The Hub

Toronto may be the centre of universe for some, but to others, the hub of the universe is Boston. This Christmas, the Wongs decided to embark in another family trip, minus one :(.

Boston has never appealed to me as a travel destination, but the view from the airplane window sure gave a warm welcome: the beach shores with the many lighthouses surrounding the area. And after visiting it in the winter, I can imagine how much more alive it may be come time for the flowers to bloom in the Public Garden and the music and festivities at Faneuil Hall Marketplace/Quincy Market. Boston is like a ghost town on Christmas day (and even Christmas eve) but at least parking is easier to find then!

What I knew about Boston prior to visiting:

• Boston Tea Party (ironically, the Boston Tea Party museum is under renovations during our visit)
• Clam chowder
• Lobsters

Sure enough, we had our fill of clam chowder and lobsters (including the lobster bisque). While not everyone agreed on the meal choices, we all enjoyed a hearty and filling Chinese meal at East Ocean City including lobsters with ginger and scallions – at a great deal too. I must say that I haven’t had that much fresh seafood in a very long time; one can certainly tell the difference. I was certainly surprised to find that a Western restaurant (Summer Shack) served three spiced-steamed 1lb Jonas crabs for $18; I hadn’t ever seen a non-Asian restaurant serve a crab whole like that. The waitress had told us that most people just eat the claws, but we enjoyed every morsel (the Chinese way!). If most people only eat the claws only, it’s no wonder they give 3 crabs; I struggled through one and with the help of the others, we finished it all (though they were waiting for me to finish). Our very last meal in Boston was at Legal C Bar at Logan airport. This branch of Legal Sea Foods gave us priority access through security and boarding – what a great perk; we skipped the lines!

Sushi in the Boston area seemed very much fresher than anything I’ve had in recent Ontario memory, but that could just be because I’m used to the AYCE variety around here.

“The British are coming!” And, how could I have forgotten that Paul Revere is part of the history of Boston? Of course my historical knowledge around American history is through the Adventures in Odyssey perspective (including Paul Revere and John Hancock) and any other historical sites I’ve visited in the US, the most impressionable being USS Arizona (Pearl Harbor) in Honolulu [which yes, Adventures in Odyssey has an episode about that as well]. We visited many museums, all very different in flavour: MIT focused on robotics and technology, while Harvard Natural Museum of History displayed many different species of life, and the USS Constitution Museum told the story of Old Ironsides, an old warship that is still commissioned in the Navy. We did miss a tour of USS Cassin Young, a WWII destroyer that was in repair, but we were fortunate to catch a park ranger passing by (looked like the end of her shift) and she happily answered our questions and explained that the ship was named in honour of the captain who was at the USS Arizona/Pearl Harbor.

Here are some trivia tidbits from our travel book (titled Fun with the family Massachusetts):

• the admission fee for the USS Constitution Museum is currently underwritten by an anonymous donor
• The ducks in the Boston Public Gardens is from Fly Away Ducklings and are ordered alphabetically: Jack, Kack, Lack, Mack, Nack, Ouack, Pack, Quack
• The beacon of light on top of the old Hancock building signals the weather – we saw solid blue (clear view) and flashing blue (clouds are due)

The purpose of this trip was really to visit a Wong relative’s place in Glastonbury, Connecticut and Boston was just a side trip. Thankfully, we narrowly escaped the winter storm thus cutting our plans to NYC. I too had the opportunity to see a relative: my dad’s cousin’s daughter and her parents after not seeing them for 17.5 years! My siblings and I met them at our grandparents the year the kids went to Hong Kong sans parents and we had written every so often since then. What really amused me was that she remembers the daily dimsum trips we had with our grandparents (ordering the same foods too!) and her family was there for less than 2 weeks (we were there for 2 months). Later in the evening, when we dropped her off, her father showed a video of her grandmother, the sister of my paternal grandmother and I immediately saw the resemblance. I didn’t get the impression that the devout Christians from my paternal grandparents came from my grandmother’s side of the family. Anyway, it was great to see them and to be able to connect some family history together!