for sale. We went a bit mad and purchased them, can't wait to get home and get them framed, another reason I'm looking forward to getting myself a flat.
On the high of a great purchase, and feeling the hunger one can only get after cruising round an art gallery, we headed next door to a seafood restaurant called Anthony's on the Pier 4 for a bite to eat, a lovely bottle of vino and some excellent chats. Thanks to Mr Lappin for the treat, it was tremendous fun.
After a relaxing meal and a few too many drinks of expensive wine, we headed back to our grotty, grotty, grotty guesthouse room. If any of you ever go to Boston, DO NOT STAY AT ABERCROMBIE INN. I didn't say it to Dave at the time because I knew if I didn't mention it, he'd just suck it up and get on like a trooper. But out of all the accommodation I've had on my travels, it was by far the worst. Old, dirty, stale air and freezing cold, Abercrombie's Farrington Inn is located about 6 miles from downtown Boston in the trendy student area of Allston Village. The location is about it's only positive feature.
The next morning we were up early so we could get out of the hostel and experience the most of Boston. We headed for some yummy breakfast in Allston Village at @Union and then caught the T subway, America's oldest subway system, established in 1897.
We spent the morning wandering around Beacon Hill, a cobblestoned area north of Boston Common which was on of the first areas of Boston to be populated. If you were randomly dropped in Beacon Hill and asked to guess where you were, you'd probably opt for a European city like Amsterdam, rather than saying you were in America. I liked wandering round, although Mr Lappin was getting a little grumpy because it was cold, he had sandals on and we had no clear objective in mind, I was doing my usual wander and let's see what we come across game.
After a quick coffee pit stop, we headed on towards Bunker Hill, the place of an important battle between the English and Americans early on during the American Revolution. Rather than going to see the battleground, Dave and I were eager to go up the obelisk monument, that Dave felt was reminiscent of the Wellington Monument in Phoenix Park. Unfortunately, due to some construction work, it was closed off and we weren't able to see the sun set over Boston that night.
What we did instead was head towards a bar near the TD Gardens Basketball stadium where Patrick, Dave's friend was watching a game. Dave and I hit the pool tables and feasted on nachos for four hours, whilst we waited for Mr McAllister. Thanks Dave for training me up in pool and then playing me for so long that I became bad again.
The next day, we were planning on going to the Sam Adams brewery for a free tour with Patrick and his brother, but due to terrible internet in the hostel we didn't manage to get messages in time and missed out. Dave and I headed into the city after brunch and checked out the pretty cobblestone markets of north and south market before catching a boat cruise out in Boston harbour which took us out to the USS Constitution, the world's oldest floating naval ship.
Although after a lot of walking Mr Lappin was left a little wounded with a swollen cankle, we had a great time, Boston could have entertained us for a few more days provided we'd had the money and the patience to walk around.
