Friday Travel: Beantown Report

Let me state for the record that I love visiting Boston. I have done so dozens of times. My earliest memories of this city begin with my dad and uncle schlepping myself and my sister and my cousins to what was my first Red Sox game in...oh, let's say 1985, although it could've been early 1986. It was during the Rey Quinones era (ha!) at shortstop, and he wasn't on the roster come October of '86, so...on second thought, I'm going to say it was early in 1986. Don't ask me why I remember him out of all the players on that team. I was an odd kid.

(I had this card. I used it to make my schwinn sound like a motorbike.)

When you're a wee kid from a small town, a city like Boston seems impossibly large and confusing. At that point in my life, I hadn't even explored all the streets in lower Pawcatuck, so I remember being mildly terrified/exhilirated. TALL BUILDINGS! UNDERGROUND TRAINS! THE WORLD'S LARGEST SOUVENIR SHOP!

Now, coming home from my latest trip to the Hub, I figured I would give you some random observational musings, as is my wont. Here we go.

• If you're looking to meet an englishperson while visiting Boston, I recommend hanging out in the lobby at the John Hancock Conference Center. John Bulls as far as the eye can see. It must be the only hotel in Boston listed in Northern English guidebooks. Which is sad, because it's an awful hotel. But, I met a guy from Newcastle and talked a little footy (he was flying the colors), so bonus points there.

• If you're planning on taking the Amtrak train up to Boston to see the Sox, get off at Back Bay, not South Station. Drops you off in the shadow of the Prudential Building, within a 10-15 minute walk to the park. Of course, i kinda feel like anywhere in Boston is within a 15 minute walk. So I could be wrong.
  

• Boston is rife with urban velocipedes. A lot of great bicycle porn. Not all fixies either--quite a few dutch style cruisers, some really cool old peugeots and even a really nice steel Eddie Merckx frame that I coveted. And this was all in the three block walk between my program and the hotel.

• Striking similarities between Boston and DC? Well, for one thing, both cities are tiny, similar in population and size, and are dwarfed by their surrounding suburbs. And, like the person who lives in Fairfax and describes themselves as a DC resident, Braintree folks will insist that they live in Boston. My two cents: be proud of where you're from--don't be lazy and just glom on to the nearest city just because it's the economic and spiritual center of your world. Or, move into the city and be done with it. You'll like yourself more, even if it IS more expensive.
  

• Boston is like an older woman who suddenly decides that she is going to spend the money and hire the best plastic surgeon in Beverly Hills to perform her facelift. Looking at her after the surgery, you aren't struck by the wrinkles she's lost in the process, but by the ones that remain.
  

Have a great weekend!