I decided that I needed to get away, and away far and
somewhere differentish. So I choose Boston.
I had to fly from Dublin to Heathrow and then
Heathrow to Boston.
Doing it this way worked out about £180 less than flying direct from Dublin.
On the first
night in Dublin
I headed into the city to meet up with someone I met on one of my ICS holidays.
I had two winning scratch cards that were worth €10 –I got 10 more €1 cards. Of
those 10 I did quite well and won a total of €31 (€2,€2,€4 and a €25). So next
time in Donegal I’ll get another €31 worth of cards (I mean €31 euros isn’t
going to change my life-is it?).
The flight to Boston started at 7:40 am from Dublin. And I had to be there 3 hours prior
to take off to check in-so I had to be there for 4:40 am. I got to Boston at 13:30 (Boston
time). So I was 7 hours in air. The room in hotel is much bigger than I
expected.
After checking
in I walked round the block and called into a bar called M J
O’Connors-obviously an Irish bar. The bar maid was from Cork and was very chatty and recommended
places to go and see. Two men beside me at the bar were talking music and I
joined in (as I do). They were two brothers, on was called Jay, and I forget
the other one’s name. After they left to go to a concert the barmaid came over
to me and said “Do you know who THAT was?” I said “No. Why?” and she said the
one who was sitting beside me was Whitey
Bulger’s lawyer-Jay Leno. I did a search on internet later, and sure enough it
was the very same person. Surprisingly, I am not sleeping with the fishes.
At breakfast
in a café next door to the pub I got talking to an English couple called Kevin and
Theresa. I said with names like that they must have an Irish connection-they
laughed and said yes. They were touring with a company called Travelsphere and
gave me a brief description of their syllabus –sounded good to me. I actually
met quite a few other people from their group-I think there was about 40 in it.
On the
Saturday I took a coach trip out into the New England
countryside. Weather was not great, so I did not get the views I was hoping
for. We stopped in a little village called Kennebunk,Maine.
Pretty touristy, but nice. On the trip we passed through another little seaside
village-waves were high, weather was miserable-but there was loads of surfers
out doing their bit. There was also a McDonalds –that was boarded up-seems it
shuts during the off season. We also passed George Bush’s summer
home-apparently he and Nancy were in. as the flag was flying. There was A LOT
of big houses around here-obviously a very affluent area.
That night
at the bar there was an annoying English man at the bar, who complaining the
lack of Caffreys and Kilkenny beers. And that he got them in New York and moaned on. I interrupted (idiot
that I am) and said that I was from Ireland
and it was very rare to see these beers even in Ireland, and anyways hardly anybody
likes them. I was lumbered with this this buffoon for the rest of the night-I
got a look of sympathy from the bar maid. I got away as quickly as I could.
On Sunday
I did the heritage walk with a group and guide. She asked if there were any
English people in the group-reckon this was because her script had some
anti-Engllish its in it. She asked us all to say where we were from, when it
came to me I said Northern Ireland but that I had an Irish passport, and that
on forms where it says Nationality I write “confused.” I got talking to people
on the group, one guy asked me “What brought you to Boston?” and I said “British Airways.” And
then I told him the real reason. After the walk I hooked up with a couple from Baltimore and we went off
to the Cheers bar for something to eat and then we went out to Harvard for a
look around. After we parted I got the train out to see the JFK museum –which
was great.
Decided
to give the bar a miss-in order to miss the annoying English man and hit the
bar in the hotel instead. And also decided to stick to the Sprite too (as the
Sprite was on tap, I liked the way I got a top up)-and got some fries too,
which to me were drowned in salt. The person beside was actually the guide from
the travel group and he gave me links to a couple of touring groups and his
own. Noticed something pretty strange at the bar in hotel-they do not serve
more than 2 drinks to one person at a time, if they are at the bar on their
own.
Next day I
decided to do the hop on/hop off bus –to make a start on my little shopping
list. And the table tennis bat at the top of my list. I got a blank look in the
first sports shop that I went into-he did not know what I was talking about, I
quickly discovered that over there they are called Ping Pong Paddles. They had
none any ways. He directed me to another sports shop called Modells. Went
there-and they had none left. Later on the bus trip we passed Fenway Park.
Whilst walking round the block I saw a bar/restaurant called Blazing Paddles
and it had Ping Pong Paddles on its logo-good omen I thought. No. they just
rent them, BUT the waitress told me the store where they get them-Target. So I
went there to try-no. Apparently they sold the last lot to…..yep-Blazzing
Paddles.
Gave the pub a miss again, mainly as
there was no seats at the bar, and I could not see the Cork bar maid. At hotel bar I got talking to
a guy who was there on a 24 hour Hackathon. He asked me if had seen much USA TV
and we discussed a few shows. I told him I got the Pixies CD-he said he was a
fan. When I said my favourite Pixies song was “Monkey Gone To Heaven” he said
that he did not know that one. That night I called into a 7-11 store and got 2
scratch cards @ $2 each-I won $4. There was a beggar outside-I gave him the
cards and told him if he uses them for 2 more and wins the big money, to give
me a mention on TV. ANOTHER THING to get rid of loose change I would give coins
to beggars-one woman looked at them removed the coppers and said “I don’t want
THEM” and tried to give them back to me and then threw them on the street.
Final
day with time to kill I walked up to Quincey Market and Fanuel Hall. Somebody
told of a shop there that might do Ping Pong Paddles-Newbury Comics.
They actually did have them-BUT it was the really cheap ones
a kiddie would play with. In the comic section I asked about a particular comic
and the attendant had no idea what I was talking about, he had to check it on
the computer to see if they had it.
HMMP the guys in The Big Bang Theory would be in a state of
shock at this.
I tried another part of the Freedom trail on my own. In an
American/Italian district I came across a lovely little book shop called I Am
Books. Got talking to the owner he asked me about the last book I read. I said
“High Fidelity” and told him my Nick Hornby story. He said that he had the
Italian version of the book and reached down and showed it to me..
So all in I had a good time there. I would go back again but
as part of a group. As Joanne said it’s nice being able to turn to someone and
say “Gord, would you look at the cut of that!” Once again to busy to spell
check-extra/hidden bit is on the other
blog…still working on photos will email ones I have emails for when done, but
my id on flickr is gerdybaby.
HIDDEN
BIT
It is 21:34 on my last night as I
write this-and decided to include it almost word for word on the blog. Of the
$600 I brought with me I have $111.09
left (when I landed in Dublin
I had $53 with current rates I think it turned out better getting € rather than
£ at bureau de change at airport.) On the trip I met some very interesting
people and one really annoying one. Travelsphere and Just You sound like a good
bet for a holiday next year.
Incidentally when I got back home I
got a good table tennis bat (that’s what WE call them) in the first shop I went
into in Derry. And it was 70% off. I asked the
girl at the desk if it was a left handed one-she started to read the stuff on
the wrapping and said “Sorry it does not say anything about that here.”
The money box is almost full-I
started it on 20 October last year-I had planned to open it on same date this
year, no matter what-but I’ll try to hold out until it is actually full.And nobody, NOBODY back home had heard of Whitey Bolger
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