Let me start my introduction to Boston with the Ladies of Mike’s Pastry on Hanover St in the ‘little Italy, North End’ district of Boston who summed up the City for me inside 20 minutes, Welcoming, Friendly, Sweet Product and beyond my expectation, and the Cannoli just like their hospitality was excellent, thanks Girls! And thanks for the education that a ‘Flat White’ is a Can of Paint in Boston!!
Well Boston is where our American colonial demise kicked off, so I had to make my way to see what we did and do a bit of history digging. I would imagine that any 7 year old american would out-do my incredible depth and knowledge of the events, so in case I ever meet a child in a head to head quiz I was adamant that I should be a bit more learned.
The flight up from Phoenix was delayed by an hour but generally uneventful. My successful use of airmiles has saved me an absolute bundle of money in the USA but I wasn’t feeling guilty being in First Class and letting the Patriots (the name for those that didn’t want British Rule) sit at the back of the plane. There is a lot of legal stuff surrounding the independence of the USA, but one point that I had remembered from business school was Cavaet Emptor (buyer beware) but as I like to think of it, ‘nothing comes without a little bit of pain’. Where was I, oh yes, reclining in my big seat in First Class!
On booking this leg of the trip I had left it really late and as there were lots of events going on in Boston, I couldn’t get a room in the City itself so had to go for one that was about 15 minutes by subway and a 10 minute walk.
My idea of education was going to come from a Tour, but this time on foot rather than on a bus. I slept in a bit as I was suffering with a little jet lag (poor thing you say?) and I had stuffed myself on a really thick Lobster Bisque in the Hotel with some Sweet Potato chips the night before. Boston is all about lobster, so I am going have to sample dishes a few times while I am here.
I like directions when they work and the one to the Subway to get into Boston given by the hotel was spot on and the ticket machine was quite simple to navigate, a good job as there were no staff there to help me anyway. The bit I didn’t know was where I actual was. I was staying at a Hotel called ‘Adams’ in Quincy and the Subway Map had 3 Stations, Quincy, North Quincy and Quincy Adams, but the platform didn’t have a name plate that I could see. This would be important information for getting home, so I wouldn’t leave it too late. Turns out that I was in North Quincy through a bit of luck after spotting a restaurant I’d past on my walk to the station.
Anyway…to my tour. The subway dropped me right in the Centre of Boston and next to a large tourist office. A large Afro-American guy was outside bellowing out about a tour in full period costume, who was to be my Guide and an excellent one at that. He positioned his ethnic roots in perfect detail and his character as a part of the real story of Boston and his age of some 250 years old. He led a group of about 25 of us through the streets with lots of humour and reference to my representing the problem side of the equation (there were 3 Brits). We stopped off at points to fuel the story of the British settling and governance of the colony and the events that produced the split and the signing of the declaration of independence. This is the whole reason why the Americans celebrate Independence Day on the 4th of July each year and the British celebrate Good Riddence Day (only kidding, these people were all British and some of the things that they were disputing then are still issues today).
The main characters from Boston that coordinated the freedom bid, were John Hancock (wealthy businessman), Samuel Adams (I have always associated with beer), Paul Revere (whose picture is on the bottles of Samuel Adams beer), John Adams (a lawyer and second cousin of Samuel), James Otis (a lawyer), Thomas Jefferson (another ‘lawyer’, getting to spot the trouble makers?) and Benjamin Franklin (who dropped out of school and then illegally dropped out of his contract as an apprentice and buggered off to Philadelphia (the place not the cheese). At this stage of the story I don’t think Franklin is going to do much with his life. So are you all with me so far?, we had the British governing the Colonies out here, Massachusetts (where Boston sits) being one and you had the Patriots, the ones above who didn’t like being governed or taxed.
Now let’s see what the rub is. The British Empire is at war (French again) and provides protection for its Colonies. So at this stage everyone in the Colonies was founded on the settlers and is therefore also British, or predominantly British. What the government wants is tax to pay for its empire protection duties and the Colonies aren’t paying any. The antagonists are wealthy and don’t want to pay tax. Now a clever dude, James Otis, comes out with a rallying speech “no taxation without representation is tyranny!” and this speech rallied a ‘bugger off’ message to the British Government. Not sure that 7 year olds are taught this version at school but I think us adults need to have it in an easy language to understand. It also coincided with a few skermishes initiated by Patriots against the British Soldiers looking after the Colony in which 5 of them came second in a fight with a musket ball. So, the British are the bad guys and the Patriots are the good guys. Funny that the Patriots version of the skermish events is slightly different.
Now as with any afray, the rich people stay at arms length and keep their names well away from trouble, but sponsor a group of villains to bully their message to the British, the ‘Sons of Liberty’. In pressing of a tax on a shipment of tea, the British boats are attacked by the Sons’ and the cargo poured into the Boston Harbour (the Boston Tea Party). Although I personally think that all tea should be dropped into the sea, the British Government sent troops to Boston to settle the issue and to give them a bit of a leathering.
So, there is no golden ark full of Mason treasure, Tom Hanks has yet to be signed for the Movie and Mel Gibson is taking language classes to sound like a Patriot Brit rather than a Patriot Scot. What they did have though was a cunning plan! Paul Revere had arranged riders to be sent when the British were coming on the signal of the hanging of one or two lanterns on a Church Steeple. The story goes ‘One if by land and Two if by sea’, seems that everything was put to poetry at the time and Paul Revere was really well known after a verse of a poem of the events ‘The Ride’. This is probably also why Revere is the picture on the bottle of Sam Adams Beer (see it rhymes, Revere…Beer).
Well, the short of it was that the British took a bit of a beating, then realised that this is a long term plan that the Patriots have and backed off. Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence and 52 leading figures signed it….yes, History set. The American Colonies become the United States of America, they shoot lots of their own presidents, we become good buddies oh and as of today they have a tax shortfall of 640 Billion dollars. The tax on the tea that brought this to a head was 33 Thousand dollars. History lesson over.
The walking tour was great and I have to say that Boston is a cool city, that unusually does not have a Ferris Wheel.
So from this deep history to a shallower bit of tourism and the second most important fact about Boston, the Cheers Bar. There are two. I visited the Replica at Quincy Market to get rehydrated after the tour walk. At this stage I was joined at the bar by the two other Brits who had walked the city and heard how bad we were. Enter Sarah and Rhys from Yorkshire. A really enjoyable night and great company. My one drink stretched to 5 pints of Samuel Adams, which surprisingly didn’t leave a bitter taste in my mouth. The walk to the Original Building bar would have to wait.
What a day and a nice introduction to Boston. I was expecting something quite different, more working city than tourist spot. Plus I had another bowl of Lobster Bisque in there famous food court in Quincy Market, what could be better?
In the next days I strolled around to take in central Boston and retraced the route that our Guide had given to get some photo’s of the City. A trip around the harbour to get the water bit of the British demise also added a perspective.
So how was my History? I am sure I got some things slightly out of context, but I hope that my British followers are now a little more educated than they were before. Oh and why are there lots of Irish and Italians here? Potato Famine in Ireland and Poverty in Southern Italy and they all jumped on a boat to Boston. However with this comes good food and great people and my search for a good Cannoli was found at Mike’s Pastry. A Cannoli is a curl of sweet pastry that is filled with sweet ricotta cheese and sometimes dipped in other great things to produce a lovely morning dessert…or afternoon…or evening.
I haven’t observed many Irish people other than loads of Bars carrying a shamrock, but going through Little Italy in the North End today, I could have been on the set of The Soprano’s.
So I have skimmed the cream on the top of Boston and found that it is a place of note and somewhere to come back. Thanks Boston.
I leave behind me the history of USA governance and tomorrow head for Texas and trips to Austin and Dallas (oh that one has a bit of history too, I forgot), catch you’ll soon!
Dave's Sabbatical 