This is a nice building to have steaks and chops in!
I woke up early enough today to have breakfast in the dining hall in Berkeley Residence. Breakfast was provided for my stay. It was not bad! I could have eggs ordered to cook, cereal, bread, fruits, hot and cold drinks. Not too bad at all! I left first thing for Boston Commons because that was my meeting spot with Josie and her friend. It was really within a short walking distance from the Residence but it took me a while to locate her. Josie’s friend, Paul, did his exchange in McGill and they were traveling together for the holiday break.
After meeting up, we embarked on our tour of Boston beginning with the nearly 5km long Freedom Trail. This trail turned out to be pretty good because along the way, we got to see many of the attractions in Boston, like the Old South Meeting House, the Old State House, some burial grounds, the USS Constitution etc. I really liked Boston after seeing all those things, because it’s just so packed with history! It’s got stories jumping at you at every corner of the street! So cool! The trail was approximately 4.8km long, and it took us just about the whole day to cover it, with some stopping at the more interesting attractions of course. It was tiring but it was worth the effort. I would suggest the Freedom Trail for any visitors who will just be in Boston for a day.
Along the way, I got to see Faneuil Hall and the festive markets in its precinct. This was an important case study in urban geography on gentrification and urban renewal. I always remembered it and I felt simply amazed just being there and experiencing it for real. And the variety of food Quincy Market sells is absolutely crazy! It’s not just about quantity but diversity. There was food from all over the world! The Boston lobster caught my eye, but I decided to save it for my last dinner in Boston. Traveling with Josie and Paul was pretty fun, especially since they held a copy of the Lonely Planet guide to Boston. We got to do things that I would otherwise have not done had I simply followed the map I got from the hostel lobby. For example, visiting the Italian area and having the best gelato and the best cappuccino in Boston! That was really nice. Not to mention it’s always good to have company. I’ve been traveling alone for the most part of my journey and this was about the only part where I have companions, even if it’s just for a day.
But the most interesting attraction of the day was actually off the ‘trail’. It’s this modern looking memorial dedicated to the victims of the Holocaust. It’s these glass pillars with wordings, numbers and quotes from various survivors of the Holocaust. And at the bottom of each pillar, there was smoke coming out from the grilled floor. It was only till someone mentioned it that I realized these were meant to represent the gas chambers the Germans used to execute prisoners in the concentration camps during WWII. Simply amazing…
Dinner was at Chinatown… which was kind of a misnomer because I didn’t really feel that it was very Chinese. There was a good variety of Asian cuisines in fact – Japanese, Taiwanese, Korean, Thai, Vietnamese, Malaysian, etc. We were spoilt for choice, especially since many of these restaurants are voted (or nominated, I do not know exactly) the “Best of Boston”. But somehow, we settled for Vietnamese food, after purchasing Paul and Josie’s bus tickets to New York from the South Station. And because I really missed the one I had in Noodle Planet in Westwood, I decided to have rare steak pho for dinner. It was really very good. BUT that was not all! Paul and Josie had a musical to catch (The Nutcracker), so I was on my own again after dinner. And I remember passing by a Taiwanese food café while we were hunting for their bus station. For some reason, I suspected they had fermented bean curd. So I went in after a short little walk (to aid digestion) and got myself a mega serving of fermented tofu! It wasn’t the best I had, but given where I was, it was simply novel to be able to even find such a thing! So I gobbled it all up, even though I was still a little full from dinner.
There’s more… we also passed by this Penang restaurant while walking around in Chinatown. It’s the exact same one that Jason and I went to while we were in Chicago (to pack some prawn noodles for Henry and Uncle (Alison’s dad). So I told myself I had to get some of those Penang char kway teow to go… which I did… much to my surprise even! I was really very full from two bouts of dinner, but I went ahead and packed myself some char kway teow, with extra chilli. Turned out that the cashier used to stay in Singapore too. We had a good chat while I was waiting for my food to be prepared. I savoured the food when I got back to the hotel. It was heavenly and reminded me of home so much! Really looking forward to going back home even though I was sad about having to end my exchange experience. The dilemmas in life…