Today is moving day. So we got the Metro to the bus Terminal. Mx struggled a bit with her Rucksack. I didn't help under Eastwood's instructions, you'd have been proud of me. Mx is also worried that we haven't actually arranged any accomodation in Boston. She likes to know where we're headed. She's tried to phone all the hostels in Boston, but they are all full. We're just gonna wing it.
The best thing that you can say about The Port Terminal Bus Station in New York is that it's functional. We exchanged our voucher (bought in the UK for £352) for our CanAm Greyhound pass. It's valid for 60 days and you can take any trip that Greyhound or it's subsiduary's run.
We caught the Peter Pan Bus @ 9am. I think the journey would normally cost about $40, but we just flashed our pass and got on. Journey time was scheduled for 4 hours 20 minutes. The Peter Pan buses are newer than the Greyhound's and have TV's too, so we watched Ocean's 11.
The route took us out of New York through the Bronx and up the Connecticut coast through Stamford and Bridgeport. We then headed inland through Newhaven and Hartford. It's was nice to see a bit of greenery. There were certainly plenty of trees.
We continued into Massachusetts, passing Worcester and into Boston South Terminal. The journey taking 3 hours 50 with no dramas and quite pleasant.
My stomach was calling so we went to a diner and Mx went off to find a phone and I went to eat. The server behind the till asked me "How come you get to eat and she has to go use the phone." I told her that Mx had eaten yesterday so today was my turn. The bloke behind reckoned I should enter 'The Man of the Year' contest. I'm a dead cert.
I have to say the chicken kebab was absolutely superb.
Mx returned having booked 2 nights in a hotel room as all the hostels were fully booked. Spending a little more than planned, but I guess we learned the lesson that sometimes you need to make plans.
We headed to the Metro, with stomachs full and 20kg rucksacks on our backs. The indigestion soon set in and the train didn't help much. It was only 3 stops and 1 change. All journeys cost $1, but you have to buy a token.
We arrived in a quaint backstreet and made the way to hotel. It was easy to spot, it was the one with the massive Gay Pride flag outside. I'm so not gonna let Mx book another room for a while!!!!
In fairness the room is really nice. It has a bath and i think I might even treat myself to a shave. I do feel like I've cheated though, but we always knew Boston and New York would be expensive.
We set our stuff down and as time was pressing we decided to take a walk into Boston and what it had to offer. We booked ourselves on a trolley sightseeing trip ($25) and did a quick whistlestop tour of the town. The layout is quite confusing as it basically been built on a landfill and just kept getting added to. We think we're gonna like Boston and we're gonna go back and see the sights we liked. Welby was AWESOME (Mx understands)
As it was only 6pm I dragged Mx off to Fenway Park to watch the Baseball. The Boston Red Sox were playing the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. It costs us $28 each for tickets in the grandstand which was at the end of Left Field (are you still with me). The pre-game warm up was how shall I put it ............. cheesy, no very cheesy. They had a young girl sing the national anthem, then 3 people throw the first pitch and then a wickle kid say the famous word's "Play Ball"
The height of cheese was the ugly bloke proposing to his lovely girlfriend at the bottom of the 5th (half way through the game). I have evidence too. Just to get the photos sorted.
The game of baseball is secondary for most of the crowd. They spend most of there time going to get Hot dogs and beers and throwing beach balls. That's mainly because the play is disjointed and slow. I actually think that the game is underated and that people don't want to take time to understand it. It's similar to cricket in that there are lots of tactics, strategies and nuances that only a real fan would understand. To the normal supporter who wants to see big hits and passion, it's not for you. Anyway 34,040 people loved it. Me and Mx just took it in. The atmosphere was terrific and the stadium was characteristic.
I'm gonna talk crap for a while now, but american's love a stat and this is how they would take about the game. In answer to your question Big Steve, The Red Sox won 4-3 and are likely to make the playoff via the wildcard. There current win to Loss record is 88-67. The Pitcher (Wakefield) strike % was 77% and he was replaced halfway through the top of the 9th. He only conceded 6 hits. Martinez got 2 RBI's and went huge on one homer. It was outta here!!! The Red Sox made a couple of great double plays. I've no idea what that all means. Need to go to bed now.
