Boston - October 26th - 29th

Tuesday:
We started out at 6:30 am in the dark. The roads were very crowded even at that early hour. It was basically city for the first couple of hours, but then we got out into slightly more open country, rolling, green in places. The autumn colours of all the trees were spectatular, green/gold/orange/red all mixed together in a patchwork effect. Boston's outskirts remind me a bit of Albany, hilly with winding roads and not well signposted. The drive, of about 565 miles, took about 10 and a quarter hours. S had to do all the driving because I foolishly didn't get an international driving permit before leaving home, and although my local motoring association website only said an international permit is recommended (not required) for the US, we didn't want to take any risks.

Wednesday:
Spent the day downtown. First we visited the Skywalk on the 50th floor of the Prudential building, which gave us an impressive view in all directions along with an interesting pre-recorded commentary (on personal headphones) which gave a short description and history of what we were seeing from each direction. Coming down again in the lift, I was struck by how loudly the other people in the lift were talking. I think the tone would have been more subdued in an Australian lift.

We're staying in a motel on the outskirts of Boston, not too far from a terminus of the T (subway system), and on our first foray into the city we were taken aback to discover that it costs $3 to get into the city, but only $1.25 to get back. We thought we were being ripped off, because none of the token machines were in operation and big notices informed us that the cash fare would be $3, but we've since learnt that that's just the way they work it here.

We got off at Copley Square, and even before heading off to the Skywalk we went into the Boston Public Library (because it has bathrooms!) and spent some time browsing around because it's such an amazingly beautiful building.

Later we walked on to the Public Gardens for lunch, where the very bold squirrels hung around begging for food. One climbed right up onto my backpack, which was on my lap, but wouldn't stay long enough for me to take a photo. From there we went over to Boston Common, where we really liked the Frog Pond and the Tadpole Playground. I couldn't work out why all the ponds and fountains were empty of water, and when I asked S was amused that she hadn't thought to tell me that they're drained for the winter well before the first frost is expected.

From there we retraced our steps until we reached Newbury St, which although it is full of shops didn't feel like a shopping area to me because all the shops are in what used to be houses so you don't get the shop fronts right on the footpath; they're usually up or down steps and inside what look like private doors. Everywhere there was a backdrop of turning leaves in all shades, and again I've been struck by how lush the vegetation is. I thought it might be a bit less so here than in the DC area because it's slightly warmer there. I think the train line is about the most attractive I've seen, simply because of the amount of greenery all along each side of it.

Boston, especially the central touristy part, seems very compact and walkable so far. We concentrated on the area to the south/west of Boston Common today, and we plan to visit the Freedom Trail and other north/eastern parts tomorrow or Friday.

Some of the architecture is similar to that of DC - heavy, solid, massive granite blocks, fairly austere and unadorned on the outside - but some is more similar to what I'm used to in Perth: red brick with ornamental flourishes in contrasting colours around windows and corners, and with more decoration on the outsides of the buildings.

Our motel is really nice: Near the reception area is a computer with free high speed internet access (which I'm using right now) as well as a breakfast area where we can get free breakfast of coffee, fruit juices, tea, bagels with cream cheese (I've never had bagels before - very nice) and sweet pastries, and in our room we have a self contained fully equipped kitchen with fridge, stove, microwave oven and even a dishwasher. There's often a bit of a queue for the computer but so far I've been able to get some time on it to check my emails every day.

Thursday:
A glorious, cold, clear, sunny day. We went to Minute Man Park, the historical site of Paul Revere's ride and the start of the Revolutionary War. We walked along part of the Battle Trail, noting markers of significant moments and places as we went, until we reached the Hartwell's Ale House or Tavern (I hope I've got the name right), where a couple of men dressed in period costume gave a talk about the war and the use of muskets, then showed us through the Tavern. It's the original building which until recently had been lived in and considerably modernised over the original materials, but has now been stripped back and restored to its original condition.

After sitting in the sun by the side of the trail to eat lunch, we drove to Walden Pond, walked around it and then sat basking in the sun watching all the other people also making the most of the perfect day. One particular tree was being extensively photographed because of its very startlingly red foliage. In spite of the cold, several kids were actually wearing bathers and going into the water, though we noticed they weren't spending too long in there.

I was amazed by the contrast of the sheer numbers of interstate and state highways intersecting and intermingling just minutes from beautiful woodland and the peaceful Walden Pond. Both Minute Man Park and Walden Pond were within about ten minutes' drive of our motel.

Friday:
Today we went back to Boston on the T and walked along the Freedom Trail, which is an approximately 2.5 mile long historical walk marked by a red line, mostly red bricks set into the footpath but sometimes red paint on the road, commemmorating the Revolutionary War. Due to the Boston Red Sox winning the World Series, we were somewhat hampered when we reached Government Centre by crowds gathered there to watch the lowering of the Red Sox flag. Everywhere in Boston all week we've seen signs both big and small congratulating the Sox.

As I found the other day, Boston is a very friendly and compact city in which to walk, with a lot of life taking place on the streets, including vendors selling souvenirs, t-shirts and food from carts. I had my first real American burrito (filled with rice, cheese, and black beans - very delicious) followed by a maple/walnut icecream. As we got into the North End, suddenly there was hardly any traffic, although there were cars parked nose to tail right along each side of the road. These were residents' cars, and there was practically no through traffic, which made walking much more pleasant.

Although the Freedom Trail is less than 3 miles long, we didn't get to the final section of, on the other side of the river, until mid afternoon, having begun at about 11:15, because we stopped so often to look at things and take photos. When we reached Bunker Hill and found people are allowed to climb the Bunker Hill Monument, which is a smaller replica of the Washington Monument, we at first thought we were too tired to try the climb, but we eventually decided we didn't want to miss the view from the top, so we climbed all 291 steps up and found it was well worth it. While we were up there still admiring the view, a family of husband, wife and son of about 12 arrived. The husband was in a really bad way and sat down on the floor gasping for breath for a few minutes, making me feel quite worried. Meanwhile I suddenly discovered that when I stood on the 3 ft wide grating in the middle of the floor I could see right down the central shaft to the bottom of the monument, and announced this fact out loud. Immediately the father told his son to stay away from there! The boy was already too scared to even look out of the windows.

After sitting down for a while to let our legs recover from the climb and descent, we walked the rest of the way to the end of the Trail and had a quick look at the USS Constitution Museum. If we'd been half an hour earlier we could have gone on board the USS Constitution itself, and I was disappointed that we missed it, but it had already been a full day and we were reasonably happy to just look at it from the wharf.

By this time it was after 5 pm, so we found our way back to the nearest T station (with difficulty - they've been renovating and the directions were less than clear) and managed to fight our way onto a very crowded train which just kept getting fuller and fuller for the next several stops until we finally cleared the city. We had to stand for about the first half of our trip, which would have been fine except that my legs and feet were quite sore by then.

The Metro

I made an abortive attempt to visit the National Air and Space Museum today. When I got to the Metro I found there were major delays. The train that was at the station when I got there was so crowded that people were almost hanging out the doors, and many more people were waiting on the platform. The next train was slightly less crowded, so I got onto it thinking I would have to stand up, but a very nice younger man gave me his seat. (He got off a couple of stations later so I didn't feel guilty about him standing for that short distance). After sitting at the station for several minutes, I had almost decided to get off, when we left. Meanwhile there had been an announcement that after the 3rd stop down the line, we could expect delays of up to 10 minutes at each station, which would have meant an approximately 25 minute trip would take probably an hour and a half. If I'd had a book with me, I might have just sat it out; after all, it was still only just after 10 am and I had all day, but I very shortsightedly didn't think to put a book in my bag, so I decided I couldn't be bothered with all the waiting around, and got off and came home again. I feel rather frustrated by my inability to work around the situation because of my lack of local knowledge. In my home city, I'd probably have managed to find a local bus to get me downtown, but here I didn't feel confident enough to try. I'm also conscious of being hampered by the fact that I'm not quite game enough to drive anywhere, even though there is a car at my disposal. Probably in an emergency I could do it, but not otherwise. Anyway, I'll definitely have to get to the Air and Space Museum another time, because it looks really interesting.

On the train I picked up a copy of the Express which somebody had left on the seat, in which I read an interesting advertisement headed "Tim for President". His major ideas seem to be: a. Eliminate all weapons of every kind fromt he world; b. Bring home all the troops so they can concentrate on protecting the US from terrorists and illegal aliens who are taking jobs from US citizens; c. A flat tax for everyone; d. A nationally sponsored health care system for everyone; e. Public servants, including Congressmen, should work for the America because they want to serve their country; f. All individuals will be judged by God when the time comes so there is no need for man to judge them here on earth; g. It must be up to the individual to decide if taking any drug is advantageous to their well being. The only drugs that must be forbidden are those that cause birth defects. I wonder if he'll get any votes. Actually, I don't know enough about how things work here to know if this is genuine or just a joke of some kind. I know nobody in Australia could try to become Prime Minister without first becoming the leader of a political party, then if that party got elected he (or she) would automatically be Prime Minister.

National Postal Museum

Another still, misty, grey day today, not actually raining while I was out. The nieghbourhood is starting to take on a glow in some places where a particular type of tree (of course, I don't recognise any of the trees) is beginning to turn yellow ahead of the rest. The majority of the background still looks almost overwhelmingly lush and green, but here and there are patches of other colours. There's one place on the walk between here and the Metro station where, if I look east, nearly all of what I see is green, while if I look west from the same spot, I see almost all yellow.

I was at the National Postal Museum today. The restored lobby is just magnificent. I can't describe it without using cliches. Words like imposing, grand, lofty, ornate, come to mind. Inside the museum proper, it was much quieter than the History Museum, and also smaller, so I spent more time looking at the various sections in detail. In some ways the development of the postal system parallels ours in Australia because we were taking on the various new technologies at around the same time, but the major difference is that communications had a much harder time spreading across Australia because it could not be densely settled in the same way the US could. A lot of our cross continental traffic of all kinds was either by sea (and obviously therefore not directly across the continent) or later, by rail.

It was interesting to see the rural mail box art, because people also put up decorative mail boxes in country areas in Australia. I remember my father making a mail box in the shape of a covered wagon. In the case of my family, the only mail delivered to that mail box was carried by the school bus, but in other parts of the country there are still rural mail deliveries by the postal service to people's boxes at the side of the road.

From the postal museum I went across the road to Union Station, which is even huger, more ornate and more imposing than the museum. (The museum was actually built in a style designed to be complementary to Union Station). I couldn't get over all the restaurants, cafes and other eating places in there, not to mention the many boutique-y shops. If you keep walking long enough, you eventually manage to penetrate through to the station.

I've been fnding the Metro very disorienting because it's underground. Our much smaller, simpler electric train system in Perth runs above ground, so I'm used to having external cues to tell me where I am (and I know my way around pretty well anyway). Luckily the Metro is very well signposted, and so far I've always managed to be on the right platform to catch the train I want. However I often feel as if the train is taking off in completely the opposite direction to where I want to go.

Museum of American History Again

Wow, there's so much to see at the Museum of American History. I could probably have stayed twice as long today and still not have seen everything in as much detail as I would have liked. Unfortunately I was all "museumed" out after a couple of hours. The displays reinforced the view I already had of the US as priding itself on its advances in all areas over the years. This doesn't express exactly what I mean, but no doubt all Americans will know what I mean anyway. In many ways Australia's history has followed similar paths, but in a much quieter, less ostentatious way, and always a few years behind the US.

I've been reading "Consumer Reports" magazines over the last few days (the equivalent of our "Choice"), which have also given me an interesting insight into the local culture. Some products have different features, some are marketed differently and many have different types of names than I would expect at home. For example, foods and products used in the home tend to have what I think of as "homey" or "down home" names that they wouldn't have in Australia, such as Safeway rolled oats which is called "old fashioned oat cereal". I think in Australia it would just be called "rolled oats". And I love the fact that toilet paper is sold here as "bathroom tissue". We just state the obvious and label it "toilet paper" or perhaps "toilet tissue". (I should not here that I'm having trouble remembering that I should not mention the t word in public.) Oh, and that reminds me: yesterday at Great Falls, the public toilets (sorry, bathrooms) had heating!
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Great Falls

The other day I was in Safeway and I noticed that several of the check out operators were older men. That is something I don't remember ever seeing at home, where it's usually very young guys or women of all ages who have those jobs.

We went to Great Falls yesterday. What a beautiful place, in spite of the crowds of other people also enjoying perfect weather on a Sunday afternoon there. I'm constantly awe inspired by the multitude of trees and the lush greenery everywhere here.

In the evening we were invited out to dinner, where the hostess made a point of cooking quintessentially American food for me: chillie, cornbread, salad, apple pie. All extremely delicious.

And now I'm just about to leave for my second foray into the National Museum of American History.

Downtown Washington DC

I finally ventured downtown on my own, which of course turned out not to be a big deal as far as finding my way around was concerned. As long as I'm carrying a map and there are streets signs, I don't usually get lost.

I got off at Union Station and walked back towards the Mall and my objective for the day, the National Museum of American History, along E Street because that seemed like a sort of American thing to do: streets aren't named by letters in Australia. I was looking for roadside stands selling t-shirts, which I'd been told I might find at F and 12th Streets but didn't, but instead right outside the museum on Constitution Avenue (I think). 3 t-shirts for $10 seems like a pretty good deal to me, and I got some really pretty ones for all my immediate female relatives.

What most impressed me as I walked along these streets mainly lined with businesses/hotels/govt offices (not many shops in evidence) was the solidity of the buildings. They're not particularly tall - mostly around ten storeys I'd say - but boy are they massive. I think their plainness makes them look more solid too. The equivalent buildings in Perth are in quite a different architectural style, more ornate and with a lot more decorative brick and stone work.

The Museum of American History was very interesting, but after an hour and a half I was sated and exhausted. When I got home I looked through the information booklet I picked up at the information desk and realised just how much I'd missed. I think I'll have to go back at least once more. I found the layout very confusing, with spaces kind of opening out into each other, and even with a map in hand it took me ages to find my way to a bathroom. I kept walking past the same sections again from different angles.

When I emerged to have lunch, some kind of rally was going on in the National Mall, so I made a point of sitting close enough to it to listen while I was eating. It was some group called "Marriage Under Fire" with lots of ranting about how American society is under threat from people trying to redefine marriage. One speaker said trying to redefine marriage is like trying to redefine the law of gravity! (Because it's a law of nature set out by God just like the law of gravity is, don't you know).

The Trip

1st Leg - Perth to Hong Kong
5/10/04 - Lots of long boring queuing for check in, security, customs, boarding. I didn't sleep long enough last night and now (midday, 20 minutes before take-off) I'm starting to feel tired. I was too tense until now to feel the tiredness. When I went through the security check, I set off the alarm. Someone told me to take off my shoes and put them on the X-ray conveyor belt while I walked through again in my socks. This time no problem. Rosemary picked me up right on time but wanted me to plait her hair and have another look at her tax assessment before we left. I was feeling quite tightly strung but I was able to remain calm while I did what she wanted.

On board, awating take-off: considering this is an international flight, the seats are very small and cramped.

Disappointing not to have a window seat. I'm in the centre block, 4 seats across but on the aisle which could be either good or bad. Not sure what I think about these little screens on the backs of the seats. Bit hard to watch if you have a fidgetty person in front of you.

Take-off plus 10 minutes: I love the moments of take-ff, when the ground drops away, tilting at crazy angles, and you see your city spread out below you.

Now we're flying above strangely solid looking clouds.

Next to me in the other 3 seats is a Chinese family of parents and one little girl. The father fell asleep within the first half hour, after eating some food he'd brough onto the plane with him. I don't feel as if I'll be able to sleep at all because the conditions are so cramped, but I suppose by the early hours of the morning I'll be tired enough not to be able to stay awake. I certainly hope so.

I can't believe I was so nervous about getting to the aiport and being passed through the various procedures. Oh well, next time it will all feel like a piece of cake.

Jen was at the airport to see me off. She told me about missing a plane in the US because of ignoring the request to be at the airport 2 hours before take off. They had to queue for ages and just as they'd nearly reached the head of the line the doors were shut in their faces: "No, sorry, we told you to be here 2 hours ahead of time."

It's cold in here. I might have to put on my spare top as well as wrap up in the airline blanket.

1 pm. Have to remember to do leg exercises every hour or so. Rosemary told me she got very bad leg aches when she went to Japan. The airline shows a video of exercises supposedly for passengers to do to help avoid DVT, but they're shown being done by a man in an open air park, not on a plane, and some of them would not be possible in a plane.

My legs are definitely too long. How ro really tall people cope?

Thank goodness they've turned off the TV for the time being. Though it was interesting seeing the map of where we're going and where we are, and seeing the statistics: altitude, speed, outside temperature etc.

They've been around with drinks and little packets of peanuts (which I didn't eat). We've been given a lunch and refreshments menu, so I wonder what time lunch will be?

The guy next to me keeps sniffing. Euw! I have to put up with another 6 hours of this!

No wonder it's cold in here. By watching the video on the seat next to me (because I didn't want to turn on my own TV) I learnt that it's -47C outside. We're at 36,000 feet, flying at something over 800km/hour.

Sniff - sniff - sniff - Aargghh!

2:30 pm - The departure gate at Perth airport is something. First you see all the fancy shops, duty free etc, then you go around a corner and come to a bare, stark looking, strictly functional door which could just as easily be the entrance to a prison. Once through there's a sort of no man's land (customs), before you go up to the actual departure lounge, which has more shops and is quite comfortable looking, although I was only in it for 10 to 15 minutes and didn't even sit down.

Lunch - not bad, although not generous. I had chicken Provencale - very tasty - with mashed potatoes and very well done carrots and broccoli. I didn't like the starter of shrimp cocktail, but the dessert of chocolate marble cake with a flavoured syrup was delicious.

5:30 pm - watched The Terminal, with Tom Hanks, a warm fuzzy movie. It passed the time. I'm feeling very tired and headachey now, not at all looking forward to the next leg (Hong Kong to LA). I'm still not relaxed enough to sleep.

Hong Kong Airport - 8 pm to 11:25 pm - by the time I got off the plane (not hurrying) and wandered along to my departure gate via a security check, it was after 8:30 so a bit less time to wait.

I'm feeling a bit weird. The adrenalin and tensions of the past few days has worn off, but I'm not quite relaxed enough to sleep. I think I was feeling some motion sickness by the end of the first leg: as we started to descend for landing, I felt hot flushes plus nausea which lingered for a while after I got here. I should probably avoid writing, reading and watching the TV on the next leg. (I did enjoy seeing the Kath & Kim episode the The Sketch Show after the movie, though).

A bit earlier, while I was sprawled out trying to relax, I felt a sort of spasm of depression at the though of the 14 hour flight in front of me, but it's passed now. If only I can sleep for a good part of it.

All that worry turned out to be for nothing. HK airport was a breeze to navigate, and now I'm right at the departure gate. It's a huge airport but all the signs are really big and you get pretty well shepherded along where necessary. Of course, it's late at night so there aren't huge crowds of people around.

Here's a weird thing: if Sally is waking up around now, she can be thinking she'll see me today, but for me our meeting is still not till tomorrow.

LA, Wednesday morning: Ironically, our pilot from Perth to HK was British, possibly Scottish, while our pilot from HK to LA was Australian.

Unreal day yesterday. They kept all the cabin lights turned off all day, or until about 9:30 HK time which was 2 hours before we landed in LA at 8:30 pm local time, so we just didn't really have any day. Nobody near me even opened the window blinds until one woman opened hers an hour or 2 before landing (I would have if I'd had a window seat). The flight was far more comfortable than I'd expected, because there were a lot of spare seats and I had a spare seat beside me to spread out over.

I'm kind of dazed about being here. Managed to get a few hours sleep on the plane in spite of a baby screaming every hour or so, and then a few more hours here, mainly between 5 am and 8 am here when it would have been latish evening in Perth. Avoiding reading, writing and watching TV seemed to solve the motion sickness problem.

Getting on to the flight from LA to Dulles proved about the most stressful part of my trip so far. We kept having to stand in long queues for baggage checks and security checks. I was pretty much leaving everything to Sally which wasn't really fair since she hadn't had to go through any of the procedures before either. We had just caught the shuttle bus from our hotel, thinking there was one every ten minutes, but it turned out they only run half hourly. If we'd missed that one, we would have missed our flight, because by the time we got through all the queues it was only about 20 minutes before the flight.

Washington DC, Sunday 10th October: Today we went downtown on the Metro and walked the length of the National Mall. We intended to go up the Washington Monument but it's closed for renovations until early 2005. We walked along to the Lincoln Memorial past the World War II Memorial. We had sort of planned to have a look at the Vietnam Memorial but there were really long queues and in view of the fact that I've had a few episodes of faintness since arriving we decided standing in a queue wouldn't be a good idea.

From the Lincoln Memorial we walked all the way back to the Capitol, stopping to have a ride on a Carousel half way along and finishing up at Union Station where we caught the Metro for home. It was a glorious clear sunny autumn day, very much like a fine winter day at home.

I drove for a couple of blocks this morning. The car was automatic which was easier than having to change gears with my opposite hand, but even so it was hard. In the evening I drove the manual car, which was much harder. The instinct to reach for the indicators with my right hand and the gears with my left is incredibly strong.

After getting back from downtown we went for a drive out into the country. It's really beautiful - green, rolling, lush forested country which reminds me in places of Marysville or Walpole/Denmark, or even of Collie.

Countdown

The day after tomorrow I'm on my way. In fact, in 48 hours time, I'll be in the air on the way to Hong Kong, and 24 hours after that, I'll be in LA.