18 May 2008
We had made plans on Friday night to all meet in the hotel lobby for 9am, go for breakfast, and then organise what to do with our much anticipated day off. I got the lobby for 8am to send emails and read the Guardian. People didn’t actually start ambling in until about half past 9, and then some people needed to do laundry etc. In the end me, Steffen, Raphael, Carolina, Ranger Dave (more about this legendary character later!) and Natalia went to Finagel A Bagel round the corner of the hotel to have breakfast.
When there are too many people all with different priorities and plans it gets difficult to reach consensus, so it actually got until gone 11am before me and Carolina got bored of hanging around and left to take the ferry to the New England Aquarium. Luckily the Ranger caught us up and so the three of us left for our adventure.
The ferry was covered by my weekly pass, transport here is so darned cheap! We saw lots of jellyfish in the harbour on the way over, and a woman walking a dog that was actually bigger than her! Mad!
Ranger Dave didn’t fancy the aquarium and just wanted a wander around, but by random chance we bumped into Marijan in the queue, so the three of us went round the aquarium and gawped at the huge turtles and cool bright coloured fish and things. They even had a pool where you could pick up and touch crabs and starfish, so there are some cool photos of me braving a crab in my hand with lots of other 5 year old children! :)
After the aquarium we left Carolina to go shopping and me, Ranger and Marijan took a ferry round the Harbor Islands and stopped on Charles Island. 7 quid for the whole trip, which was 40 minutes in the ferry there and a walk around the Island Fort. There were supposed to be guided ranger tours, but we got there too late. Dave picked up a map and took the role of ranger tour guide and did the job so well I named him Ranger Dave. It’s just me that calls him that and whether he actually likes the name or not is an entirely different matter! We walked around the island for an hour reading about different types of fort architecture and history and then just managed to get the second to last ferry back to Long Wharf.
We then went downtown to get the Ranger some swimming trunks, and then Marijan left us to to have a wander and myself and the Ranger when to the supermarket to get fruit (oh sweet nutritious fruit that is so rare in this otherwise wonderful place!), and rolls and ham and things for today. We’re going to be in the lab all day today and the cafe where we usually get our delicious lunch (for free) isn’t open so we have to sort ourselves out.
The plan was for everyone to try and meet in the hotel lobby for 7pm even if we had all gone our separate ways, but as it turned only me, Michael, Ranger and Marijan managed this, so the four of us decided to wander downtown to get some dinner. We went to Quincy Market and ate in this huge food court with more different cuisines than I could shake my salivating tongue at! I had a swordfish ‘kebob’ and a fruit shake called a monkey punch, which were both delicious (and again, super-cheap!)
We were all stuffed by then so decided to walk off the meal. A couple of the guys bought cheesy Boston souvenirs and then the Ranger came up with the brilliant idea of going to see jazz at the top of the Prudential Center. It was bloody amazing! We bought a couple of beers and watched really a really good jazz band 52 floors above Boston. It. was. jaw. dropping! Then on the way back we stopped in another part of the centre and watch a funk band kicking it old school, with lots of very sharply dressed black dudes dancing like I only can in my very happiest and funkiest of dreams!
Got back to hotel at around 1am after a very full but very fun day off and again crashed out to the sounds of adverts trying to sell me Preparation H and machines that will attack my abs and give me a six-pack and lots of babes in just 90, yes, just 90 days! (as part of a healthy diet regime, of course!)
It’s now Sunday morning about 8.10am and I’ve been typing for almost a full hour without any breakfast. The Ranger’s coming up to my room to make rolls (he bought the cheese, I bought the ham) at 8.30am, so I’m going to bust a move now. Because I’m not actually running an experiment I might not stay the full
day and might get some more sightseeing in. :)
Good luck with exams Dip! Well done Kisna on getting through your exams without knifing yourself. Enjoy the few days of relief you get before you start screwing about results day! :)
Hello to everyone else, I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about my time so far. I’ll try and get photos to everyone soon.
Byee!
Mae
20 May 2008
It sounds like you’re having a fantastic time, love! Continue to enjoy your adventure! Love and kisses from me