AWC Going Dutch Jan Feb 2020

Revolution. Along the way we saw such
historic sites as Paul Revere’s home and the
Massachusetts State House, shown here,
which was built in 1798 and is still the state
capitol.
I
was impressed and surprised when I
learned that my friend’s son was accepted
for a one-year internship at Harvard
Medical School. Perhaps if Andrew was
studying biomed or medicine, it would be
expected, but he’s studying chemistry at
University of Bath in England. When Sally
said she was visiting him in late October,
without even thinking, I invited myself to join
her. As Andrew works all day,
she welcomed the company.
Our explorations began with
attending a vegetarian festival,
which Andrew’s roommates
told us about (and
was a good reminder that it’s
worth doing a little research
before heading somewhere
new to see if there are any
festivals worth attending).
It would have been easy
to have bought a bunch of
products I haven’t seen in
Holland, like grated cashew
cheese, but my luggage was
already at its max weight after
spending a week at my
44 GOING DUTCH
Exploring Boston
by Melissa White
parents’ house in California, so I restrained
myself.
We spent the rest of the afternoon walking
the Freedom Trail, a 2.5-mile (4-kilometer)
path starting in Boston Common, America’s
oldest public park dating from 1634, to
the Bunker Hill Monument, commemorating
the first major battle in the American
The following day, Sally went on an allday
fall foliage tour, which she thoroughly
enjoyed. I had debated about joining her,
but recognized that my impatience doesn’t
mix well with a large bus tour. Luckily
the Boston Hash House Harriers had a run
that day, so I joined them for a hash trail
(somewhat like a scavenger hunt for beer).
Something truly unique about this running
club is that there are groups in nearly every
major city in the world and visiting
“hashers” are always welcome. I was a bit
nervous about getting lost, so was relieved
that I was able to keep up with the slower
runners. I was completely shocked when we
got to the end and saw that the host had a
large cooler full of live lobsters that he was
steaming for dinner along with corn on the
cob and potatoes.
I am not a foodie, but much of the five days
in my home town (we moved to California
before my third birthday) was about food
with an emphasis on seafood: lobster roll,
lobster soft tacos, scallop risotto and New
England clam chowder both in a ceramic
bowl and in a bread bowl. We also had fresh
cannoli from Mike’s Pastry, but rather than
wait in the hour-long line in the original
shop which opened in 1946 in North End,
we had no wait at all in Cambridge.
With Halloween around the corner, we took
a scenic journey by ferry to Salem, home of
the infamous Salem Witch Trials. We had
originally planned to visit one of the cheesy
witch museums, but not the haunted houses
as neither of us likes scary stuff. Instead
we watched a movie produced for the
National Park Service, which stuck to the
facts: between June and September 1692,
20 innocent people were executed―14
women and 6 men, 19 by hanging and 1 by
being crushed. It was quite sobering to walk
through the Salem Witch Trials Memorial,
consisting of 20 granite benches inscribed
with the name of the accused and date of
their execution located next to the Old
Buying Point. The other highlight of our >> 46
Travel4U@americantravelcenter.net/www.americantravelcenter.nl/tel. +3261234901
“Our next holiday is
a safari. They do
the whole world!”
“They make booking a
holiday so easy. I just
leave it to them!”
“Every trip is
customized, just for
me! That’s unique!”
DECEMBER 2019 45