Tuesday, August 09, 2005

Seeing the sights

Yesterday I did some heavy duty sightseeing, with the lofty goal of taking the Freedom Trail, a handy red line that leads tourists past most major sights in the city, in its completion. This failed miserably, as the Freedom Trail was lost to road construction about halfway through. I did, however, come across some interesting things, such as the Granary Burying ground, where such historical figures as Samuel Adams, Paul Revere, Crispus Attucks, and Mary Goose are buried. Then it was on past some meeting houses, the old town hall, the oldest tavern in America and then a Holocaust memorial. This is an impressive monument, consisting of tall glass columns inscribed with the concentration camp numbers of Holocaust victims as well as quotes from Holocaust survivors and soldiers. Sadly most visitors to this rushed through, either uninterested in the statements or rushed by their bus drivers. I hope it's the second problem. Later I happened across the Boston Public Garden, a beautifully landscaped place with lots of ducks, swan boats and lovely flowers. I think the most interesting sight in the Public Garden was, however, the Asian jogger wearing a t-shirt proclaiming "I speak jive". Brilliant! Following this interesting turn of events, things got even more interesting, as I got my ass grabbed on the subway, was instructed to "Express your opinions!" by a man at my stop, and heard an angry midwesterner in Walgreen's complain that she thought there were 2 lines (there was just one and two checkouts, with each customer going to the next available checkout), and being rather venemously informed by a non-native English speaker "First come, first serve!" God Bless America!

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