Katrin & Jojo

September 19, 2008

Today we left Portland early, not wanting to see the city itself but rather visit Freeport early. In Freeport we first paid a visit to the Visitor Information Center where we chatted with two nice ladies who not only told us what to do in the city but also where we should stay when we went up to Acadia National Park. After that we started our little shopping tour, with the first waypoint of course being the L.L. Bean flagship store. You can sign up for tours too, but unfortunately they are offered only on weekends, so I didn’t get the chance to participate in the clay-shooting trip. Afterwards we looked at the shops around Main Street and managed to get some really nice bargains (think of stuff which is already cheaper in dollars than it is in euros in Germany, then take into account that the dollar has a lower value than the euro and finally consider the 30% discount on most of the items ;). When we were done in the city we went back to our car, which was parked next to the Freeport Community Center where they have cheap coffee and free internet (didn’t have enough time to write an article though).
At around half past one we left Freeport, since we had made a reservation at the Edenbrook Motel in Bar Harbor for two nights (and this is a place I can recommend without hesitation: cheap ($55/night), clean, big rooms, close to downtown, family-run). We arrived in Bar Harbor earlier than anticipated (didn’t visit the Desert of Maine). The lady at the check-inn explained to us that on Desert Mountain Island (the island Acadia National Park is on) there are free shuttle-busses, so we took one which took us to Bar Harbor. Bar Harbor itself is two things: a town with a very high density of motels/hotels and also a town with a lot of seafood restaurants. We walked around town until we found something not that expensive and had a nice burger with french fries (my 0.3 Budweiser cost almost half as much as the meal). Coming out of the restaurant we immediately realized that we were farther up north as it felt quite cold.

September 18, 2008

Today we left Boston, as predicted, and headed for Salem. The drive there was short and pleasent, and we found a parking space directly opposite the visitor’s center. Salem, borrowing from the Freedom Trail, has its own red path which leads visitors through the city, although it is somewhat chaotic, often branching of in two different directions where it clearly should be going straight and not having many information points. At the end of the self-guided tour (which was still nice, although we got pretty sick of all the dozens of witch-museums/stores/nail-studios etc) we decided to visit the Salem Witch Museum.
After Salem we drove around Cape Ann, which is said to be of similar beauty like Cape Cod (I will tell you if that’s correct when we get to Cape Cod ourselves). This was definitely the best part of road we saw today, and with a speed limits of about 25-35 and virtually zero traffic we crawled around the peninsula and took everything in. After Cape Ann we continued heading north, with the intended destination of Portland, ME. We took Route 1, avoiding the I-95 and its turnpike-section in NH and Maine (we weren’t in a rush, and although Route 1 isn’t the prettiest, it was still nicer than taking the Interstate). We stopped when we saw the Kittery Trading Post, an outlet store very similar to L.L. Bean’s (although an employee assured me that the service in Kittery was way better). We got some nice things which were on sale, browsed their enormous inventory and had a look at some of the thousands of rifles and shotguns they had in store. Having gone through our first outlet-shopping-spree (Freeport is closing in too), we decided that we wouldn’t stop until we reached Portland and managed to get a room for the night.
So, now we are at the Motel 6 in Portland, quite tired, again, and without Internet this time, which is why you’ll be reading this post at some future point ;)

September 17, 2008

After seeing so much of downtown Boston yesterday, today was completely dedicated to Cambridge (north-west of Boston) and it’s two renowned academic institutions, the MIT and Harvard. We took the red line to Kendall and then walked along Memorial Dr until we hit Massachusetts Ave. There we took a right and ended up right in front of MITs main building, where we passed the time checking out a few of the adjacent buildings. At 11am our tour started, which was led by a very nice undergrad, who talked really really fast and didn’t seem to have a problem doing so while walking backwards for quite some distance. Needless to say, the tour was excellent, especially all the little anecdotes and insider-information which gave you a view on campus life and overall atmosphere from a student’s perspective. It was also nice that the campus was alive with people, things like the Infinite Corridor wouldn’t have the effect that made them so popular without it’s students. We finished the tour back at the main building and, having walked our fair share already, Katrin and I headed to the MIT museum before getting a bite to eat nearby.
After that we took the bus to Harvard Square, and, although still Cambridge, and although it still did feel very different from Boston itself, you immediately sense a shift in people and especially architecture once you step off the bus. We decided against taking another tour and instead just toured the campus ourselves (I dare say I didn’t really see that much ivy). Harvard Yard, the part of Harvard one knows from TV and photographs has an enchanting and timeless atmosphere to it, with it’s old red brick buildings and the huge trees which keep out the sun and cool the whole square. But stepping through one of the gates you’re in the middle of traffic again, which is a bit disappointing in my opinion.
Tiring as it may have been, this day was even better than yesterday and an experience I wouldn’t have wanted to miss. All the facilities and extra-curricular activities that these universities offer (and demand) made us feel pretty jealous too ;) Tomorrow we’ll be leaving Boston to go to Salem and probably make it as far as Portland, ME, where we intend to spend the night.

September 16, 2008

Ok, I’ll keep this short as we’re on the verge of falling asleep (still a little bit of jet-lag I guess).
Today we took the bus (and subway) into Boston, which is a much easier way than trying to get there by car. We exited Downtown Crossing, which is near the Boston Common (a public park), because that’s where the famous Freedom Trail starts. The Freedom Trail is a red-lined footpath through Boston which includes a lot of historic sites and buildings, so it’s an easy way to see some of the most important things when it comes to the history of Boston (and the United States of course). As you can imagine the path is quite frequented (especially by more senior citizens) and at some points has become somewhat commercialized (we didn’t really go into any of the buildings, avoiding the charge and saving some time). Near the end of the path we rested at the USS Constitution and decided to go aboard the ship itself. As the USS Constitution is still commissioned, it (and the surrounding facilities) are US-navy installations, so we had to go through airport-like security in order to get in. Afterwards we finished the trail at the Bunker Hill monument and then made our way back downtown in order to get some food (we had breakfast at about 7:30 am and were nearing 3 pm at that time). After a somewhat disappointing meal at one of the usual fast-food-places we finished our first day downtown with a nice Latte and then headed back.
While this all might sound like a pretty quick tour I can assure you that it was not, especially distance-wise. So, now we’re at the hotel, the last thing we managed to was to get some food at a supermarket (can’t really eat take-out twice a day) before putting up our numb feet for the last time today.
After a day in the city, a trip to the supermarket and about 2 hours of CNN I already noticed a few things that bothered me somewhat about the way things work over here, things that didn’t really strike me as negative the last time I was here (which is about 5 years ago). Maybe I’ll find the time to put those things into a separate post at a later time. For now enjoy the photos ;)

By the way: Our car is a Toyota Corolla S and you should buy the diet-version of joghurts as they taste what I would call “normal” ;)

September 16, 2008

Yes, we have arrived. The check-in at DUS was a no-brainer and we were through the bag-drop and security amazingly fast. The flight to Heathrow was on time and quick. In Heathrow we just had to go down one level to get a bus connecting us to Terminal 4. The bus-ride (with only 2 other occupants) was almost longer than the flight to London itself (or so it seemed) and we saw quite a lot of Heathrow. After that we boarded our flight to Boston, which left on time and even managed to gain a few minutes in the process. Unfortunately a woman about 4 rows in front of us managed to poop herself during the last 1 1/2 hours and the smell from there on was almost unbearable for everyone in Economy Class. All the stewards/stewardesses diverted their complete attention to cleaning up the lady and the mess she left behind (they even took apart her seat), and when we finally landed in Boston we had to wait for the paramedics to come in and wheel her out (since when is soiling yourself a medical emergency?). Anyway, after that we had a nice chat with the people from border control, had our fingerprints taken and a photograph made and were finally able to claim our bags.
We then took the shuttle to the Alamo office where the only lady at the counter told us that the car we had booked would be way too small for our luggage (2 people, 2 bags). She kindly offered to upgrade us for a mere $15/day, which we refused. When we got outside the people giving out the cards told us that our size (tiny) wasn’t available anymore, so we got upgraded (free of charge) to a nice sportscar (4 doors, woot!) with a spoiler. Expect photos tomorrow ;)
Now we’re in our Queen-Size bed and it goes without saying, quite tired. We’ll keep you posted.