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Holiday Anecdotes #2 - More than a feeling
Being #2 in the series of disrupted, disjointed rambling outbursts I threatened the other day.
Boston is full of history. OK, so I live in a city which has eleventh century buildings, but for America Boston's doing pretty well.
To try and get an overview, once the dancing part was over and done with, most of Boojum packed themselves onto a DUCK (an ex-army amphibious vehicle which can both drive you along the roads and float you round the harbour) for a tour of the city. Our guide was entertaining and informative, but had the unfortunate habit of making stuff up if she thought it was funny. I guessed for example, that the memorial featuring a number of people on horseback, heads hanging in shame, probably wasn't really a statue erected in memory of the Kerry election committee (though, since I never found that statue again, I have no idea what it actually was). However, some jokes weren't so obvious to the tourist, and some days later I was still trying to disentangle the true bits from the bits I'd fallen for.
Early on in my interactions with Boston's Subway, I was slightly confused to see a station called Kendall Mint. I mean, I know that Kendall Mint Cake is great, but I didn't expect people in the US to go naming stations after it. It was only after several trips through that I noticed it actually said Kendall Mit. Which seemed odd. Had some Germanic hangover lead to a place called Kendall-mit-Somewhere, in the same way we get placenames like Horton-cum-Studley ?
It was only quite late in my stay that I registered that it was actually KENDALL MIT. That's M.I.T. You know, the really famous university.
Incidentally - subways with flat-rate fares: a Good Thing.
Once Boojum had gone their separate ways, I was joined by ChrisC for a few days' sightseeing. It's slightly odd trying to plan an itinerary in a city which you know little about - ordinarily, you pick your holiday destinations out of a desire to visit the place, rather than as an accidental side effect of a rapper tour.
On Mrs![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
undyingking's advice, we walked along Boston's Freedom Trail. It's a sort of serve-yourself tour of all the most historic bits, and they've handily painted and paved a bloody big red line on the roads and sidewalks so there's no tedious following of directions to be done. I think it's meant to occupy a couple of hours, but if you persistently wander off it to peer and prod at things, and pop into museums and bars, it fills an entire day.
Since my American history is, er, non-existent, most of the stuff was new to me. I'm still no expert, but I do now know more about the Declaration of Independence than formerly. And I even know why they threw all that tea in the harbour. (Judging from the terrible stuff you get served in cafés, I think they're still dredging it out, too).
And what is it with memorials ? You can't move for the things in Boston. Memorials to individuals, to the dead of various wars, to people who did impressive things. Admittedly, I think most of them are Victorian-era, so perhaps they've got over it. The only modern one I saw was the rather odd Holocaust Memorial.
Six tall glass pillars are arranged in a line, each of them covered with one million numbers (so 6,000,000 in total, one for each of the Jews estimated to have died). Between the pillars are glass panels with quotations from people who survived the concentration camps, people who died there, and people who were involved in the liberation. At night the pillars are lit, and are an impressive sight.
I found one thing odd, though... there are grates below the columns, and as you walk across them, steam rises round your legs. It seems a strange echo of the gas chambers, and I was unsure whether it was a tactless mistake, or a deliberately jarring reminder. (Having looked at the memorial's website, it seems it's deliberate: "(The columns) are set on a black granite path, each one over a dark chamber which carries the name of one of the principal Nazi death camps. Smoke rises from charred embers at the bottom of these chambers.") So the steam represents smoke, not gas. While I don't want a Holocaust memorial to be "comfortable", something about that idea of smoke doesn't seem right to me, and I can't quite define why.)
Along some of the plinths which carried inscriptions detailing the events of the Holocaust were little rows of pebbles. They weren't fixed there, they just appeared to have been placed, haphazardly but tidily, by visitors. While I was looking at them, someone stopped to ask me the significance of all the little stones. I didn't know. I'd like to, though, so if anyone has any ideas, please share 'em.
Boston also wins the Most Impressive Library award, beating the Bodleian into a cocked hat. If you can gild it, paint a mural on it, or put twiddly stone curlicues on it, they did. They also beat the Bodleian because they let complete randoms just wander in off the streets, and have even put out some nice exhibitions of rare children's books, models, and paintings to keep them entertained. And they've got big stone lions. And big iron streetlights with pointy bits.
Boston's science museum was something I didn't really plan on visiting - although it's apparently a fine place, I'd rather see things peculiar to Boston when I have a perfectly good science museum a quick train ride away in London. However,grumblesmurf recommended passing by, if only to see their Almost-Perpetual Motion Machine in the foyer. Sadly, they've moved the A-PMM into the part of the museum you have to pay $20 for, and we hadn't allowed time for taking on the museum proper. However, in their foyer now is, among other things, a Foucault Pendulum.
The handy notes by the exhibit explained that the pendulum is set swinging, and, over the course of the day, changes the direction in which it swings. There were handy little metal pillars which the pendulum would knock down as it moved round. Thus, it said, we can see the Earth turns.
Jolly good, we said, after admiring the large, ornate pendulum and it's cheerful Aztec-style mosaic. Closely followed by "eh? Why does that show the Earth turns ?"
Some twenty minutes or so later, we were still standing there trying to actually fill in the blanks between step 1 (pendulum changes direction) and step 3 (therefore the Earth turns). I think I've nearly got it now, but have not yet reached the state of understanding where I could explain it to anyone else. If there's anyone with a handy one-line explanation, let's have it.
Boston is full of history. OK, so I live in a city which has eleventh century buildings, but for America Boston's doing pretty well.
To try and get an overview, once the dancing part was over and done with, most of Boojum packed themselves onto a DUCK (an ex-army amphibious vehicle which can both drive you along the roads and float you round the harbour) for a tour of the city. Our guide was entertaining and informative, but had the unfortunate habit of making stuff up if she thought it was funny. I guessed for example, that the memorial featuring a number of people on horseback, heads hanging in shame, probably wasn't really a statue erected in memory of the Kerry election committee (though, since I never found that statue again, I have no idea what it actually was). However, some jokes weren't so obvious to the tourist, and some days later I was still trying to disentangle the true bits from the bits I'd fallen for.
Early on in my interactions with Boston's Subway, I was slightly confused to see a station called Kendall Mint. I mean, I know that Kendall Mint Cake is great, but I didn't expect people in the US to go naming stations after it. It was only after several trips through that I noticed it actually said Kendall Mit. Which seemed odd. Had some Germanic hangover lead to a place called Kendall-mit-Somewhere, in the same way we get placenames like Horton-cum-Studley ?
It was only quite late in my stay that I registered that it was actually KENDALL MIT. That's M.I.T. You know, the really famous university.
Incidentally - subways with flat-rate fares: a Good Thing.
Once Boojum had gone their separate ways, I was joined by ChrisC for a few days' sightseeing. It's slightly odd trying to plan an itinerary in a city which you know little about - ordinarily, you pick your holiday destinations out of a desire to visit the place, rather than as an accidental side effect of a rapper tour.
On Mrs
undyingking's advice, we walked along Boston's Freedom Trail. It's a sort of serve-yourself tour of all the most historic bits, and they've handily painted and paved a bloody big red line on the roads and sidewalks so there's no tedious following of directions to be done. I think it's meant to occupy a couple of hours, but if you persistently wander off it to peer and prod at things, and pop into museums and bars, it fills an entire day. Since my American history is, er, non-existent, most of the stuff was new to me. I'm still no expert, but I do now know more about the Declaration of Independence than formerly. And I even know why they threw all that tea in the harbour. (Judging from the terrible stuff you get served in cafés, I think they're still dredging it out, too).
And what is it with memorials ? You can't move for the things in Boston. Memorials to individuals, to the dead of various wars, to people who did impressive things. Admittedly, I think most of them are Victorian-era, so perhaps they've got over it. The only modern one I saw was the rather odd Holocaust Memorial.
Six tall glass pillars are arranged in a line, each of them covered with one million numbers (so 6,000,000 in total, one for each of the Jews estimated to have died). Between the pillars are glass panels with quotations from people who survived the concentration camps, people who died there, and people who were involved in the liberation. At night the pillars are lit, and are an impressive sight.
I found one thing odd, though... there are grates below the columns, and as you walk across them, steam rises round your legs. It seems a strange echo of the gas chambers, and I was unsure whether it was a tactless mistake, or a deliberately jarring reminder. (Having looked at the memorial's website, it seems it's deliberate: "(The columns) are set on a black granite path, each one over a dark chamber which carries the name of one of the principal Nazi death camps. Smoke rises from charred embers at the bottom of these chambers.") So the steam represents smoke, not gas. While I don't want a Holocaust memorial to be "comfortable", something about that idea of smoke doesn't seem right to me, and I can't quite define why.)
Along some of the plinths which carried inscriptions detailing the events of the Holocaust were little rows of pebbles. They weren't fixed there, they just appeared to have been placed, haphazardly but tidily, by visitors. While I was looking at them, someone stopped to ask me the significance of all the little stones. I didn't know. I'd like to, though, so if anyone has any ideas, please share 'em.
Boston also wins the Most Impressive Library award, beating the Bodleian into a cocked hat. If you can gild it, paint a mural on it, or put twiddly stone curlicues on it, they did. They also beat the Bodleian because they let complete randoms just wander in off the streets, and have even put out some nice exhibitions of rare children's books, models, and paintings to keep them entertained. And they've got big stone lions. And big iron streetlights with pointy bits.
Boston's science museum was something I didn't really plan on visiting - although it's apparently a fine place, I'd rather see things peculiar to Boston when I have a perfectly good science museum a quick train ride away in London. However,
grumblesmurf recommended passing by, if only to see their Almost-Perpetual Motion Machine in the foyer. Sadly, they've moved the A-PMM into the part of the museum you have to pay $20 for, and we hadn't allowed time for taking on the museum proper. However, in their foyer now is, among other things, a Foucault Pendulum.The handy notes by the exhibit explained that the pendulum is set swinging, and, over the course of the day, changes the direction in which it swings. There were handy little metal pillars which the pendulum would knock down as it moved round. Thus, it said, we can see the Earth turns.
Jolly good, we said, after admiring the large, ornate pendulum and it's cheerful Aztec-style mosaic. Closely followed by "eh? Why does that show the Earth turns ?"
Some twenty minutes or so later, we were still standing there trying to actually fill in the blanks between step 1 (pendulum changes direction) and step 3 (therefore the Earth turns). I think I've nearly got it now, but have not yet reached the state of understanding where I could explain it to anyone else. If there's anyone with a handy one-line explanation, let's have it.
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It was a DUKW.
I think placing stones like that in memorial is a tradition. Like adding a stone to a cairn.
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What I still don't quite follow is why this still applies if you pendulum was initially swinging east-west.
It was a DUKW.
Well, yes, it was, but these were very definitely labelled DUCKs :)
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It wouldn't apparently rotate on the equator. At a pole it would rotate fully once a day. In between you get something between these. The motion of the pendulum isn't actually parallel to the way the ground's moving because it's at a slant halfway up a sphere.
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Actually I'd love to watch Aardman Animations do "The DaVinci Cod". That would rock.
Not sure Foucault's Pendulum would work as a movie. Too much of the book's all about clever language and beautiful writing. The actual core story is mostly just odd.
Had some Germanic hangover lead to a place called Kendall-mit-Somewhere, in the same way we get placenames like Horton-cum-Studley ?
A combination of reading "hangover" in the alcoholic sense and not initially realising you meant "led" made that sentence shockingly difficult to parse. The range of potential meanings seemed quite entertaining, though.
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Bother, do I still get that one wrong ?
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