Revere and Paul Revere - it's all that this day's been about. But later about that.
Yesterday I went out with some Hungarian guys (and a gal) for a beer
. All ofthem were a bit older than me, nonetheless neither of them has been here for more than a month. Students, Phds, workers, earners. We went to an Irish Pub on Charles Street, which is pretty much the center of the city, as it is not far from Charels/MGH and Park stations.
The pub was OK, though I ventured into eating some "veggie wrap" and thas wasn't good at all. It tasted like plastic mixed with bubimentes water.. - and al of the vegetables had the one same flavour, bleah.. With beer, however, it wasn't the case :) I shot a couple of local draughts, which were "ale" type American beers. As it turns out, I don't have the tongues for it, just like as it was the case two years ago. So I went on with the metastable, European Heineken :) While I've poured down a couple them, it became clear to me that my soul compatriots did not have an intensive beer training like mine, at Kolozsvár..Whatever. They were nice guys, nonetheless and the girl was really nice too. Actually, the girl lived and worked at the same house where I did
. These guys were good. To put it analogously to Alicia Keys, "If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere" - absolutely positively true.
The upcoming day it was my final at the Uni. I had an early meeting, so I left home without a breakfast and stopped for a bite at a McDonald's. As you may know, McDonald's serves nothing but breakfast during the morning hours. So I signed up for an omlette/ham/chesse burger. It was a very pleasant surprise as it was pretty delicious and I 'd definitely try it again. Of course, provided that I haven't seen how it's made :)
The interview was staggering, though I'm afraid I cannot tell you more :) All I can tell is that I received a private tour f rom the President of the GTL, a lab otherwise closed to students - still've no idea about how did I earn the merit for it...
It was pretty chilli this day, I had my cap and my scarf on perpetually and yet I felt like I was in a damn freezer the whole day
.. This type of weather pattern otherwise is pretty characteristic to the Boston Area and the inhabitants told me that it wasn't even breezy today..
So, there's a 3-mile long red line throughout the city center painted on the pavement, that guides the visitor along the main historical sites. I decided to take it on today.
It was okay, I got a general picture of Boston's ancestry and it brought back the probable spirit of the colonial days. I got to know that Boston was one of the major cities of the world and the most important city, even ahead of New York in North America, in the colonial era. It's history is strongly related to 2 persons, John Hancock and Paul Revere.
The Charles River it is like the central artery of the city and a great deal of denominations bear its name., like CharlieCard, CharlieTicket, Charles Orchestra a.s.o.
I went to the Boston Harbor as well and I saw the scene of the Boston Teaparty :) There was an aquarium with trained norhtern harbor seals in it
. They were very entertaining and cute and were following the commands of their trainers waay better than dogs, I think. One of them even hopped onto his belly and out of the water to salute the crowd. It was very cute and touching. I also wanted to sign up for a whale watch, as whales regurarly breed along the Northeastern coast of America. Unfortunately, the whale catamaran had already left when I arrived to the harbor.
Boston harbor and the surrounding area is considered to be another engineering miracle. A portion of it lies on penumatic pillars and beneath it the sea berth is a complicated tunnel system as if crazy LSD-d moles would have dug it chaotically. Needless to say, I froze to the bone, 'cause of the sea breeze.
Having strawled through the inner city, I changed my opinion a bit about it. It actually has a personality or "citinality". The business district is stuffed with skyscrapers, but they scar the skies way lower than those of New York, Chicago, or even Atlanta
. This means the century old landmarks such as churches and old town houses are not obliterated or blurred by the presence of the big guys. Their masts are still visible despite the glass and steel shadows of their younger brothers. Check the pictures I've uploaded. And somewhow the whole waterfront area makes sense this way. It's nor overcrowded, nor sporadic. On the street level, "The Boston Red Brick" dominates the landscapes. Invented and first used in the capital of Massachusets in the late 18th century, it defines the reigning color of all the buildings, even the newer ones - by this I mean 20th century. Despite being a 5-million-metropolis, the atmosphere of the city is very, very calm, even in the ultra center, not even comparable to that of New York, not even mentioning the outskirts. I really liked it. I will wirte about the ouskirts' mood more, later.
So that's it about today, I guess...
I think it is fair for people to use the "McDonalds index" when travelling around the globe for obtaining the general picture of the visited country's economy and the inhabitants' general finanacial situation. I tell that because a standard hamburger always costs a rounded dollar, anywhere in the world. (1$, 3.5RON, 200Ft, etc.) Back at home that's a reasonable price. Mainly the students, aliens and the kids eat here. It's not a place for the poor. With Hungary, it's pretty much the same story. Here in states, however not even the Mexicans eat here... only the those at the very bottom of the society dine at McDonald's, not kidding.
I'll continue shortly, as soon as I landed at CDG.
Revere
Friday, October 15, 2010
Boston, Massachusetts, United States
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1Narrow start
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2025-02-07