Home again, home again

Okay, so we didn't make it to Walden Pond.
But we did make it to Concord and Lexington, Plymouth, and many of the sights in Boston. The Freedom Trail is definitely a must-see; I also recommend a Boston Ducks tour and a visit to Orchard House. Plymouth Rock was a bit of a disappointment. They're currently doing construction on the shelter covering the Rock, so you walk along the sidewalk, come to an alcove, and look down, and there's this big thing that looks like a chunk of concrete, and that's the famous Plymouth Rock. (Ho-hum, time for lunch.) All in all, though, we had a marvellous time, and I learned three helpful things:

1. Don't pack all of your books in your carry-on bag.
2. Backpacks aren't allowed in the Museum of Fine Arts.
3. Don't dis the Red Sox.

Something that's not usually in the guidebooks is Marshall Street in Boston. It has some great old buildings, including John Hancock's house, which is not a museum but at least it's been shown a little more respect than has the Old State House, which now has a subway station in its basement. (And the site of the Boston Massacre is now a traffic island. Go figure.) I highly recommend the trolley tour between Concord and Lexington; the guides are very knowledgeable about the area and its history. For example, did you know that when John Hancock fled Lexington, he packed seven trunks of clothing but left behind the trunk containing some very important documents? Paul Revere had to rescue it after the British Regulars released him. And if it weren't for Dr Samuel Prescott's courtship with Lydia Mulligan, Concord would probably never have been warned that the Regulars were coming, and the entire stockpile of weapons would have been confiscated and the planned rebellion would have gone up in a puff of smoke. Truly scary, when you see what history hinges on sometimes. Look at Gavrilo Princip and his pastrami sandwich. If he had only ordered it with mustard, or had to dig through his pockets looking for money, or taken just a little more time in the shop, he wouldn't have been on the street when the Archduke's motorcade drove by. Instead, there he was, and there it was, and World War One began.

Anyhow, it's good to be home and hard to believe that I leave for college in a little over a week.

Until next time,

~`~`Cello Girl

(девушка виолончели in Russian; 첼로 소녀 in Korean)