Boston, Massachusetts - Home again (sort of)

After 46 weeks, 24 countries, 38 flights, 91 different accommodations, 21 rental cars, 9 nights afloat, and 10,324 churches/temples (as assessed by the kids. Exact figure unknown, but decidedly less), we finally made our way back to American soil. The stereotypically casual customs agent cast us a wry smile when he saw we were toting temporary passports and welcomed us home.

The high-rise buildings are poking through on our sunset decent.

Boston was our mellow re-acclimation in to the American way, coupled with a bit of U.S. history. This was a great opportunity to compare our "old", to the rest of the world's "old," and to create a tangible link to the people and places the kids hear about in school.

My good buddy Sweeney asked a simple but thought provoking question the day we landed... "First Impressions?"

My response:
Still too early to tell, but I can say it's nice to be able to listen to other people's conversations if I want. I spent a lot of time fascinated by language on this trip - How seemingly random sounds to my ear are totally coherent to the locals. For nearly five months since we left New Zealand, I have felt like I have been in a strange sound chamber where everyone knew what was going on except me. Sure, I could get by with English, but outside of my one on one conversations with vendors and such, it was a garbled mess... Like wearing ear blinders and being forced to watch foreign TV without subtitles for five months.

Having said this, it's also something I think I will miss. Not really fully understanding what is going on adds to the sense of adventure and exploration. I think I will miss the aimless wanderings and running I would do that always lead to discovering something I would never see in the States. 

Back to what I won't miss....people in Europe smoke way too much. I've grown accustomed to having smokers ostracized in California, but in Europe, it was the other way around. I never realized just how stinky and off putting that habit really is. And the butts on the ground everywhere is unsightly.

I posed the question to the rest of the clan... Nicole said she has been uncomfortable for so long. Not physically per se, but certainly always on edge. It's nice to get back to a place that is familiar. Still different, but decidedly more comfortable.

Overall, we're back to the land of convenience and plenty, and it feels great. Whereas most of the world seems perfectly content with the status quo (washing machines with no dryers, local food markets without big grocery stores, etc), it has become explicitly clear that our culture promotes an attitude of "If it ain't broke, fix it anyway. Our customers will be happier." That's not to say that every business and every worker aims to please, but from a societal standpoint, the customer is in charge here.

Now, on to our Boston adventures, the highlights...

Traveling for a year on a budget requires heavy use of public transit. We could probably write an entire novel on the various forms of mass transit we have ridden over the past year. So it is with great pleasure to say that Boston has the most comical system in the world. It's quaint and charming. Ear-piercingly loud and scarily rickety (feeling like the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland). It incorporates an underground bus line that is labeled like a train (the silver line), and has the manliest automated announcements a la Don Pardo of Saturday Night Live. In any case, it was noteworthy.

We started our first full day getting re-acclimated to a new timezone, and getting reintroduced to our replacement technology. Fortunately I have a friend from college that was willing to be our personalized Mailboxes, etc here in Boston and we met up with her over lunch at the Faneuil Hall Marketplace * to collect our digital world. Thank you Cynthia.

First American breakfast... A Mexican diner! The most notable thing for Nicole and I - the delicious diner coffee. There is something about good old fashioned diner coffee from those super thick rimmed coffee mugs

Prior to lunch we hopped on the requisite Duck Boat tour to get ourselves oriented to the city highlights. It was a fun introduction in which Zane got to take control on the water. Before that was a quick stop at a run-of-the-mill CVS drugstore (which is like heaven compared to the "pharmacies" around the world), and Old Navy (which is like heaven part 2 compared to discount clothing stores around the world). Our traveling pharmacy was a casualty of the robbery, and not using Google translate to request a bottle of ibuprofen is quite a luxury. And allergy meds in a foreign land... fugetaboutit.

Whatever ails you, you'll find a remedy at CVS (or Walgreens, or Rite-Aid, or Target, or Safeway, or...). The salad dressing aisle nearly brought Nicole to her knees.

We rounded out the day at a good old fashioned American grocery store, which nearly brought a tear to Nicole's eyes. Options! Variety! Organized! English! (But no booze... Come on Massachusetts, separate liquor stores is so 20th century)

May 11: Just being outdoors
Our second day was marked by spectacular spring weather, so we had a wander around the central Boston area. Our first stop was the public library for a family reading of Make Way for Ducklings, a Boston classic. This lead us to The Boston Public Garden which was particularly nice with tulips in bloom and locals out for a midday picnic. After a compulsory stop at the Bull and Finch Pub (aka the Cheers bar), we relaxed (while Zane and Bryce did not relax at a playground) on the Charles River.

Boston Garden is a truly wonderful central park. May be the best we've seen. 

One of my favorite shows of all time.

These were darn good cupcakes.

The Church of the Covenant has a beautiful original Tiffany & Co chandelier and glass windows. Boston has no shortage of old churches on par with our ancestors across the pond. 

May 12: Science and Hot Pot
The weather turned on us, so to stay dry, we took advantage of Cynthia's family pass to get in to the Science Museum (thanks again Cynthia!). It happened to be a special event day where the kids could participate in some activities to earn prizes. We're definitely a science museum family.

Here we go again... Picnic in a museum. 

From there we headed out to Brookline and an evening of home cooked hot pot with Cynthia's family. What fun (thanks again Cynthia!). BTW, Brookline is a positively fetching little suburb with tree lined roads, parks everywhere, and stately Victorian style homes.

May 13: Boston Tea Party and the USS Constitution
Today was a history day. We spent the morning in a clever and well done reenactment of the Boston Tea Party (proud of Zane for volunteering to play a bit part in the town hall meeting). It was a great way to connect the real world with the handful of forgetful sentences they might read in a history book about the revolutionary period.

We jumped forward in history a couple decades to visit the USS Constitution, the oldest actively commissioned vessel afloat. Surprisingly, it supports a small crew, and could, in theory, be called upon in times of war. Granted, if it came to that, and she was sent to battle, we've probably already lost the war. Just to tell you**, it still shoots cannon balls and has hammocks for bunks.

The enlisted sailors give engaging presentations on an hourly basis.

We rounded out our Boston stop with a quick hike up Bunker Hill, which is actually Breeds Hill. Why the misnomer? Not sure. I should Google that.

The Freedom Trail is a 2.5 mile walk through old Boston that links all the key historical sites. 

All for now... Next stop: Rhode Island and Connecticut!


*  One notable difference between the States and many world countries is the variety of food availability. To be sure, major cities like London and Paris have the full gamut of international cuisine, but venture out a couple miles, and the offerings narrow exponentially. Thai's eat Thai Food, Italians eat Italian Food, Japanese eat Japanese Food, and so on.  Faneuil Hall was a joy because in the span of 100yds, we could buy a Greek Falafal, Japanese Sushi, Italian Pizza, Indian Tikka Masala, and a good old fashioned hot dog and fries.

** "Just to tell you" has become the prefix that Zane says before he tells us something trivial.

PS: He's Back! While his brother Pleepleus is off gallivanting around France, we have adopted Pleepleus II (P2)