New England

I've made my way to London unscathed. I left Boston Monday evening flying glorious Virgin Atlantic. I had my doubts about the long flight, but was pleasantly surprised at the free booze served all flight! I drank white wine and watched movies, until I was finally able to sleep for about 1 hour. I had a seat partner on his way to India to see family, who taught me a great trick for us Fahrenheit users. All you have to do to get an approximate conversion from Celsius to Fahrenheit is to double it and add 30. It's like a whole other world has opened up for me knowing this! No more setting the air conditioner to freezing temperatures for me.

I'm now sitting in Drew and Amy's apartment in Wimbledon gathering my bearings before I go exploring the cute little neighborhood that they live in. My goal is to stay up until a normal bedtime in an attempt to avoid jet lag. No naps allowed. I guess it's pub trivia night at their pub, and I finally get to meet Graham's fiancee.

My flight to Boston did not go as smoothly as my flight to London...I made it to Cleveland from New Orleans ok, where I was supposed to catch my connecting flight, but managed to sit at the wrong gate, chatting away on my phone for 45 minutes to Sabrina, and yes, missed my connecting flight. I ran in a panic to the continental flight desk and they said, "Oh, this sort of thing happens all the time." Where I responded with, "NOT TO ME!!!" They put me on the next flight out, but not to Boston, to Manchester, NH. Joe was so calm and kind enough to drive an hour to Manchester to pick me up, and then drive me to the Boston airport to pick up my bag. This adventure only took about 4 hours...

Joe took me on a bicycle tour of Boston. We went to the Arboredum, where we had a great view of downtown Boston. I really wanted to see the Boston Massacre site. I was quite disappointed that the site was actually an unlabeled intersection outside of a brick building. I had seen that sketch so many times of the British troops shooting the colonists, that I for some reason assumed that that image would be embedded into the ground that we walk on. Nothing. That's ok, we then hunted down the Boston Tea Party site, where the replica boat was out for construction!!! Here's a picture. Not the most exciting.



Joe also took me to the Italian part of town, the North End, full of Italian speaking Italians, one of the oldest parts of the city. The streets were cobblestone and narrow, and also the Old North Church is there from Paul Revere's ride, where the lanterns were placed to warn of the British attack. The North End also has the oldest cemetery in America.


We ended the day with beer and a hurting butt from all that bike riding, but biking is definitely the best way to see the city.

Joe and his girlfriend Ashley were wonderful hosts. They were sure to make sure we got everything in that I needed to see. Sunday we took a day trip up to Maine, but also stopping in Salem, MA to go to the Witch Museum. Salem is a super cute little New England town, which I could see myself (if I ever get rich) having a summer cottage in. I say summer because it's way too damn cold there for me to ever even attempt to deal with Winter.

Up in Maine I got to see my old friend Katie from college, that I don't think I have seen since 2005. She's now married and has two kids!!!!!! I am glad I got to see her again, even though our encounter was brief. Oh, and before I forget, here is a picture of my wonderful weekend hosts, Joe and Ashley.




Joe took the day off work Monday, so we could do a very necessary tour. The Samuel Adams brewery tour. Anything with free beer is a necessity in my book. We got to try 3 of their beers, letting it wash over our pallets for optimal flavor, until they kicked us out. I guess they don't want a bunch of lushes there drinking free beer all day, unlike the NOLA brewery tour (oh how I love the NOLA brewery tour).

And that pretty much concluded my visit of Boston, I'd
once again like to thank my gracious hosts, I had a
wonderful time. Now things start to get crazy and international.