"I think I'll go to Boston...
I think I'll start a new life,
I think I'll start it over, where no one knows my name,I think I'll start a new life,
I'll get out of California, I'm tired of the weather, ...
I think I'll go to Boston,
I think that I'm just tired
I think I need a new town, to leave this all behind...
I think I need a sunrise, I'm tired of the sunset,
I hear it's nice in the Summer, some snow would be nice... "
-Augustana
To SFO: 1 hr 15 minutes
1 hour and 15 minutes to fly 300 miles seems ridiculous. However, the Embraer Brasilia EMB-120 endeavoured to do just that. It is an extremely cramped 14 seater plane (smaller than Air Deccan, if that can be believed). A massive football player built person could not fit into the seat at all. His legs were constantly against the front seat. The air-hostess gracefully moved him up to the first seat where there was more leg-space. A passenger travelling to France who heavily overpaid for going over the 50 lb. limit replaced him next to me. The 1 hour 15 minutes passed agonizingly slowly. Landing however, was a nice experience. We were flying over water till the last moment. I thought we might even land on water, but the land started appearing in time, and we touched down with minimum fuss.
To BOS: 5 hr 24 minutes
An overnight flight in the same country. After eating dinner in the excellent San Fransisco airport, I had to run to catch the flight. As usual, I got a middle seat on the plane. They were screening a movie on the big screen - I forget which because I slept through most of it. My neighbour, a typical Californian slept through the whole flight, and woke up only to adjust his guitar in the overhead bin. A rather large eyed priest sat on the other side reading religious passages throughout. I gave up on trying to read and slept pretty soundly.
MIT:
The next thing I remember was the air hostess welcoming me to Logan International Airport. I got off, and we decided against a costly cab. Boston has an excellent public transportation system, so we took the T. That's the name for the underground in Boston. Buying tickets through a plastic tap card is cheaper than buying a paper ticket. The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority card was one of my first acquisitions. The T crossed the river Charles into Cambridge, MA. Cambridge is the home of MIT and Harvard. MIT is situated on the river Charles. The Charles divides Boston and Cambridge. Got off the T at Kendall square.
MIT has a blend of conventional and radical architecture with just as many old fashioned stately looking buildings as there are odd shaped slanty looking buildings. Though some have been declared as architectural marvels, most look odd. The Stata center is an odd-shaped futuristic looking building with a rail track passing underneath it! To me, the most interesting building was the Simmons dorm. Apparently inspired by a sponge, it's boxy and irregular shaped with 'pores' which are actually windows and completely randomly coloured.
A dome is most prominent in the MIT skyline. This is the Engineering Library, one of several libraries on campus. This is the dome where the famous MIT vs Caltech spat escalated, with the Caltech cannon being proudly displayed on the dome. How it was brought 3000 miles and hoisted on to such a high roof was a complete mystery. Similarly, the people of Boston were shocked at the sight of a police car on the roof of the dome with lights flashing.
Boston:
We went to the Boston Museum of Natural History that day. The iMax show was Alaska was my first experience of the iMax theater. My falling asleep mid-way probably had more to do with the 5 hours of sleep got on the plane the last night. Slept at McGregor house that night. An undergraduate dorm in MIT was the first experience of an American dorm. The shower, interestingly does not have any door and it is separated from the rest of the common bathroom by two shower curtains. It seems surprising that in a co-ed dorm there is no door to the shower, but it was shrugged off as commonplace by the residents.
Next day was Boston duck tour day. After lunch at Bertucci's, excellent brick oven pizzas, the Boston duck tour started at the Museum of Natural History. The tour is conducted in a WWII amphibious vehicle which eventually drives into the Charles and is a highpoint of the tour. The tour guide was excellent and kept us regaled throughout. We passed through the Boston Commons - a big park in the center of Boston, Beacon Hill and the so called 'Boston Brahmins' who live on Beacon Hill. Boston, being a historically significant place in the Independence of the USA had quite a few places of historic note which I've totally forgotten! Driving into the Charles was an exciting part of the trip, where the duck (amphibious vehicle) lived up to it's sea-worthiness.
The next day was the trip to downtown Boston. Downtown crossing is the hub of Boston's downtown area. Shops like Filene's basement offer excellent discounts on clothes. Tello's, another bargain place even had hilarious printed t-shirts featuring Looney Tunes characters in ghetto garb. A trip to Chinatown was made too. We tried a special type of Chinese tea called Bubble Tea. I'm not sure if this originated in China, or whether it was an American Chinese concept. Basically, it's flavoured tea with tapioca 'bubbles' or called 'pearls' in the glass. It's rather strong, so exercise caution while drinking bubble tea. Tofu is an integral part of a vegetarian Chinese meal. Owing to my rather rabid dislike of tofu and other soy products, I had a spring roll at the Buddha's delight in Chinatown.
I think I'll go to Boston,
I think that I'm just tired
I think I need a new town, to leave this all behind...
I think I need a sunrise, I'm tired of the sunset,
I hear it's nice in the Summer, some snow would be nice... "
-Augustana
To SFO: 1 hr 15 minutes
1 hour and 15 minutes to fly 300 miles seems ridiculous. However, the Embraer Brasilia EMB-120 endeavoured to do just that. It is an extremely cramped 14 seater plane (smaller than Air Deccan, if that can be believed). A massive football player built person could not fit into the seat at all. His legs were constantly against the front seat. The air-hostess gracefully moved him up to the first seat where there was more leg-space. A passenger travelling to France who heavily overpaid for going over the 50 lb. limit replaced him next to me. The 1 hour 15 minutes passed agonizingly slowly. Landing however, was a nice experience. We were flying over water till the last moment. I thought we might even land on water, but the land started appearing in time, and we touched down with minimum fuss.
To BOS: 5 hr 24 minutes
An overnight flight in the same country. After eating dinner in the excellent San Fransisco airport, I had to run to catch the flight. As usual, I got a middle seat on the plane. They were screening a movie on the big screen - I forget which because I slept through most of it. My neighbour, a typical Californian slept through the whole flight, and woke up only to adjust his guitar in the overhead bin. A rather large eyed priest sat on the other side reading religious passages throughout. I gave up on trying to read and slept pretty soundly.
MIT:
The next thing I remember was the air hostess welcoming me to Logan International Airport. I got off, and we decided against a costly cab. Boston has an excellent public transportation system, so we took the T. That's the name for the underground in Boston. Buying tickets through a plastic tap card is cheaper than buying a paper ticket. The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority card was one of my first acquisitions. The T crossed the river Charles into Cambridge, MA. Cambridge is the home of MIT and Harvard. MIT is situated on the river Charles. The Charles divides Boston and Cambridge. Got off the T at Kendall square.
MIT has a blend of conventional and radical architecture with just as many old fashioned stately looking buildings as there are odd shaped slanty looking buildings. Though some have been declared as architectural marvels, most look odd. The Stata center is an odd-shaped futuristic looking building with a rail track passing underneath it! To me, the most interesting building was the Simmons dorm. Apparently inspired by a sponge, it's boxy and irregular shaped with 'pores' which are actually windows and completely randomly coloured.
A dome is most prominent in the MIT skyline. This is the Engineering Library, one of several libraries on campus. This is the dome where the famous MIT vs Caltech spat escalated, with the Caltech cannon being proudly displayed on the dome. How it was brought 3000 miles and hoisted on to such a high roof was a complete mystery. Similarly, the people of Boston were shocked at the sight of a police car on the roof of the dome with lights flashing.
Boston:
We went to the Boston Museum of Natural History that day. The iMax show was Alaska was my first experience of the iMax theater. My falling asleep mid-way probably had more to do with the 5 hours of sleep got on the plane the last night. Slept at McGregor house that night. An undergraduate dorm in MIT was the first experience of an American dorm. The shower, interestingly does not have any door and it is separated from the rest of the common bathroom by two shower curtains. It seems surprising that in a co-ed dorm there is no door to the shower, but it was shrugged off as commonplace by the residents.
Next day was Boston duck tour day. After lunch at Bertucci's, excellent brick oven pizzas, the Boston duck tour started at the Museum of Natural History. The tour is conducted in a WWII amphibious vehicle which eventually drives into the Charles and is a highpoint of the tour. The tour guide was excellent and kept us regaled throughout. We passed through the Boston Commons - a big park in the center of Boston, Beacon Hill and the so called 'Boston Brahmins' who live on Beacon Hill. Boston, being a historically significant place in the Independence of the USA had quite a few places of historic note which I've totally forgotten! Driving into the Charles was an exciting part of the trip, where the duck (amphibious vehicle) lived up to it's sea-worthiness.
The next day was the trip to downtown Boston. Downtown crossing is the hub of Boston's downtown area. Shops like Filene's basement offer excellent discounts on clothes. Tello's, another bargain place even had hilarious printed t-shirts featuring Looney Tunes characters in ghetto garb. A trip to Chinatown was made too. We tried a special type of Chinese tea called Bubble Tea. I'm not sure if this originated in China, or whether it was an American Chinese concept. Basically, it's flavoured tea with tapioca 'bubbles' or called 'pearls' in the glass. It's rather strong, so exercise caution while drinking bubble tea. Tofu is an integral part of a vegetarian Chinese meal. Owing to my rather rabid dislike of tofu and other soy products, I had a spring roll at the Buddha's delight in Chinatown.
