AMERICA The 1st

Wednesday 5th and Thursday 6th November

As well as writing and washing clothes i've watched soem pretty cool televsion. Americans seem to find the English charming. A chap by the name of John Oliver hosted a show called Terrifying Times. I cant even remember what he was referring specifically. He looked a fair bit like a grown up Harry Potter. I watched a fair bit of NBA and NHL. Some UFC-sick arse cage fighting, Sportscentre (over & over), Pardon the Interruption, Around the Horn, The Best of Mike & Mike, and lots of NFL and NCAA.

I didnt really do a hell of a lot else, as tonight we were catching the red-eye from LAX to JFK then on to Logan in Boston. Janet dropped us off down at the bus stop and we waited in a cold blustering wind for about ten minutes.

The bus ride down was pretty cool as they turn all the lights off. Sherry and I had a good time, laughing and joking on the way while a girl near us sat with her feet above her head rest in front of her.

The flight to New York was pretty bad. American Airlines seems a lot like United. They don't have any air fans so if you get hot you are in trouble. I had quite a few hot flushes and with us sitting near the toilets there was a light always shining. Sherry seemed to get a bit of rest on the way over while I reckon i got 30 minutes all up. The flight from L.A to New York takes 5 hours.

They showed 'Journey to the Centre of the Earth' on the screens. I watched most of it but with no sound. I wonder if that would have made it better or worse? Opening up the window shutters in the morning was painful. We couldnt see Manhattan through the clouds which were low and thick. Welcome to the East Coast of America Murray.

JFK is a fair way out of the city and its surrounded by water. Getting to our connecting flight was pretty cool. We caught one of America's classic subway trains - but this one was 2 stories in the air. But yeah, exactly the same as the ones out of Grand Theft Auto IV. At first I thought the recorded conductors voice sounded like Howard Stern's but then i reconsidered and thought there was a touch of Brent Spiner (Data). After going up and down a few elevators we got to our next terminal and the 1/2 Indian lady said we had missed our flight. A brief moment of panic occured, astonished too because we were sure we had plenty of time and we certainly did not dawdle. The silly woman had looked at the boarding time - not the actual flight time. We got to our gate lounge easily and had enought time to get a morning feed after all that. I got another early taste of New York when I ordered a sandwhich and ther ewere heaps of afromericans making the sandwhiches. Another afromerican came up and asked a question and was told 'Sorry, theyre all pre wrapped baby'. Our plane to Boston was super small. Sherry hates small planes and this one certainly did fall into the category of 'small'. On one side there was one seat and on the other side two. Probably all up a capacity of 75. It was a Delta Airlines flight and it turned out that we spent just as much time taxiing and waiting in queue on the runway as we did in the air. We were something like 26th in line. We did get to taxi just next to the take off runway so every 90 seconds or so we could see a plane cane past the window. Sherry had another snooze before we got to Logan International Airport. Asides from being damn cold, we waited for ages at the baggage carousel. Turns out our luggage hadn't made it onto the same flight. We were told it should arrive mid to late afternoon and would be delivered to our hotel. This was all cool apart from me not having a jumper in my carry on. So there I was, outside waiting for the 'Silverline' bus in chilling winds with only a polo shirt.

View from our hotel room

The ride on the bus was cool, as was the entire Boston transit system. The bus went under a massive tunnel, kind of like the Sydney Harbour Tunnel and I was amazed at how much of Boston's roads/transit system was underground. Apparantly 5-6 years ago Boston underwent what i sknown to the locals as 'The Big Dig'. All the cities' above ground freeways and overpasses were knocked down and replaced with today's tunnel system. Boston also has approximately 7 weird buidlings spread around the city that act assist in ventalation of this tnunel system. At one point the bus left the main freeway and stayed underground almost like the bus had turned into a subway train. Transferring onto one of the subway trains simply felt like changing trains. We got off the bus underground onto a platform, walked down a flight of stairs and hopped onto a train. I half expected another bus to come along, but a trgain did show up. Funny thing was we had to climb up just like getting on a bus. The whole network really gave the town that underground city feel. Like a nuclear war had broken out and everyone had retreated far underground. The Downtown station especially had that feeling, with trains going all over the place and stalls everywhere. We got around everywhere on our 'Charliecards'. America's first subway network was really impressive. There were 4 different lines. red, blue, yellow and green. All platforms and trains were clearly colour coordinated making it easy to get around. When we got topside I just remember walking in a place that seemed to live off the rain and clouds that seemed to envelop it. The air felt damp and if you looked up you could not see the tops of buildings because of the cloud. Everyone was on the move though, more so than any American city I had been in before. It had a pulse. Everyone was dressed appropriately. All guys wore caps and hoodies. For the first time in America I started to feel a little uneasy. I felt that this place was rough and would eat you up if it thought you were a victim. The place obviously had character. After all it was the first American city. Sherry believes that 70% of epople in Boston are African american inc ontrast to the 10% norm for the country. Sounds a bit weird if you ask me. Thats not true though - on checking the demographics its made up of approx 20% afro americans, 50% whites, 15% hespanics. Our hotel was only a short walk once we got topside. We checked in, told tehm about our bags, went up to our room and planned out our afternoon. Top priority was getting something warm. i was keen to get a Boston Red Sox jacket too so we decided to head towards Fenway park.

View from our hotel room

We went back underground and got on a green line. We went too far intially and had to go back the other way to get off at Fenway station. Fenway is about 10 minutes from Downtown and is only a couple of stops before Harvard. I just couldnt believe how different if felt to be here. We had come from one of the warmest most tranquil American places in Santa Barbara, California - where it was warm, still and comfortable - to Boston - a place that was on the verge on snowing with biting winds and damp air. It was like being in Melbourne's Summer then to Melbourne's winter in the space of 24 hours.

Out here the town had a distinct Richmond feel. With some cafes and pubs and boutique shops. The only diffreence being that everything was much more open while Richmond is cramped. We had a quick walk down the street - walking over a freeway to get to Fenway park.

Sherry and i saw a sign on the way that we didn't know how to take. (see below)

Now what is that supposed to mean? If you can't read what it says below the 'We Sell Guns' part it state. No ID requird. No backgruond checks. Criminals and terrorists welcome.

That would have to be tounge in cheek surely? I mean its not Texas. And look at the kind of guns on the sign. They are Ak47's or something similar. I'm HOPING its an anti-gun sign, heaven help us if thats not the case. There was a cool hotdog shop near Fenway park that looked like it was the place to go if a ball game was on. Fenway looked ancient. We first went into the souvenier shop and it was just massive. So much stuff,

Melbourne - One of Boston's 8 Sister cities.

Melbourne and Boston are vibrant knowledge cities connected by a common commitment to excellence in health care and medicine, information and biotechnology, education, arts and culture and the sister city relationship has built on this foundation.

The moves to form a sister city relationship with Boston gained momentum when organisers of Victoria’s 150th anniversary identified Boston as the American city with which it would be most appropriate for Melbourne to form such a relationship.

In March 1985, representatives from Boston attended one of several special Council Meetings organised during Victoria’s 150th anniversary celebrations. The official signing of documents to establish the sister city relationship took place in Boston on 7 November 1985..

I found the Red Sox Manager's jacket. That was pretty reasonably priced for something that looked like the absolute bomb. not only was it the jacket warn by the managers, but it kept the rain out and was warm. I bo0ught a Celtics Championship flag too. Then the only thing that really annoyed me happened. Well just made me feel like a second rate citizen. These old Red Sox guys treated me like an exhibit and all sort oif listened to my accent and then when i tlaked to them at one point they just ignored me. Smokers. 'Well you talk funny, but you seem like a decent guy'. I guess i shouldnt be too upset at that. I should have thrown a crocodile at the old guy's face. After looking around we decided to go on the Fenway Park tour. Unfortunately today we couldnt go on the field. Bummer. But yeah the tour was okay. A lot of information about the Red Sox's. The stadium's sign out the front (pictured above) is still the original sign although work has gone on around it. The seats hav ebeen upgraded numerous times but still much of the park is in its orginal state. We learnt about the most famous Red Sox player - Ted Williams. And apparantly The Sox traded away someone like Micky Mantle to the Yankees. Crazy move hey?

Fenway. One of the most famous stadiums in all of profressional sport. The Green monster in Leftfield has undergone numerous changes, but still remains one of the hardest walls to clear despite being closer than rightfield.

After leaving Fenway we stopped off for a hot drink at a cafe just on the opposite side of the road from Fenway station where we got off. We then got back on the train and went looking for Cheers. Now there are two Cheers in Boston. One is the official Cheers from the show - but only the oustside bar shot of the Bull & Finch Pub from the opening credits. The actual bar that is used in the show does not exist, but is replicated in another part of town. This one is called Cheers and this is the one we went looking for. But we struggled. We had a map and got confused how far around a corner (like a wide sweeping corner) we had to walk. it was raining and we were getting drenched. Then some guy that Sherry thought was absolutely nuts started talking to us. He jsut crapped on about all these places around Boston that have significane. he didnt care that he was getting drenched. I didnt really notice that he was weird, I was just amazed that this guy would stop and talk about how much he loved his city even though he was getting satched.

Sherry went to Oxford or Harvard last time she was here, but she still seemed to know about some of these places this guy was talking about. But we eventually 'escaped' this guy and found Cheers. We didnt go in srtaight away as it was situated in the middle of a market. The market had heaps of cool food and plenty of kitchy stuff too. it wasnt massive but it did have a couple of levels. Cheers was very artifical loooking. But at the same time you know it isn't the EXACT one so you just have to use your imagination. We bought the drinks that allowed you to keep the glasses. I always use the Cheers glass. It's jsut the right size. The Phoenix one is about twice the size and its just so heavy. Its like doing weights with the Suns glass.

Which Cheers character am I? I think this seat was Frasier's.

More chowder. Pronounced chow - dah in Boston. Cant remember how it compared taste wise to West Coast chowder.