Well Boston, all I can say is "Congrats", because you certainly proved my wrong. Hardcore.
What a city. It was so beautiful, lively and full of action! I think it's probably been my favourite trip so far, for three main reasons: the attractions, the vibe of the city itself, and the people.
The Attractions:
My first real experience of the sites of Boston came from a walking tour run by the HI hostel that I did on Monday morning. It was great because our tour guide, Andrea, had the right balance between giving us interesting information, but not overloading us so that we could enjoy the sites and get to know the other people in the group. She also took us to some places in Boston that I would not have thought to go to, such as the Esplanade and the extremely beautiful Beacon Hill (the most expensive place to live in Boston - we even saw Secretary of State John Kerry's house!).
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| Beacon Hill - this street had a private park that only residents were allowed the key to |
There was also a fantastic mix of old buildings from when Boston was first starting out as a city, and new sky scrapers - I found myself fascinated by the architecture I was seeing around the place. My two favourite new buildings in Boston would definitely have to be the John Hancock Tower and 500 Boylston Street.
John Hancock Tower was particularly interesting because it caused a lot of controversy when it was being planned. It was set to be located in a square full of old historic buildings, and people couldn't believe that a 60-storey sky scraper was going to be built right next to these beautiful old buildings. So the architect, Henry N. Cobb, employed some techniques to come to a compromise.
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| A bit of juxtaposition in the architecture! |
The outside of the tower is entirely glass, tinged blue - this was done so that the buildings surrounding the tower would be reflected in the glass, and so that the tower would blend into the skyline on a bright blue-skied day! I thought this was a pretty cool way of solving the problem and extremely effective - on the days that I saw the skyline, I saw both of these effects!
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| Blending and reflecting! |
I also found the Boston Public Gardens and the Boston Common gorgeous places to just stroll through and people watch. This is one thing that I have definitely noticed in America particularly - the prevalence and grandeur of public city parks. In Australia you find them, but I haven't seen one as iconic as I've seen over here yet!
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| The smallest suspension bridge in the world! |
Of course, a trip to Boston wouldn't be complete without taking the subway to Cambridge and exploring Harvard University. I got my first glimpse of Harvard Square at night on my way to a Cults concert that was just around the corner (They were great too! Loving their material on their new album). Already, I could feel the excitement from the flurry of tourists and actual students around the area.
When I explored the campus during the day...well it was pretty incredible. The iconic red brick and the heritage of the buildings and university just made you sense how prestigious it was. The campus was aallllmmost as nice as the University of Sydney's campus ;)
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| A library on campus at Harvard University |
One of the main highlights for me though was seeing Radcliffe College - the first female college affiliated with the University of Harvard - started in the 1870s. It definitely made me a bit nostalgic for The Women's College at Usyd! It was wonderful to imagine what influential women once strolled down its paths and halls.
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| The entrance to Radcliffe College |
Finally, another great and very touristy attraction I did was a Boston Duck tour - certainly a very unique historic tour of the city! You started off the tour in a truck shaped a bit like a boat, and were led by a character inspired by American history - ours was Paul "Reverse" and his voice sounded exactly like Sterling Archer's, which cracked me up a bit! We toured most parts of downtown, and I picked up a few new things that I didn't know along the way, and then our truck turned into a boat and headed straight into the Charles River! It was really a great activity for kids...and kids at heart! We got to quack at passers by, and the children on the boat got to have a go at driving the 'duck' (much to many adults' disappointment...).
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| Another Duck Tour passing us! |
Overall a great tourist-y attraction and worth the money!
The Vibe:
I have never seen a city so proud of its identity before...and not to mention its team! Walking down the street, there would be seas of men, women and children alike wearing "Boston" or "Red Sox" T-shirts, jerseys, caps, scarves, beanies, you name it. Buildings were emblazoned with "GO SOX!", and I even spotted the statue of George Washington in the Boston Public Gardens with a Red Sox jersey on!
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| B Strong! |
On a trip to a graveyard on the Freedom Trail, my French roommate remarked that instead of flowers, on a lot of the gravestones you would see an offering of the American flag. I hadn't really thought twice about it, so when she asked my why this was, I could think of no real reason other than "...We're in America!".
Not only the gravestones, but houses and apartments were adorned with American flags. This was an incredibly strange culture difference for us compared to our respective countries, but something completely acceptable in America.
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| "O say can you see..." |
The concept of national identity in the US is definitely different to what I'm used to, and this became clear particularly on one occasion in which a Security Officer told me that I was American, not Australian because I was born in the US. I identify quite strongly as an Australian as I left the States when I was 18 months old - so we weren't really in agreement on the matter!
The People:
Both my roommate and I were incredibly impressed by the kindness, vibrance and passion of the people of Boston. From the moment that we opened a map on a street corner, someone would approach us without fail and ask if we were ok to get where we were going to. It was a city where people had conversations with each other, where they listened! I had some great chats with locals all around the city, from the guy serving at Ben & Jerry's who loved obscure jazz guitar music, to Matthew at the Cults concert who had paid $1500 for two Red Sox tickets, to the train conductor at South Acton who asked me about my trip each day, to the guy in a Chilean restaurant who taught me and my friends a rhyme for predicting the weather in Boston (see bottom of post). I can imagine that it would be hard to feel lonely in this city even if you were traveling alone with all these switched on and both interesting and interested people!
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| The train from South Acton |
Not to mention the awesome group of people that I met on the hostel walking tour from all over the world! I met people from Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Canada, Chile, England and more! Hope you guys are having the time of your lives on your respective adventures! And thanks so much to HI Boston - it's definitely one of the best hostels I've stayed at so far!
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| Our awesome walking tour group! |
But now it's back down to earth and hitting the books again! Hope everyone is doing well - I can't believe I'm halfway through my exchange now! Can't wait for the next adventure!
Erin xo
PS: The rhyme for predicting the weather in Boston goes like this:
Steady blue, clear view.
Flashing blue, clouds due.
Steady red, rain ahead.
Flashing red, snow instead.
It corresponds to the weather beacon at the top of the Berkeley Building. I also found it quite funny to note that flashing red in summer means that the Red Sox game has been postponed due to the weather! (Far worse than snow!)
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