Boston and beyond

Well, A lot has happened since my last post. Goodbyes were said all around, and Katie and I boarded an overnight flight to Boston and were off on the first leg of our trip. We were worried because we didn't know what we were going to do with our luggage while we explored the city. We got into Logan international at 5AM local time, and ended up hanging out in the airport until about 8, when someone finally came to the info desk. They told us about a place a short bus ride away where we could stash our luggage for the day. We hauled our luggage up to the fifth floor of the amtrack station, then we were free to explore! We went first to chinatown, where there was a street festival happening, and walked around. We were trying to find the North side for some fresh cream filled cannoles, and ended up in southside. We wandered through the Boston Commons, and saw people on the pond being petaled around on little boats. The park went to the top of Beacon Hill, where we saw John Hancock's house! We then went further north and saw Paul Revere's house, which was not as impressive. We then made our way to little italy, which was also having a street festival! We got cannoles at a little place called maria's bakery, which was like something from a movie. Maria and an italian father and son were loudly conversing in heavy italian accents, and eating their italian pastries with lots of gesturing and discussion. It was insanely hot out, and the humidity was intense, so we stayed in the shop for a while, listening and eating. We left little italy and went towards the water. It was sunday afternoon, so there were lots of people sailing in the bay, and we sat and watched the boats for a while. We wondered down, following the water, and found a park where children were running through fountains. We ran through to cool off, then went to find some new england clam chowdah. We ended up at legal seafood, the place that has served clam chowder at the inauguration since the 1980's. It was very tasty. at this point it was almost 4, so we picked, got our bags and went through a series of trains to our bus pickup point. At the meeting point we met two journalism professors, one of whom was thinking about a position at the UO. They were very interesting and told us about the history of the meeting point, the Church of Christian Science headquarters. The bus finally came, and we headed to Hartford CT. We got in and were picked up by our friend Ana, who took us to her house. We had dinner with her family, and headed to bed. Today I went with Ana and Katie on a tour of her school, and then went with her family to a swimming hole. We went to a Hoagie place for lunch (they call them 'grinders' here). and now here I am. Still have yet to do my pre-trip reading, and my required essay is yet undone. Katie, Ana and I are headed to NYC tomorrow morning, and then to SA on Thursday.