Finally on Vacation - A Day in Boston

"Let us not forget today that we are the heirs of that first revolution." - JFK

Over the summer I was in Washington D.C., soaking up as much history and sightseeing as I could. Boston was a continuation of this quest. As a life-long history nerd, I could not believe that it took me this long to visit the cities that played such a pivotal role in the foundation of our country. Boston is also an important city in terms of my family's history, so when I had the opportunity to go there, even for a few hours, I jumped at the chance.

Both Boston and D.C. have great tour busses that you can hop on/off at any point along the route. $20 buys you a pass for the entire day, so I listened to the tour guide without stopping on the route, then stayed along on another lap of the city to get off at the places that I found interesting. I went to Quincy Market, Bunker Hill, the Old North Church, Boston Common...it was wonderful. It's November, so all of the fall colors were in full bloom and the air was extremely brisk, just short of snowing. It was wonderful to stroll through history like that on my own. I didn't get to see a fraction of the things I wanted to see, but at least it whet my appetite for a return trip as soon as my schedule will allow.

My reasons for visiting Boston were not exclusively meant for sightseeing, however. I used it as a way to break up a long flight from LAX to Rome, where I will be spending the next 2 weeks with friends PJ, Christy and Michelle going all over the country. Italy is another place I have not yet been, and the prospect of having 2.5 weeks off is dazzlingly appealing. Never in my life have I taken this much time off from work at a single time...when there wasn't some sort of hospital involved. Keeping my fingers crossed that it doesn't turn into that at a later point. :)

I flew into Boston last night at 8pm, spent the day touring the city and I'm exhausted. My flight left about 6 tonight from Logan Airport and will arrive at 7:30am tomorrow morning. My hope was that I would wear myself out running around Boston so that I would instantly fall asleep when I got on the plane. If that happened I would then wake up in Rome and keep the jet lag to a minimum.

Sadly that has not been the case so far. I am seated across the aisle from a woman who has proven herself to be quite crazy. Shortly after takeoff she started ranting and raving about how loud the people were talking a few rows ahead of her were being. I was only half listening to her when she looked to me for moral support, and she took my lack of comment as agreement. She then started yelling at these people to be quiet, saying that they were bothering both her and myself. Personal mortification aside, her ire quickly redirected to the man sitting behind her...who had the audacity to politely request that she not jam her seat back quickly without warning because he had been hit in both the head and the knee during her various tirades.

She became offended, and started arguing with him. The woman sitting behind me joined the fray, and the argument was on. They have been fighting for almost 5 hours now, and at times the stewardesses have come over to attempt to settle them down. Normally they would move the combatants, but this is a completely full flight so there's really no where to go. All I know is that I would really like some sleep and I'm strangely not at all tired.

More than 1/2 way to Rome. How cool is it to say that? Can't wait to land. Will write more when I have a break. :)