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Captain Tom's Voyage of Discovery
Howdy folks!
Well after a few days in NYC - details to follow - it was time for the Mothership (who had joined me in NY) and I to journey up to Boston for the day. As Boston is sometimes referred to as 'the cradle of liberty' (or something along those lines) I had a pretty good idea that a large proportion of my day would be filled up with learning about how the Americans kicked our asses over 200 years ago. Americans call it the War of Independence - us Brits just like to remember it as a minor setback in our illustrious history of world colonial domination. Boston is also home to some of my family but more about that later.
Thankfully mum decided that taking the Greyhound bus to Boston was too much effort (think the 192 night bus...but worse) so an early start on the train was required. Nothing noteworthy occurred on the journey except our coach was invaded by a bunch of kiddywinkles on a day trip to Boston. On arrival in Boston, the mother promptly informed me that she was going straight to my cousin Elizabeth's house and that I should be there by 4.30. Ok mum...what am I supposed to do all day????? After telling me briefly about this thing called the 'freedom trail' and which subway stop Harvard University was at, I was abandoned in the middle of Boston with only a Lonely Planet to help me. The Freedom Trail is basically a cross between the yellow brick road and a historical walking tour. You follow this red line which is either painted on or bricked in the sidewalk and it takes you to various sights of significance in American revolutionary history. Now this is all good and well until you get to a big junction where they are repairing the roads and have forgotten to re-do the red lines!!!! And can someone please tell me what you are supposed to do when the redline suddenly splits in two and the two lines go I completely different directions. Despite these minor inconveniences, I managed to get my way (nearly) all the way around and now feel slightly more informed.
Next stop was Harvard. Now for those of you that don't know, Harvard is the best university in the world. I say that because not many universities are definitely better than Oxford and getting in to Harvard would be an excellent way to prove those silly dons at Pembroke college what a complete set of ................ok I will stop that rant. The surrounding area of Harvard is sort of like Oxford but not as old...nothing is in America. After a quick smooze around part of the campus and a browse of the bookshop, it was time to go meet up with the family! I had no problems finding my way to Elizabeth's house, which is surprising for me! Elizabeth, as I said earlier, is my cousin but as I am not an expert in genealogy I can't tell you exactly what 'type'. Her mum, Pauline (also in attendance), is my mum's first cousin. Elizabeth and her husband Tim have a 6 month old boy called Alessandro. After meeting my new cousin, eating some excellent pizza and engaging in some well needed 'grown up' conversation, the mother and I headed back to NY...on a train with faulty a/c...and the same group of hyper kiddiewinks. Fun times!
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