Tuesday 14 August 2012

Boston

I went there once.  Boston, Mass, that is - not Boston, Lincs.  I've never been there.  But Boston, Mass - I've actually been there three times if I am to tell the whole truth, although I susppose it does depend to some extent of how you define "went there".  A neighbour of ours in France speaks very good English although he always claimed never to have been to the country.  He learned the language because he had to visit Australia, South Africa, the USA and so on in connection with his job, which is something to do with wine-making equipment.  Anyway, he proudly announced to me on one occasion that he had been to England.  One of his trips entailed taking a plane to London and changing - so he had been to England.

Two of my three visits to Boston are like that.

It was nearly eight years ago that it all happened.  The Old Bat had always wanted to visit New England in the fall and to mark a particularly sensitive birthday of hers I suggested we went over in the autumn half term holiday.  We flew into Logan airport and picked up a hire car before driving out to Danvers where I had booked a room at the cheapest motel I could find.  Days Inn or some such.  So that was visit No 1.

Visit No 3 was at the other end of our holiday when we flew back to England but in between was my one real time in Boston.  On the first full day of our holiday we drove part of the way back before taking a train into the city.  We didn't follow the Patriot Trail or take a harbour tour or visit the USS Constitution but we did stroll across the Common, explored Beacon Hill and Quincy Market - and we went whale watching.

I was getting used to a digital camera and one of the few Boston pictures that was reasonable was this one of Derne Street on Beacon Hill.


3 comments:

(not necessarily your) Uncle Skip said...

All three of my visits count as stays. Though I must admit I only remember a little about the one in 1948.

Suldog said...

I've always gone by the definition used by MY WIFE: If you have performed a bodily function in the place, then you have visited it and can check it off your list. We know what OUR list of bodily functions would include, but I won't list them here. Use your imagination, then decide if you've been anyplace :-)

Buck said...

I suppose I could say I've visited Boston, Mass (I've been to Boston, Lincs, too, but t'is another story). I had an international flight out of Logan get cancelled one time, which made for an unplanned overnight stay. I put that time to good use by indulging in one of my favorite past times: a pub crawl. I can well and truly attest to the sterling qualities of Boston bars, but not much else.