Boston, the Hub, my spiritual and intellectual nirvana, perhaps the only place in this world I really feel like I fit in. Have just finished a one week jaunt to the place and find myself wanting to know more about how bad the winters are before packing a car and heading for Harvard yard (seriously, that’s all that is holding me back).
Before I get into things, this is the prism I see things through: I am an Irish Catholic Democrat Red Sox fan Semi-Academic Hacker Geek who reads too much Nietzsche and hates to sleep. I identify strongly with all these groups. It is hard for me to say I like something, because I have to do a belief check all the time to figure out what I really feel. It’s not hard for me to initially take an interest in a place or a people only to drop it / them a week later because it offends me at some level. Boston and the surrounding areas pass all of my checks, from the gut to the brain, and I clicked with the place the moment I got there.
Recently went there to visit my poor brother who just returned injured from Iraq. Found out stories of his injuries have been greatly exaggerated (and the family grapevine continues to amplify every detail past what reality shall bear) and that he is in one of the greatest places on Earth. The people in Massachusetts really, sincerely seem to care, and he is in one of the best environments I have encountered in all my travels.
My brother is staying in Ipswitch, a small town about 40 (maybe 70) miles north of Boston. Stayed with him my first couple of days, got to know the locals and found out that people’s lives really do revolve around the hours of the local Dunkin Donuts. Ate at the Marco Polo restaurant and met a really great bartender who knows everything there is to know about the area. Was still on west coast time and could not find anything to do except talk to a cop at 3 am about what it is like enforcing the law when no good laws are ever broken. The guy had carpal from writing traffic tickets.
Went to Fenway. Cannot think of much to say about it that has not already been said, so I will share a single parent’s eye view of the area. First, the scalpers try to rip off kids and that is not right. I had my daughter check in for prices on seats outside the stadium as a lark, and the guy wanted more money from her than from the teenagers next to her. I sent her back with instructions to tell the guy she knows what he was offering the tickets for to other people, that he is bigoted against young people and that she would not to pay more than $200 for the seats. She came back with change which we used to get sodas and sausages outside the stadium.
Then we actually went into the stadium, old timey feel is still there. The seats we paid all this money for were surrounded by the most spastic group of non-baseball fans ever. It was like they were playing duck duck goose or something, no one would stay in the same seat for more than 5 minutes. I was standing up 95% of the time and my daughter could not see anything. This crazy woman (whose seats were actually in another section) was booted by the rightful ticket holder from the seats she snuck into, splitting up her and her husband. She asked me to move, I told her no way, and she got all righteous about how it was unfair she could not sit next to her husband. I told her, ‘I just flew 3,000 miles and spent $200 to take my daughter to her first game at Fenway. You people won’t sit down long enough to let her see the game. Get lost.’
The woman who would not sit down continued to stand there and complain loudly until I decided to go for a walk to fan services, where I explained the situation and was given new seats 4 rows back right on the field close enough to see the belt buckles of guys on first (!!!!). My daughter got a game ball, we sang Sweet Caroline, we watched the Mets go down and Coco grab that incredible catch. Great experience and worth every penny.
After the game, immediately after leaving the stadium, the daughter had to go potty. I was facing one of the clubs on Landsdowne street and asked one of the guys working the door if I could take her in. Anywhere else, we get turned away and walk 30 minutes. Here, this guy pulls open a velvet rope, escorts her back into the club, gets a matron to take her into the restroom, and waits for her to finish. This is what I mean about nice, the people in Boston do the right thing even if it is an inconvenience.
Random thoughts: Driving through Boston is a trip. Don’t go anywhere near Purchase street, things get very confusing there. The Children’s Museum is located in a neighborhood that is clearly very, very old. There are lots of signs for businesses that haven’t existed for 20 years still hanging. There is an utter lack of cafes and convenience stores (which, I assume, owes to the puritanical nature of the populace). There is inexplicable road construction going on, where massive concrete blocks are being lowered into the ground in amazing fashion. Lots of people with dogs who live in that area.
Ate lunch the next day at the Barking Crab. Clams with bellies. Was seated at a table with a bunch of over achieving yuppie transplants from lesser cities. Was amazed at how they rolled their eyes as the waitress explained the bridge next to the restaurant is one of two rotating bridges remaining in operation.
Drove under the city numerous times in the tunnels beneath Boston. Seem to remember a lot of talk about a Big Dig and how things did not turn out right, 5 minutes to get past an entire Eastern city seemed alright to me. The tunnel system, while intially confusing, permitted rapid transit between points north and south of Boston. Made my day to see how well it all works, being stuck in traffic while travelling is a lot like getting shipwrecked and waiting for rescue.
Spent some time in Yarmouth on the cape, Molly’s is a great place for touristy-type stuff. The bar next door is a great place to talk baseball and meet women. The church just off the 28 is a great parish, the vestibule is placed right between 2 sets of pews and gives a progressive sense to the procession of the Mass.
Did some whale watching while I was there, we sailed out to a place called Skull Cove Hall or something to see massive beasts swim around underwater. Their massive shapes would occassionally emerge from beneath the surface and slide alongside boats. We were in a fairly large boat and just the tails dwarfed the size of the boats. Fascinating to watch.
The one drawback to Boston is the obsession with opening and closing places of business. Everyone there likes to open businesses at a certain hour and close them at a certain hour. There is something ritualistic in the way they do it, when the town shuts down it really shuts down. I was still on west coast time and found myself looking for something to do at 3 am, when the only places open are gas stations and people on the streets are mostly cops.
Anyways, wrapped up our trip by making significant purchases at the many malls on Route 1 for the return trip to my father’s. Returned to DC wishing I could go back to Boston for the rest of the summer. A plus plus visit, could write about this place for another 10 pages.
M
