New Hampshire / Boston

Back to our trip. We said good bye to New York for a spell and had a great little train ride up to Boston. It was quite beautiful country, but quite built up in places. We were met at South Station and driven up into the beautiful New Hampshire countryside by one of my mother-in-law's school friends, and it was a nice change for us to have a tour guide taking us around there home. We had a good drive along the NH coastline, and one of the old settlements.

Harvard & MIT

MIT, from the Prudential Center.

On our last day with Ag & Paul, we went and explored Harvard, which was busy preparing for graduations. Paul showed us around Harvard (and as he is an Alum, we were able to go into the main library, and saw one of the first Gutenberg Bibles which was quite a treat). After that we walked around MIT, which has one of the more interesting buildings you will see. We also enjoyed having a walk around their Museum just before it closed.  Boston has a large number of Universities, and many of them had graduations while we were there. 

Another couple of random experiences we had, was going to the studio Click & Clack (a car radio show) is broadcast from at Cambridge and having a photo with Barack Obama (at least a cardboard cutout). We also had lunch in a Pizza restaurant in Portsmouth which has drawings from its guests in their menus. So, if you do go Portsmouth, and see a drawing from a Sydney-sider - that may be me.

Boston

Boston

We really loved Boston, it is just a beautiful city. Walking through the city, you walk through the history of America. Very different to New York, with all of its tall skyscrapers. Boston has so many smaller red brick buildings. We walked the freedom trail while we were there, learnt that the American's didn't win their independence because of their superior tactics, or because the British Soldiers wore Red Coats.  We walked past the balcony where MLK gave one of his key speeches and the balcony where the American Declaration of Independence was read out. Apparently Ho Chi Minh worked in one of Boston's hotels; wonder how different history would have been if he had stayed there.  We had an retired history teacher as a guide, which made me pause to think about what my next career could be.

Fenway Park

The other highlight was a visit to Fenway Park. While I couldn't do a tour (all booked out), it was worth walking around the ball-park. The slight error we made in planning the trip is that while we were in New York, the Yankees (and Mets) weren't, while we were in Boston, the Red Sox weren't, and yes, you guessed it, the Blue Jay's were in New York while we were in Toronto. 

One of the other tours you can do in Boston is in an old WWII amphibious landing vehicle, which travels on the road & on the river. The guide was seeking to bring the sixties back and filled his talk with dry humour. The brochure we got from Duck Tours is a hoot, they have an excellent range of guides all with really distinctive (quirky) personalities. 

Prudential Center

During our stay in Boston we went up the Prudential Center, which is the tallest building in Boston, which gave us opportunities to see the distinctive buildings from above, and it was also a great way to see the layout of the city. Boston is a strikingly beautiful town. The photo's of the city in this post, were taken from this building.

Salem

"I am innocent, I am wronged"
Salem Witch Trial Memorial

Salem Witch Museum

We finished our time in Boston by taking the train up to Salem. The town originally one of the key ports of the state, but made (in)famous through the Witch Trials of 1692 (and in a few episodes of Bewitched I hear).  Really enjoyed our visit to the Salem Witch Museum. There are not too may papers from the trials so the "exhibits" are an audio account of the trial, and then a guide speaks about the history of witches since then. Making the point that witches are misunderstood. Additionally making the link between fear leading the scapegoating. A really worthwhile museum. The staff of the museum are planning to put on The Crucible later this year, which reminded me I definitely need to see it.

After Boston, we headed up to Toronto, but more about that later.

New York, New York

We recently returned from a three week break in the USA and Canada, spending time in New York, Boston, Toronto (with a couple of nights in New Hampshire). We'd broken the trip up, beginning and finishing in NY, and  hitting New Hamsphire, Boston, and Toronto in the middle. the first New York section is the subject of this post.

How much has airline travel and inflight entertainment changed. Gone are the days of one screen displaying movies on a cycle, now you can chose watch you watch, and can select from new releases; Oscar winners, old favourites and 'world-movies'. The stand out two on the flight over were Hugo and the new Australian film "Any Questions for Ben?". 

It really does hit you how far away Australia is; 14 hours to LA, then another 4 to NY. Can't fault the Qantas ground-staff in LA, they really made the process of making the connecting flight seamless. Sure it took two hours to get through immigration, deal with the luggage and get to the gate, but we would have had to tried pretty hard to miss the plane.

One thing I'd love Qantas to do, is give you the opportunity to listen to the pliots speak with the Control Towers (and other planes). Fascinating.  I enjoyed "SkyCam" on the flight home, but that's getting ahead of myself.

Overall impression.. 

Filming on 50th Street.

I have now been to New York three times, and each time I have enjoyed the visit more. The first impression you get is the size of the city, and it hits all your senses, the distinctive smells, noise of the traffic, and scale of the buildings. It is true that they are filming something in New York every day, and streets will be closed. While not doing any specific tour, we ate the Soba Nippon, which is apparently one of the characters in SITC had their first date.  

The MET

The Met, NY

The highlight of the first section was going to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The scale of the Museum is stunning. You will see art & displays of art from almost every continent & period of history. Even if you spend a week there, I doubt you would see everything. We saw Arms & Armour from medieval Europe, Feudal Japan & the Islamic World, visited some American Houses, glimpsed more varieties of musical instruments than you can imagine. (I almost wanted to take the Pipe organ home for Barneys).

United Nations

I also went to the UN the last time I was there. We were both struck, by the disconnect between the ideals of the UN, the Declaration of Human Rights and the Millennium Development Goals and how you see them in the real world.  The UN displays gifts the member countries give them. The exhibit pictured, was from Colombia, where confiscated firearms have been modified into guitars.

Once

I am a huge fan of Glen Hansard, so the opportunity to see the musical version was too good to pass up.  The musical was held in the Jacobs Theatre. One of the highlights was the bar was on the stage (the bar is part of the set, but was operational too.. so yes, you did go up on stage to get your drinks).

What was really cool about the show was while people were getting their drinks, the cast came out on stage and started playing songs. All of the cast not only sang, but played an instrument.  It really captured the feel of busking. The musical captured the film quite well. If you have seen the film you'll know most of the songs. The cast do an a-capella version of  'Gold' which is beaut.  Cristin Milioti & Steve Kazee where great as the guy & the girl.  Once deserves to do well in the Tony Awards (held Sunday in the US). I do hope that Australia gets to see Once

Empire State Building

Looking Downtown from the ESB

I think to really see New York you have to get to the top of the Empire State Building. We went up a dusk, and basically went straight up to the top.  Such a magical view.

Greenwich 

Another of the highlights was doing one of the Food Tours (by Foods of NY), where we got the eat some of the real great NY food - original NY Pizza, a variety of cheeses, some beaut Arancini. We also got to taste some awesome Olive Oil. The tour guide also talked a little bit of the history of New York and the area which was great. Adding to the feeling that you were walking through a movie set, we saw the apartment building used for the external shots in FRIENDS.

That, I think, sums up the first few days in NY.