After arriving at Back Bay Station in Boston, we wandered through the streets to find our hotel – again a Hilton. A poor sense of direction led to us getting sidetracked through streets full of Queen Anne style row houses – row houses are like the US version of terrace houses. These were constructed at probably about the turn of the century with that classic Queen Anne style and as they are three or four storeys tall, they resemble the fairytale princess tower on a castle. Built around treelined avenues, they are spectacular.
It was a beautiful sunny, clear blue skies day. It was chilly, especially in the shadows – scarf weather but gloves not really required. We were actually quite lucky with the weather in New York and boston. Although New York was grey – there was some very light rain for a few minutes when we arrived – there was no sign of the ferocious storms that had stopped all flights into NYC the previous day. Those same storms combined with the spring snow melt to cause flooding throughout the northeast of the country so we were lucky the train was still running. There were places along the way that looked like the water would have covered the train tracks the previous day. (Someday I Suppose – Mighty Mighty Bosstones – One of a number of my fave Bostonian bands – this song reminds me of one of my first solo travelling adventures – I drove to Jindabyne, had my first (miserable) attempt at snowboarding and saw a much better Bosstones show than the one they played the following night in Canberra)
We checked into the hotel where the staff were courteous and helpful. People were much friendlier here than we had seen in our short stop in New York. We checked into the room, which had a spectacular view of the Charles River. The room was quite large and comfortable except that like everywhere in the US so far, the heat was turned up so far, it felt like Tahiti. I had also been a bit freaked out by American toilets since our arrival and this was now the fourth one I had seen that operated in the same way. They look the same as Australian toilets except that the toilet bowl is about two thirds full of water. When you flush, instead of water coming out from the toilet rim, the water that’s already there gets sucked down and the bowl gets refilled (instead of the cistern). When I saw the first one at LAX, I actually thought there was a plumbing problem.
After a short sabbatical in the hotel – it transpires that TC is a bit more sensitive to jetlag than me – we headed out towards town to check things out. First stop – finding the local T-line station (Bostonians call their subway system the ‘T’ and the different lines are very helpfully coded by colour – were were on the green line but did venture on to the red line once or twice). Bonus – Australian credit cards work in the ticket machines. This is great because you always need lots of small notes in the US. And not just for the tipping. Most of the fast food outlets, coffee places and drug stores won’t change a $50. They just point blank refuse. You have to find other money or you don’t get your food. I saw people using visa to buy coffee. (Love will tear us Apart – Joy Division – one of the most poignant and painful love songs of all time.)
We exited the station at the corner of the famous Boston Common – from there we headed towards another famous Boston landmark – Feiline’s Basement. The infamous discount fashion warehouse began here in Boston. Unfortunately the GFC (or some other event but let’s blame the GFC) has meant the basement is void of bargains – just an empty shell with a closed sign out the front.  Hopefully the NYC store is still open for business. With no iconic Boston store in sight, we thought we’d try an iconic NYC store. Macy’s .  I found this great trench coat – well it’s not strictly a trench –it’s not belted and double breasted but is that kind of weight. It has these nifty silver clips instead of buttons.(Golden Brown – Strangers – always reminds me of the final scene in He Died with a Felafel in His Hand… wish I had have thought of writing that book).
It was a very controlled department store blitz – we are doing quite a bit of travelling yet and we are backpacking so the intent is to do some insane shopping in NYC where it won’t be too inconvenient if we have to get an extra bag. Of course that didn’t stop us from finding extra interesting things to overload our packs with. We wandered through the Downtown area, past the Old state House which is where the Declaration of Independence was first read to Bostonians in 1776 and where the Boston Massacre occurred.  From there we headed to tourist central down by the waterfront, where everything was gearing up for St Patrick’s Day. The parade was last weekend so the actual day in this uni town is a prime drinking opportunity. Down at the waterfront we visited the Boston Histrorical Society Gift Shop, full of all kinds of good stuff such as a copy of the Declaration of Independence that comes with a quill pen. (This Monkey’s Gone to Heaven – The Pixies – yes more Pixies – they are also Bostonians).
From there it was off to the other historic Boston site – Union Oyster House which opened in the 1820s and served the likes of John F Kennedy. Just in case there was any doubt the Kennedys were from New England, there are references to them everywhere. Alas, we didn’t have a chance to eat at the oyster house but we did at least visit.  We grabbed lunch from a bagel joint – TC had a sandwich and I a tomato and three cheese  melt – healthy – no – but it hit the spot. We then headed back to the T. TC went back for a snooze while I wandered the streets of Boston in search of our Dropkick Murphys tickets. As is usually the case with these things, it took me waaaaay longer to find it than it took to walk back to the hotel. Because of the Mass Pike (Massacheusetts freeway like road which is a tollway I’m assuming – there are pikes everywhere – stupid name for a road) – anyway, the streets run under others and only some cross the pike, which I was on the opposite side of than I needed to be.  This resulted in me walking all the way around a baseball stadium – Fenway Park, home of the Red Sox and the oldest baseball ground in the US. Once I arrived at another institution, the House of Blues, I collected the tickets and headed back to the hotel for a short kip before the show – needless to say we missed the supports – sacrilege I know but it was a necessary trade off to enjoy the Dropkicks as much as possible without falling asleep on my feet. Along with the other US things that take some getting used to – apart from repeating yourself because you’re the one with the funny accent – is the road crossing system. There are pedestrian crossings everywhere – some with lights and others without -but there aren’t any stop signs for cars so we are ywt to work out whether the cars have right of way when there aren’t any lights – as is the case in many European countries – or whether it’s like Australia. Then there are the lights. The Stop sign is a big red hand which flashes how many seconds you have left before cars run you over. The walk sign is confusing though – it’s still a walking man but he’s white. I keep missing the cross because I am waiting to see green out the corner of my eye. (Cannonball – The Breeders – the Deal sisters were really onto something – pity Kelley couldn’t keep it together.)