Massachusetts

MASSACHUSSETTS - PART ONE
AIRPORT OBSERVATIONS

There are a few places where even the most gifted people with the
highest IQs are compelled to use only sheep-powered memory. I always
found airports were one of those place. Most certainly not the kind of
place you really want to be on your own for a few of the following
reasons.
If you're with someone who can still just about use the English
language at the check-in then you can let them get on with it. If
you're with someone that can't even manage gibberish then you can feel
smug and superior. On your own you can do neither. You just about
finish castigating the 'moron' in front of you at check-in when it
becomes your turn and you react in a similar way.
After successfully completing this challenging obstacle things should
get easier but you feel an ever growing sense of amazement and
sheep-brain as you wander around the shops. Personally I preferred to
waste a bit of time in a bas as the surroundings were at least
reassuringly familiar. One other note of observation which amused me
was that the McDonalds in Gatwick South is not in the food hall.
Obviously someone was scared of a charge of misleading the public so it
is positioned away from that area.
On finally getting to the plane, itself a Herculean task and an
adventure which Indiana Jones may have been proud of you get the idea
that some peoples idea of hand-luggage is somewhat disproportionate to
yours. Particularly the guy sitting in front of me that filled up the
whole of the overhead compartment with his one-piece. So as I write
this I am sitting here, casting ominous looks up at that holder,
because if it falls open under the weight and his bag falls out there
won't be any more pages left to write. It certainly didn't seem very
light when I opened it up to try, unsuccessfully, to put my piece in,
then struggled to close it again.
Well onto the flight and Boston is a mere seven hours away and the good
crew of the Virgin Boeing keep us all well stocked up with food and
drink as we head off there. Not been on one of these transatlantic
carriers for a few years and the changes to the insides are quite
amazing. TV's in the head rests and several choices of film to while
away the time, which itself gets shorter with more powerful engines
getting you to your destination. Altogether a smooth and relaxing
flight that left me ready to face the mysteries of America on my
own.

PART 2
BOSTON - MORE THAN A FEELING

OK got here and still suffering from a cold I picked up a few days
beforehand.. Thankfully not as bad as it has been though, but the dry
air in the plane cabin has dried my throat out and left me croaky, so
the cold has almost gone, but so too has the voice. Well the airport is
a bit of a maze and one of the most daunting tasks facing any traveller
is getting through the customs desk. The credentials in every country
appear to be the same - don't show any sign of emotion and treat
everyone to a stare of suspicion. When I was asked why I was here there
were a few tempting ideas that entered and swiftly exited my head under
a withering gaze, i muttered back in a fairly jovial manner that I was
just checking the pace out but it was met by a stony-cold stare.
Decided to forego the option of booking a hotel at the airport and made
my way to the outside world with a decision, brave or foolhardy,
considering the fact that I had only just got there, to find one once I
had picked up the car and set off out of town.
Now getting around from the airport is a lot easier than I thought it
would be. Hotels and car-hire firms lay on courtesy buses to take you
to their places and it takes most of the hassle out of getting anywhere
when you first land so a big thank-you to all those who laid on the
transport. Though I guess it does make you feel obliged to check into
one of these places rather than just find the subway. So I jumped on a
Hertz rental courtesy bus and proceeded to pick up a automobile.
Despite the fact that I had never driven in the States before I managed
to pick up the car, figure out how to change the automatic gears (it
does have a system, believe me !) , get out of the rather interesting
one way system and out of Boston without incident, and even with a few
interesting detours, more of which I shall explain about later, I
reached Salem in good time.

SALEM
Salem, unfortunately, is not best endowed with any kind of hostelry and
so I picked one of only two hotels I could find, the Hawthorne, named
after a famous son of Salem. Fortunately it wasn't too expensive
despite its rather nice furnishings and so I decided to make it my bed
for the night. An en-suite room with all kinds of amenities including a
hair-dryer - knew I should have grown my hair before going out there.
Also had an iron and board and TV with a multitude of channels. Enough
there to keep me occupied for the night - except I found the bar
!
Now the last time I went out to America the Monty Python joke was still
true about their beer. Not so this time. For starters they now brew
English beer out there, Bass seems to be one of the major players. I
still took it for granted that I could probably drink two or three
times as much as I could back home until I realised too late that I
couldn't. I made it up to my room before the full impact of that
session finally hit me and half way through the night I couldn't tell
you what country I was in any more. I felt quite fortunate to get up
early in the morning without a hangover, though the sight of a pile of
pancakes with honey dripping off them and a side-plate of salad did me
no favours.
Right - let's get one thing straight before I continue - driving in
America is easy ! However getting anywhere in particular is damn
difficult and can be quite frustrating. A few things become obvious
after a while, directions and road signs can be non-existent, rare or
signed too late for you to do anything about them, leaving you in the
wrong lane and going in completely the wrong direction. Sign-posts,
where they do exist, only advise of the next town, not very helpful
when heading for a place some distance from where you are. Fortunately
nearly every driver there is completely laid back, so if you feel you
need to cut in front of someone, they generally tend to let you.
Because of all this an hours drive for a non-local can take double
that.
OK that's the first driving observation out of the way - now back to
Salem.
Salem at 9 in the morning is about as busy as Salem at 9 in the
evening, so not the most happening place in the world, which is quite
an achievement for a town that used to be the sixth biggest in the
country. However there is plenty to see and do, mostly chronicling the
three most important periods in its' history - the colonies,
independence movement and, of course, the witch-trials. I chose to go
to the pioneer village and the Salem witch-dungeons.
The pioneer village is almost history of its own, built seventy years
ago to mark the three-hundredth anniversary of the first colony, it is
well worth a look. Also one of the few places where you will see the
flag of St.George flying around out there. Everything about the village
is as authentic as possible and charts how the settlers would first
have sheltered before making their permanent homes there. All the
guides wear costume of the period and are very knowledgeable. It is
very authentic-feeling too, and you can imagine these actually being
the original dwellings of those early pioneers.
The witch dungeon is also a must do. It is in two parts. The first part
seats you in a court at the time, watching a witch-trial take place
with very fine acting from all. The second is a tour round a dungeon,
which gives the visitor some kind of idea of how harrowing it must have
been for all involved. At the end of the tour is a very well-stocked
gift shop with anything you could wish to buy.
CAPE ANN
The only place I was able to get to was Gloucester, though there were a
few other small towns around. This is a really serious fishing town and
everything that has grown up around this area is because of the
trawlers. It has also been made famous by a George Clooney film, whose
name escapes me at present, but it's still showing at cinemas in this
town. Other than that it is a nice walk round, quite hilly, with a few
nice buildings and a mock medieval castle just a few miles down the
road.

CAPE COD
Anything you have ever seen or heard about New England and, in
particular, Cape Cod, is absolutely accurate. Every town and village
you travel through has a nice preserved look about it and it has a
great, friendly relaxed atmosphere. I decided to take a look round
Chatham, as it seems quite fitting to travel 3,000 miles to get away
from Chatham in the first place.
It is generally a mixture of white painted wood and brown/grey slate
houses, interspersed at the time with the last of the fall colours. It
makes you realise that, whatever time of year you choose to visit, you
will see a majestic beauty about the area which is truly hard to beat.
The very atmosphere that this provides makes one feel quite satisfied
and complete.
Not really the place to go for excitement but if you like nice scenery
and relaxed holidays then this is the place.
Right - second tip about driving - nearly everybody on the road is
pretty cool about driving and generally happy to forgive you for any
late change of plan brought about by poor road directions if you are in
front or beside them. I can't really explain how relieved I am that
this is the case - but they are, in general, very polite road
users.
The fall colours which I vaguely mentioned a few paragraphs back need
better explaining. This is November where I am here and the fall
colours have lost their early autumn brilliance, but even when there
are just a few trees with a cluster of about 8 leaves, 2 were bright
red, 2 bright yellow, 2 glorious orange and 2 dead brown ones just
waiting for the next breeze, it is very easy to imagine what it looked
like just a month or so earlier.

PLYMOUTH
The rock America was built on, famously the landing place of the
pilgrim fathers and I have to make a statement here and now. The
tourist information office is probably the most helpful you will find
anywhere in the world ! It is very well set up and the staff are
extremely helpful. Maybe a few others might learn a couple of things by
going there - both British and American.
Driving rule number 3 - Speed limits ! These are plentiful and very
changeable and, more often than not, not very helpful. For example,
there are plenty of 25, 35 and 46 markers but if your car odometer only
goes up in twenties it can be quite difficult judging 35. This is not
to say that you necessarily have to observe them most drivers just
cruise along at just over or under the limit, most typically under. Not
very many are too anxious about getting anywhere fast as sitting inside
the car looking at the scenery is quite pleasurable.
OK - Plymouth - Definitely a very historic place with a lot of places
to visit. A replica of the Mayflower sits in the water about 200 yards
away from the portico that sits on top of Plymouth Rock. A fine stone
church, the first church built in America stands next to the oldest
graveyard, which was also a fort looking out over the town. Plymouth
has remained picturesque despite the inevitable build up over the
centuries and once could imagine that the pilgrims would still see some
familiar things if they were able to come back today.

BOSTON
Well, I spent a few days avoiding it but I ditched the car for the last
day and made Boston my base on the last night. Thought I'd do it in
style as well so I booked into the Hilton and just relaxed in
first-class fashion for the night, preparing myself for big-city
onslaught.
Actually, the place is much less fearsome looking once you get in and
walk around it. There are some very tall buildings, but taken in
context, they are just a recent addition to the best part of 350 years
of architecture. They also tend to be built right in the centre so that
much of the old city remains almost unaffected by it, though there are
plenty of old buildings which nestle snugly in between. There are some
stunning churches scattered all around here and a park that sums up the
good atmosphere that is prevalent, with an open-air ice-rink in the
centre.
Among the many other historical things, there is a replica of one of
the boats used in the Boston Tea Party. Although the introduction at
the beginning is aimed at the young there is plenty of information to
be gained and a museum to understand the rest of the details.
There is also the famous 'Cheers' bar, more accurately known as 'The
Bull and Finch', and it is quite authentic in its' setting. Food is
quite reasonably priced but drink can be quite expensive -so be warned
!
you can also see the holocaust memorial, probably not the most
architecturally stunning work, but it is a deeply moving memorial and a
testament to the nazi atrocities.

To summarise - It was obvious a long weekend wouldn't be enough to see
all of the fantastic landscape and beauty of New England, but I feel
like I have packed a week's worth in. I definitely want to get back out
here in the spring when there are a couple of things to do which
couldn't be achieved in this part of the season. The people are
friendly, the places hold their historic features well and everything
makes you feel calm and relaxed, even the driving once you get used to
it, and Boston.
Prices for some things can be quite high when compared to UK prices,
once their tax is added onto bills especially, but petrol, clothes and
food are much cheaper. Beer can be as much as ?4 a pint in some places
though, so it's best to shop around sometimes and budget for
accommodation as you may do in the UK. Hire the car before you go out
there too as this can cut the cost by half.
That just about wraps it up for me - just to say if you're thinking of
going to New England then do it - it is definitely a 5-star
location.