A trip into Eccentrica, err, *cough*, Boston

Last weekend was a total bum weekend. (sic). It was the first weekend in a month that we could spend some time in Boston or just lounging around.

So on Saturday Gareth and I organised to go do the Freedom Trail and see a few sites round Boston.

We drove through to the closest train stop, about 20 miles from our hotel. The parking lot was PACKED, and after spending 30 minutes and 3.5 dollars queuing we were on the Green-Line 'T' headed for Boston. The little subway coach was jam-packed with Red Sox supporters on their way to Fenway Park. Imagine that hey? Getting on a train to go see a sporting event? The mind boggles. After dropping the baseball fanatics off at about the 8^th stop and descending into the subways, we got off 3 stops or so later in Park St. Station. When we emerged into the sunlight we were greeted with some interesting and downright disgusting sights.

The first thing I saw ascending from the subway was a church steeple (Park St. Church) in the throes of restoration. Imagine heritage, imagine intended rejuvenation, scaffolding and all. Now imagine there are monkeys doing the restoration. That pretty much sums Boston up, except a high percentage of church go-ers are 'eccentric' and anything but straight.

This weekend is the Gay and Lesbian Pride Parade in Boston, so that explained all the 'eccentrics' in the streets. 'Men' holding hands, in G-strings. How Cute. In an attempt to get my head clear of the awful images I focused on my juicy hotdog. (err, no wait.) Yeah, we decided to start the freedom trail.

2 and half miles of walking along some of the oldest and most significant buildings in Boston's history. This will give you an idea of what we saw along the way.

Oddly enough, half the exhibits closed at 4PM, so we didn't arrive in time to board the USS Constitution or one of the docked destroyers. It was at about 6PM when we arrived at the Boston Aquarium to see it closed too. So we had a few beers.

We found out that there were some great clubs just down the road from Fenway Park (Home of the Red Sox remember?) and that the Red Sox had just had their asses handed to them on a plate by LA. So we got back on the subway. After a few more beers in Tiki Room and viewing the non-existent hotties we decided it was time for something to eat. Just off Massachusetts Avenue was a road of utter class (now if only I could remember the name). Restaurant after Ristorante, reeking of dollars. So like drunken bums we crashed the T.G.I. Friday's and enjoyed a hearty meal. (TGI Fridays is a restaurant / pub chain in America, similar to Keg's.)

Sunday we slept in late.

The people of Boston were always inclined to control their own affairs. It was here, after all, that Puritans first came to establish religious independence [...] It was a good plan, in theory - but Boston colonists were having none of it. They didn't take kindly to the idea that they had no voice, no vote in matters that concerned their essential liberties.

-- Boston is certainly undergoing another "revolution". It's not race related, nor is it religious.

For those not-in-the-know, I've uploaded a whole bunch of photos to PhotoBucket.com. Photobucket automatically compresses each image to 250k or less. Not great, but not bad either. I'll upload the pics from Boston soon.