Boston was the first place I ever traveled where I looked around and said, “I wonder what it would be like to live here.” The place I was standing at the time was Beacon Street right across from Boston Common, so it would probably be fantastic to live there, but unless this blog becomes more really amazingly profitable I will never be able to afford it. But a part of me still wonders what it would be like.
My first memory of Boston was getting lost. In some of our destinations, I can remember the hotel we stayed at, but I can’t remember the hotel from Boston. It was likely a Holiday Inn or something similar. It was near dark by then and we ended up in the North End. The couple who stopped to help us didn’t speak English, but their son (who was probably about eight years old) did, and he translated. I’m sure we would have found our hotel eventually, but that family made it much easier than it would otherwise have been.
We did the usual tourist things in Boston: the Faneuil Hall, Boston Common, I think we took a bus tour, or maybe my memory of seeing Harvard University from a vehicle was in our car. We also went out to Plymouth Rock (even less exciting than it sounds) and I think we visited the Plimoth Plantation living history museum. We also, of course, visited at least one famous house. The house I remember visiting was the Alcott house in Concord. Mostly I remember standing outside waiting for our turn (or maybe for them to open) while my mom told me her opinion about Louisa May Alcott’s father (which was not complimentary, she didn’t like his peripatetic nature and the fact that he was too busy philosophizing to take care of the family financially).
I don’t remember if we went to Walden Pond or not. I would think we would have while we were in Concord, since my mom had a Master’s degree in English. But maybe not.
Once again, I really wish I had some pictures of this trip. Oh, well. Maybe this will be my excuse to go back to Boston someday. “I have to go back to take the pictures that we didn’t take in 1981.” I think I like that idea.