You Touch my Car, I Break-a Your Face

Wednesday, July 4th 2007, Wake up time: 7:30am 


One of the biggest days in American History! I woke up, feeling very excited and not a bit tired, despite the early start. We left for the station at about nine and took the subway into Boston. The station was called Alewife for those who care. It was my first experience of the 'subway' and I am afraid to say it was rather disappointing. It was less expensive than our train service however, but that's where the differences end. I learnt a little bit of the fun character drawn on my ticket. His name was Charlie, and there's a song about him, called the M.T.A song, about a man trapped on the Boston subway system. It was officially recorded and released by a band called the Kingston Trio. Here's a video of them performing said song: 


The M.T.A Song

We arrived in Boston at about 20 to ten. The first sight was a crowd of people forming as a procession of soldiers paraded down the main street. They were dressed up in the garb (obviously) of Revolutionary soldiers and were firing into the sky. Due to the fact they were using replicas of Flintocks, there was a lot of smog and I remember it smelling very bad. The crowd followed the soldiers down to the reading of the Declaration of Independence at the Old State House. It began at ten a.m and it was generally quite anti-British. A lot towards the oppression of the British, don't tax tea and how King George II can fuck off (just not in those words). 


After the rather long reading, we headed off towards the centre of Boston. On the way we passed various vendors and market sellers, all out for the same reason, aware that almost everyone would be out and about on this historic day. I wanted to look exactly like a tourist so I purchased a dark, navy shirt with Boston written across it in Red Sox lettering. It was only $10 so I felt it was quite a good deal! After my purchase had been made, we carried on to an old court house where a re-enactment was taking place. It was the Trial on Tea, where it was decided that England was taxing too much for the tea (a fowl substance, right Mira?) and this led to the Boston tea party where they dumped all the tea into the harbour in protest. 


Being the fantastic actor I am, I seized the chance to take a card (I was a protester, convenient) and read out my line with slight adlibs. I said something along the lines of "I'm British and I love our king, so leave him alone yeah?" Words to that effect. We lost, no real surprise, we had to keep with the historical fact. We walked further along, towards the waterfront for lunch. Claire wanted to go in the aptly named Claire's accessories. I was slightly surprised as I thought it was only a British shop, but I was obviously wrong.


We arrived at the waterfront and sat down and ate our lunch. I had a delicious turkey sandwich, and Bev was excited that we had arrived just in time to see the turning of the USS Constitution, a Warship that was extremely useful in the war against the British. It only turns 
once a year (I believe) and here's a photo of the beauty itself. 

As you can see, bloody massive. 

After lunch, we walked down to see the Jazz Army Band perform. We passed by the Boston Aquarium and watched the open tanks and the seals swimming about. It was rather hot so Ralph bought us each an Italian Ice (flavoured ice crushed up.) It was perfect in the sweltering heat and a pleasant lemon flavour. We arrived at the Jazz band and watched them. The thing I enjoyed most was the free snacks and bracelets! 

I thought I'd share the pictures of the seals that I took. 

We walked through more of central Boston, and through a little garden. There was a Holocaust memorial and stood by it in silence for a few minutes. We carried on to a statue of Mayor James Curley (strange name, I know.) He was mayor between 1935 and 1937. 

If you can't read it, it's the famous poem that talks of how you should always stand up for injustice. ""THEY CAME FIRST for the Communists,

and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.

THEN THEY CAME for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.

THEN THEY CAME for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.

THEN THEY CAME for me
and by that time no one was left to speak up."

The statue of James Curley. 

We carried on through, heading for the Boston Market near Carnegie Hall. Unfortunately it wasn't around, and so we headed in a different direction. We were just walking in a general way so that we covered most of central Boston. I discovered on the walk to my dismay that I had lost my bracelet somewhere along the way! I wanted to go back and get a new one but there wasn't time. :( We headed into the North End, an area of Boston mainly occupied by Italians (the Little Italy of Boston.) We stopped in a small café, which stated on the door that they don't accept credit cards. We sat inside and I noticed on the television that a baseball game was on. It was my first viewing of a Red Sox game! They were playing Tampa Bay and won 7-5! I ordered a vanilla soda and a tiramisu. Ralph pointed out the reason they don't accept credit cards is because they're probably paying protection money. He also said that the North End was the safest place in Boston for shootings, if you shot someone there, you don't know who they were connected to, so everybody left each other alone. I made my first inappropriate joke of the trip by saying in a reasonably loud voice "You touch my car, I break-a your face". 

We left the café and headed to Charles Town, another part of Boston. We made a stop at a museum about the history of the Brigg's Robbery. We arrived at Charles Town and took a stroll on one of the boats in the harbour and looked at more historical documents about the Revolutionary War. It was getting late and I, being typical, was very hungry. We stopped in an Italian restaurant and I had Tortellini Al Frasco (which was delicious.) 

After dinner, we walked back towards the Waterfront for the fireworks that evening. We listened to the Boston Pops on the radio and more music. The Blue Angels (the American equivalent of the Read Arrows) flew over and then the fireworks began. These were indescribable. Easily the greatest firework display I have ever witnessed. It showed in all it's glory how patriotic America is and how important the day was to them. The evening ended with the good news that the Yankees had lost their baseball game (the arch-rival of the Red Sox.) We took the busy subway back home about 11pm and I collapsed on my bed after a full packed day. 

Thanks for listening. 

A view of the harbour at night.