"Taxation without representation is tyranny" - Impressions of Boston

Here we are on the final leg of our journey and it's bloody freezing! What nutjob thought it would be a good idea to end our sojourn here rather than Miami?! Well, it was me actually - the theory being that it is the closest major US city to the UK and hence the shortest flight home. Furthermore, I've always fancied visiting New England - but take my advice and don't do it in Winter! I suppose it will get us acclimatised for coming home after two months of warm weather.

Anyway, Boston reminds me of Liverpool in many ways (tunnels under the river, some of the buildings, the strong Irish connection etc) but it is not quite as friendly, modern, nor in my view, as impressive. We arrived on Wednesday night and our introduction to Boston was a taxi driver who was a bit of a knobhead. He didn't help with the luggage, put on a couple of dodgy "english accents" and then reminded me at the end that "Europeans don't do tips - it's included in the price, but here in the US we rely on them". I was tempted at the end to say, in my best Kenneth Williams voice "you frightful man, I don't tip for bad service". I slightly bottled it though but only gave him a dollar. Don't think he was happy, but he was also fat and lazy.

Our hotel is pretty well positioned - the Revere and yesterday (Thursday) was our first full day of exploring the city. We spent a few quid at American Eagle and decided to take a tour of Fenway Park, which is the home of the Boston Red Sox. I've been looking forward to this for the whole trip. However, it was lacklustre and a major disappointment. I don't know much about baseball but even I know certain events which our guide didn't mention. He seemed like another lazy sod. John Henry - sort it out! We headed back through town and ended eating at a perennial favourite, the Cheesecake Factory. Again, slightly below standards with a BJ rating of 3.5. Not the most inspiring start to our stay and thus far, a bit underwhelming (I've been told the nightlife isn't much either). I much prefer the West to the East coast (not being a big fan of NYC). However, I'm trying not to make snap judgements or be overly influenced by the weather. Moreover, when you've visited the places we have over the past couple of months, you realise just how lucky you have been and to place things in context.

Today was better as we decided to head over the river to Cambridge, the home of Harvard. The town itself is not that special but the Harvard campus was nice, with a very English feel (not surprising since it was founded by an Englishman). It must be a fantastic place to go to university. We found the law "school" and got a couple of nice photos before heading back over the river to Boston and walking around downtown, where we found Quincy Market and Faneuil Hall. We ended the day with a nice evening meal at the California Pizza Kitchen which I would highly recommend. The first bit of good service since we arrived.

To finish, let me make a point. All of the impressive, historic buildings in Boston are basically British or British influenced, yet the Bostonians make a big thing of the "tyrannical British rule" 300 years ago. What a load of bullsh*t. I wouldn't class myself as a British "patriot" (being from the democratic republic of Liverpool) but there still seems to be a pervading anti British sentiment in the city, perhaps exacerbated by the Irish republican movement. The fact is the British colonised the USA and half of the bloody world and without the British, the USA wouldn't exist. If the British hadn't made some fundamental strategic errors in ruling the American colonies, or indeed, been stretched fighting on so many fronts elsewhere, the US (or at least the Eastern colonies) may be part of a more widespread UK today. Imagine how different things may have been .....