I should have known – “relaxing” weekend would be far out of the picture. After the usual delays that Boston’s Logan airport subjects its passengers to, I made it there in time for a late dinner.
My first view of Boston was that of a city with some tall buildings a rather lot of winding roads. Strange for a city – I thought. The ways of the city are seemingly apparent even before you set foot there. The landing strip at Boston airport is almost on the water – so aircrafts have to make a loop over the Boston harbor and the Atlantic ocean before being able to land. Once you are on terra firma and making your way to downtown Boston – a strange realization strikes you … none of the roads run straight. The usual grid structure that can be mapped to streets in other American cities – is completely absent. The traffic swerves in and out of lanes in random motion intervals, drivers honk and often – to go right you need to make a left turn on the street. I had heard stories of the roads in Boston were originally cow paths created by grazing cows that were later formed into roads. As we navigated through the roads, I whole heartedly agreed and confessed to my friend that I would be sure to get lost driving there. I now have a new found respect for all the drivers who drive around Boston.
The next morning was my venture into the city of Boston. I met my cousin at the station and we decided to offload our bags at our hotel before proceeding on our tour of the city. (The pictur
e shows a view of the Boston harbor from my hotel room.) This was my first ride on the Boston T, and it brought back fond memories of the London Underground. The subway trains, the color coded section lines, the intersections and interchanges without having to step outside the station and the style and model of the stations would make a Londoner feel right at home.
We navigated a few of the lines and made our way to Harvard, home to arguably one of the world’s most famous schools. Harvard square has an eclectic collection of shops and cafes and is a charming place. As we walked through the wood paneled halls in some of the buildings of Harvard Business School – I could almost feel the years of tradition and knowledge around me.
Leaving Harvard we met up with my cousin – the graduate to be and a friend at Boston Commons. It was a warm and sunny day and the park was full of people enjoying the weather. After walking around, taking in the sights – the Capitol building with the golden dome, the malls, theater areas and shops, the many statues that pop up at streets and squares, it was time for dinner. We picked a recommended local chain of seafood restaurants – Legal Sea Foods. It was a rather long wait, but the food was well worth it. They claim to only serve fresh seafood, and after tasting their fare – I’m inclined to agree.
As we walked back to our hotel – I realized that Boston is definitely a city where you should leave your car behind and explore on foot.Saturday morning found us en route to a town called Eliot on the Green Line of the T – making our way to the first of my cousin’s graduation ceremonies. Why first … ? Well – since he was getting his Master’s degee in Management, and his Bachelor’s in Computer Engineering, all in a span of 4 years! Weird ? Yes, I’m inclined to agree. He is like that. After meeting the rest of the family attending his commencement, we drove to Babson School of Management where he completed his Masters. The graduating class comprised several hundred graduates and was a rather long and tedious ceremony – with one exception. The commencement speaker was a man called Erik Wiehenmeyer – the only bind man to scale Mt.Everest. He is a rock climber, skier and mountaineer in addition to being blind. He spoke about motivating oneself to always climb higher, and not let anything come in the way of achieving your dreams. It was inspiring and humbling to listen to him narrate his experiences and share his thoughts.
We made it to a quaint family run steakhouse called Ken's Steakhouse. This place had the authentic old-time feel to it with wooden beamed ceilings and floors and the food lived up to our expectations. Given the huge portion sizes, I was more than happy to split my entree with one of my cousins.
The next day, we were up and off to attend the next graduation ceremony. This was far more relaxed and chilled out and I enjoyed meeting my cousin's classmates and watching them rejoice at having graduated. This ceremony was for a batch of 70 students and each one of them had picked out a sentence 15 words or less to be read as they walked on-stage. Most students had picked lines expressing their gratidude and inspirational thoughts .... but one of them was different. There on stage - he asked his girlfriend to marry him. Phew ... talk about pressure! After a 2 second pause where the girl probably picked herself off the chair she'd fallen from - there was a resounding "YES"! The entire audience cheered .... That incident made the event even more memorable!
After dinner at a Japanese restaurant, we headed back to our cousin's dorm room, helped him pack his things as we drove back to our hotel.
Monday morning, driving through Boston was nightmarish, but I made my flight on time thanks to some Bostonian driving by my uncle. All in all - an awesome weekend!
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