Already three days in Boston

Yes, time is passing by very fast, it's already Tuesday and I've done some sightseeing in Boston - and I had my first two sessions with Mary, my English teacher. She has prepared a tailor-made program for me; we have been discussing very interesting subjects. I'm very glad I found her (in the depths of the Worldwide Web) - and I'm glad she helped me book the Sewall Inn.

The Samuel Sewall Inn

After Philadelphia, where the weather has been really hot and muggy - over 30 degrees Celsius - and where I've stayed in a student dormitory (but a deluxe one) at the University City, not far away from Downtown Philadelphia, now I am staying in a small but very nice B&B in a quiet suburb of Boston. Temperatures in Boston have been low these days (and seemingly also before I came) - about 20 degrees Celsius and less - every now and then it's raining and there have even been some thunderstorms (Gewitter) .

But these aren't the only differences between Philadelphia and Boston. To mention some of them: In Philly about half of the population is Afro-Americans, but you see very few Hispanics. Here in Boston you see a lot of Hispanics, but fewer Afro-Americans. And i you see a lot of people who seem to be of Irish descent; I've never seen (except in Holland or Great Britain) so much tall, red-haired and white complexioned people than here. In Philly the street system is based on a grid, so you can orientate yourself very easily, which is a little more difficult here in Boston, where all the buildings and the streets are more in the European style, except that you have a few highways right through the City. So even if they say that Boston is a "Walking City", there are quite a few places where pedestrians are left in the middle of nowhere and you don't have any clue how to cross the street. But Boston with his parks and the harbor is nevertheless a beautiful City, and after so much rain in the last month everything is green and blossoming.

Boston Public Garden

The air seems to be less polluted than in Philadelphia, but this may again depend on the amount of rain in the last time. The City seems also to be "cleaner" than Philadelphia, where in certain places the streets and the houses seem to be in a very bad shape and you see also a lot of litter around the streets. Addendum: Please don't misunderstand me: I liked the Philadelphia experience very much , it simply was more "far away" for me than Boston seems to be. And NYC will be another experience. I think I'll be very happy to have had three different glimpses of the States (or better: of the East Coast) at the end of my trip.

As I've already told some of you, it is easy to find a really wheelchair accessible taxicab, here in Boston they seem to have plenty of them. But for example the trolleys for the sightseeing tours are not equipped as well as those in Philly. So nothing is perfect! But every time I take a bus in the States I'm flabbergasted by the readiness and patience of the drivers toward people in a wheelchair, and it's for sure not an easy job to be a bus driver in these cities. When they catch sight of me they get ready to take out the ramp, I don't have to tell them (like it happens in Zuerich very often). We should send them (bus drivers) over here for training!!

Today I went (by bus) over to Cambridge and took an "Unofficial Tour" of the Harvard campus, given by Harvard (pronounced: Hahvahd) students. It was really interesting and funny! And all these young students on the campus, from all over the world, again many of them are Asians, Koreans and others. Very impressive also the Library.

Door to Harvard

Yesterday I went to a "Deli" called Zaftig's, their motto is: "Let us be your Jewish mother". I had a couscous with chicken, which was really good.

Zaftig's Logo

And Sunday I had very good seafood near Long Wharf, but I didn't go to the Aquarium because there were crowds of people waiting outside. Instead I made a very big stroll around the City - and by chance I met the mother and daughter who had been on the train to Boston in the seats near me!