The strengths of Boston? The answer is easy: Maine Lobster and red socks. The Red Sox Baseball team, to be correct. Everybody runs around in their T-Shirts and/or with caps, but you do not see many people wearing red socks though. Luckily, the support does not go that far.

Weaknesses? It’s raining all the time. Which means you have to go to a pub where inevitably a Red Sox game will be shown on at least 6 screens. Over some Frozen Margaritas I could not understand why they love Baseball so much. During a game you see some elderly man throwing balls at each other – sometimes they hit them, sometimes they prefer to walk away after four strikes. The players are fat, lazy (or have you ever seen a player running at full speed?), and probably overpaid. And the spit out all 20 seconds.

Just after my arrival I met Krissy, a couch-surfer. She wanted to show me the coolest places in Boston and to make me drunk, I assume. But that was ok – compared with the Icelandic prices it was a relief to drink in Boston.


She is definitely the world-citizens so many Americans happen to be not (i.e. Switzerland is the same as Sweden; Canada happens to be one more state of the USA). With her friend Stan we managed to get slightly drunk a second time (also due to the fact that I somehow forgot my dinner) and finally ended up in my hotel room. Not what you think – just to listen to Verdi’s Requiem and go on drinking.

The hotel (www.thecharlesmark.com) was anyway splendid – a small boutique hotel in the middle of Boston-Copley (a cool district to go out) with a state of the art industry design. The room was small but fashionable and the best thing: the stereo was a formidable receiver with CD player and Bose loudspeakers. I simply had to take the opportunity and went off to buy some CDs. On the third day – I should say: in the second night because her flight arrived in the middle of the night - Claudia from Florida visited me. We used to hang out in Zurich which she found too freezing to stay for a whole winter. We did the whole tourist program from Quincy-Market and Harvard University to USS-Constitution but most of the time we ate. Dunkin’ Donates. Burgers. Starbuck cakes. AND: Lobsters.

In a beautifully situated restaurant at the harbour (subway station “Aquarium”) we got Boston’s world famous soup called - arhm, I forgot, but just ask for THE world famous soup when you are there – and fresh Lobster. Tasty! 

Writing this I sit in the Amtrak train to New York only to catch the next train from New York to Montreal (I got to pick up the car in Newfoundland in 3 days). It’s great to be in that train – wine and beer is for free (=threat) if you travel Business Class.    
Finally, I would like to apologize to all tree huggers who don’t like people eating lobsters. Meanwhile, I go for one more glass of wine, cheers. Over and out.