Almanac Travel: 16 Photos from 3 Days in Boston

Boston is a couple of hours on a train from New York through some very attractive sections of Upstate New York.

The city itself reminded me of a compact Melbourne with a population of just under a million versus Melbourne’s five million. It’s clean and adorned with beautiful parks, a large harbour similar to Hobart and historic sites.

It’s not just the physical comparisons to Melbourne that are evident, but more-so the cultural. Bostonians love sport and entertainment and it’s clearly evident.

Boston is the home to huge sporting franchises such as The Bruins, The Celtics, The Patriots and The Redsox. I was warned by a passenger on the train to not wear my NY Yankees hat in Boston, so I duly bought a Redsox hat from a vendor conveniently placed outside Boston Station. It’s very much that Collingwood v Carlton rivalry with the big brother down south.

 

 

Next step after dropping off our bags to the AirBnB in North Boston, was to get a haircut and shave after three and a half weeks of dishevelment exploring NYC in extreme heat.

North Boston turned out to be the heart of Boston’s Italian/Irish immigrants amidst a neighbourhood which is a maze of tiny streets and old limestone buildings.

I went to the first barber I could find. You could also get a tattoo on the premises and the barbers were big lads, covered in tatts and consistently dropped the ‘F Bomb’.

The queue was long but they made an exception for me based solely on my accent. Apparently National Geographic spent a week there looking at the potential of a reality TV program. After looking at the results of a week’s filming, the boys rejected the offer as they weren’t happy that the bulk of the profanity was left out.

The language was colourful but in context as they ribbed each other over sports results and politics in super broad Boston accents. Here’s an example of a few local colloquialisms and the before and after shots from the experience

 

Boston speak translated

Bah-gin – got a bargain at the market

Chucklehead – derogatory term for a local idiot

Fah Daze– For days, an excessive amount of; or lasts forever. i.e. “This traffic goes on fah daze.” “I went out drinking last night and slept fah daze.”

The Gahden – a reference to the Boston Garden or the TD Garden, home of the Boston Celtics and the Boston Bruins.

“No suh!” – [No sir, compare “no sirree”] – “No way!” The appropriate response is “Ya suh!”

Suppaahh –  (supper) – refers to dinner

Fenway Paahk – Fenway Park

Yah huh– very determined, “yes”

 

 

We only had a couple of days of looking around before going home, but here are a few photos from this very interesting city.

This memorial is dedicated to the six million Jews killed in the Holocaust. The six prisms represent the six concentration camps where the atrocities took place and the prisoner numbers of the six million deceased are etched on the glass.

 

 

The Freedom Trail is a red brick course over 4km that runs from the beautiful Boston Common to Bunker Hill in the North End just over the Charles River. It has numerous historical markers from the revolutionary war and buildings of significance. It takes approx. ninety minutes to walk it and the views from the memorial at Bunker Hill are impressive. The monument was built in the early 1800s and stands over 200 feet high. The statue is of William Prescott, the leader of the rebels during the revolution.

 

 

Bunker Hill and it’s surrounding suburb is known as Charlestown. This is the view from this historically tough working class area. The Ben Affleck film, The Town dramatises the notorious history of Charlestown and provides some magnificent shots of Boston’s North End and also Fenway Park.

 

 

The Museum of Fine Art was superb. Plenty of old stuff amongst some quality contemporary art. A truly enriching experience over four hours.

 

 

Fenway Park is one of the most famous and historical sporting stadiums in the world and it didn’t disappoint. It was weird seeing the Redsox play at 1pm on a Wednesday but with 160 games a year, MLB teams have to slot them in when they can. Fenway Park has an especially unique feature called The Green Monster, a 40ft padded wall in the left field. In the photo below you can see it covered in the flag for the national anthem. Because the stadium couldn’t be pushed further out because of the outside streets they had to adapt. For a batter to hit a home run they must clear the wall. Anything that doesn’t, just rebounds off the wall and it’s play on. Fenway Park has that Adelaide Oval or Lords feeling about it, dripping in history and charm.

 

 

 

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