As we drove into Boston I was struck with a familiar site. This bridge is called the Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge. The bridge is part of the Big Dig project in Boston which is the largest overall highway construction project in the US. The bridge is a famous site often appearing in commericals. The "Big Dig" has literally turned the city into a huge construction zone. It was an absolute disaster driving around the city. I don't recommend taking your car anywhere near the city of Boston.Can I have your John Hancock! This city is full of history. This is where the American Revolution Began! This is the place where The Boston Masacre and The Boston Tea Party took place and where Paul Revere made his midnight ride. Below you can see that John he has a very distinguished signature on the Declaration of Independance that he signed on July 4th, 1776.
We went out to Boston Common which is a huge park in the center of the city. Here you can pick up the "Freedom Trail". The "Freedom Trail" is a red bricked line that takes you through all the historic sites of the city. Along the trail you can see such sites as the first public school and the location of the Boston Masacare. It also goes through a grave yard where you can find some famous graves such as Samual Adams, Paul Revere and Benjamin Franklin's Parents. The red bricked trail also took us to Quincy Market. This Market was built in 1826 and it's still a great source of food and entertainment for Bostonians. Here you can find an exact replica of the Cheers Bar and all kinds of souvenirs and good food.
The Freedom Trail also brought us to this Amazing Holocaust Memorial. I found this Monument to be very moving and I wanted to spend some time talking about it. The Monument consists of 6 large towers. Each tower represents one of the 6 death camps (Belzec, Auschwitz-Birkenau, Sobibor, Majdanek, Treblinka, and Chelmno). Here I am below standing in one the green glass towers.
Inscribed on the glass walls of each of the 6 towers are the registration numbers of all the victims that died at each camp. As you walk through each tower there are quotes etched into the concrete. On of the quotes disturbingly said: "Most infants and children were killed immediately upon arrival at the camps. The Nazis murdered as many as one and a half million Jewish children."
The most disturbing thing for me was that as you stood inside each tower, the grate below your feet let out steam that rose up passed your head. As you look through the tinted green glass with the steam/gas rising passed your eyes you realized the horrifying TRUTH that each victim suffered. They were gassed !!!!! Over 3 million Jewish people died in these extermination camps!!!
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.
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 Catholics,
and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant.
Then they came for me,
and by that time no one was left to speak up.
---Martin Niemoeller
Some Final notes on Boston: Harvard and MIT both have campuses close to Boston. And I got a chance to see those campuses as well. Harvard's campus was really nice, and there was some very old architecture and history there. Marcus later told me that it's a Harvard tradition to piss on the statue of John Harvard's foot. Which means that thousands of people have done that. And guess who unknowingly rubbed his foot for good luck !! eww! I like MIT's campus better. It is more modern and it looks like it has some excellent engineering facilities. Also, I got a chance to have a pint at The Green Dragon Tavern, the "Headquarters of the Revolution"!
Just north of Boston is the town of Salem. We took a hike up here to see the city famous for the Witch Trials conducted in 1692.
We went to the Salem Witch Museum. This museum was excellent. It gave a very detailed description of the Salem Witch Trials. But what I really appreciate about this museum is that it tried to draw lessons from the Witch Trials. For example, the people of Salem in 1692 where a very fearful people. They lived under a constant threat of Native attacks. The people were very religious and feared the wrath of god. The weather climate could easily wipe out an entire crop and starve families. Children were dying of diseases. And there were actually earthquakes. Naturally, the people of Salem buckled under the pressure and began insane trials of little girls who accused each other of witch craft. The museum did an excellent job of relating the witch trials to such morer modern events as putting the Japanese in isolation camps during world war two and the hunt for communism during the cold war. And most importantly the rapid depletion of American rights and the descrimination of immigrants through the current war on terror. We can't let irrational fear take the best of us and allow us to make incorrect and innapropriate deicisions. We are behaving just like the crazy Salem settlers did when they started to burn witches at the stake or push people off clifs to their deaths. The museum did an excellent job of putting things in perspective!
After we saw Salem and Boston we headed south along the coast. And an important landmark is Plymouth Rock. Although my picture is blurry, that rock is actually the Plymouth Rock. Although this is mostly a myth, it is said that the first pilgrims to come to North America on the Mayflower passed through this point. All the pilgrims touched this rock as they disembarked from the boat. Although this is probably not true, it does symbolize the rise of a great nation, the humble beginnings of a super power.
Cape Cod is a large armed shape penninsula that petrudes out into the atlantic ocean from Massachusetts. This was the last stop on our trip. What I didn't know about Cape Cod is that it was th summer residence of John F. Kennedy. We saw this monument of his life near Hyannis. We actually found the Kennedy Compound along the shore not too far from here.
Although it took a long time, we actually drove out to the tip of Cape Code at Provincetown. The beaches were beautiful and I actually saw the sun for the first time on the trip. What was interesting about this place is that there was a large homosexual population. There are actually a large number of well known gay resorts along the Provincetown shoreline.
Whew, this turned out to be a very intersting trip. From New York City, to Boston, Salem and Cape Cod. We started to head back to Toronto and we drove through Albany which is the capital of New York. And I was instantly struck by the size and architecture of the State Legislator Buildings which they call "The Empire State Plaza", as you can see in the picture below. The dome on the right is a performaning arts center called "The Egg".
This was an excellent trip!
