Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Category: United States

  • Philadelphia – One Liberty Observation Deck

    Included in the Philadelphia Pass is an observation deck at One Liberty Place. The observation deck, located on the 57th floor at 883 feet high, opened in 2016 after renovations were made to the space. The deck is entirely enclosed and was much quieter than I had anticipated, given how busy other tourist sites were in the city.

    Some feet at the base of the tower.

    The feet make more sense after getting to the top, it’s Benjamin Franklin. He apparently has size 96 feet….. My pass allowed me to go up to the top of the tower twice over two days, but I only went up once, although if I didn’t need to get a bus back I’d have liked to have gone up in the evening as well to get a different perspective of the city.

    And some views from the top…..

  • Philadelphia – PATCO (Follow Me)

    PATCO Speedline is the rail line which connects Philadelphia with New Jersey, more of which I’ll get round to writing about at some random point in the future. I’ve had problems with uploading photos due to sluggish wi-fi, so I’m already getting hopelessly behind writing about what I wanted to.

    Anyway, today I used the Speedline (what a wonderful name for a rail service) for the final time on this trip to get back into the centre of Philadelphia, as I’d been staying in New Jersey for reasons of accommodation affordability. I used my paper ticket to get through the barriers, as with other trips, and the bloody thing didn’t work. My faffing about and trying it in different machines meant that time had passed and every other passenger had gone through and I was stuck the wrong side of the barrier with no staff members visible.

    Just as I thought I might have to live at the station for ever (OK, so an exaggeration, but until the next train at least) a man came slowly up the stairs. He saw me looking irritated at the machine and he called over “you’re not from Philadelphia are you?”. He explained that he had seen me not follow another passenger through when they went through the barriers.

    He said:

    “There’s a saying here, you follow me, I follow you.”

    I assumed that he meant he’d follow me if he ever got trapped in the same way, rather than he was threatening to follow me once he’d got me out. So we both went through on his ticket and he welcomed me to Philadelphia (a lot of people have done that). And he didn’t follow me. Marvellous.

  • Philadelphia – Independence Hall (the Queue)

    A visit to Independence Hall is free of charge, but to get in it’s necessary to book a ticket on-line (with limited times available if booking close to the day) and pay a small booking fee or just turn up at the visitor centre at 08.30. I had arrived into Philadelphia early, so thought I’d go along at 08.10 to just wait in the queue. I was surprised it was this long at that stage, but by the time it was 08.30 there must have been 150 people in the queue. I liked that one of the rangers came down the queue offering maps and asking if we had any questions.

    Apparently tickets for the day are sometimes gone by 10 in the morning, although it’s usually sold out by around 11, and even then the tickets would only be available for the later tours. I just missed out on the 09.00 tour, but got a ticket for the 09.20 tour.

    The moral of the story really is to either get up really early or be organised and book on-line and pay the $1 free. For anyone who does want to wait in the queue, there is free wi-fi available which helped pass the time nicely.

  • Philadelphia – Independence Hall (Irrelevant Story)

    My posting the photo from Independence Hall made me remember another little incident from my visit (which I will get round to writing up properly). At the end of the second tour a rather loud Spaniard applauded the tour guide with a huge degree of enthusiasm. It didn’t feel like an applause moment, especially since the tour guide before hadn’t received one.

    I was standing next to this enthusiastic man and he prodded me. Being British, this greatly offended me so I stared at him, which again is my British way of showing my intense anger at him. Not that he got that hint, he said “come on, applaud”. Now, not only I was not applauding, nor was anyone else, so I wasn’t being out of place here. Applause moments should naturally be apparent in life.

    Verging on being livid at this uncouth behaviour in the home of American democracy I ignored him. This strategy failed so he asked me “why aren’t you applauding?”. I replied, quite grumpily, “I’m British, we don’t like creating a drama”. Now, saying this in Independence House was a bit ridiculous, as the British have created dramas all around the world for centuries and no more so than when the country ran the colonies.

    Anyway, my response got a round of applause from three people nearby, although I wasn’t trying to be humorous, I was trying to articulate my nation’s values. The Spanish man walked off and complained at some confused group of Americans that they should have applauded. I was then slightly irritated that I had a round of applause, as that was the outcome that I had been trying to avoid at the beginning. Oh, when I said confused group of Americans, I mean they were confused by him, they seemed perfectly sensible and clever people otherwise.

    I don’t know why I started on this story, I think it’s because I’m still irritated at being told to applaud.

  • Philadelphia – Independence Hall

    I didn’t really want this photo taken as I was quite happy with just taking pictures of Independence Hall (more on which in another post since it’s one of the most important historic locations in the United States and also a UNESCO World Heritage Site). Anyway, a lady said I’d like a reminder of my visit, which wasn’t particularly true as I don’t need to be in the photo to remember it.

    However, she was quite forthright, so I let her have my camera. Since there were three police officers standing near to her, I guessed that she wouldn’t steal it. She also didn’t look very agile, so it would have been a clumsy street robbery if I’m being honest. Not really wanting to be in the photo I walked as far away as possible, which seemed to slightly frustrate her and she said “you’re hardly in it”. That was obviously my plan, but I replied “oh dear” to make her feel better and I shuffled three inches forwards.

    So, here’s a photo of me. And Independence Hall.

  • Megabus (Boston to Philadelphia)

    That $1 advertised offer written all this bus, that’s what I paid, a bargain. Irritatingly, in the UK Megabus aren’t allowed to advertise their £1 fare because the advertising authority said it was misleading, even though they offer £1 fares. Madness. Anyway, that’s a different matter and I’m pleased I didn’t mention Brexit given that I’m writing about things written on buses.

    I decided to go from Boston to Philadelphia by Megabus not just because of that price, although that was a helpful factor. I like Megabus, they’re efficient and everything makes sense to me.

    Flixbus would have been shocked and appalled at the service offered by Megabus, as the bus was advertised as going from gate 25 in the bus station, it was signed as going from gate 25 in the bus station, there was a staff member reassuring people they were in the right place and the bus left from gate 25 in the bus station. Flixbus would have proudly left from some random stop perhaps vaguely in the same approximate area as where they said they would. Anyway, enough of my dislike of Flixbus.

    I said that I paid $1, but this is actually a lie, I accidentally booked seat 8 which cost me an extra $1. The reason for this is that the web-site was struggling when I booked it (mainly because they release all the $1 fares at the same time) and I remember just trying to get the ticket booked. This meant that I was near to the front of the bus though, which was about 80% occupied.

    There are two sets of steps, I was seated by the front set. The journey was uneventful, other than when the driver got lost for 45 minutes. She admitted she was lost and got a Megabus supervisor to get her back on track, but she otherwise did a great job and got us to Philadelphia just a little earlier than advertised.

    A lady near to me had booked three seats, but her son wanted to sit at the front. I liked this, as he was meant to be in seat seven next to me, and I thought that was a marvellous idea to send him somewhere else. So that was a win-win, although the guy who had paid to sit at the front seemed less pleased that he had a new seat companion. The seat next to me stayed free all the journey, so I was very pleased with the lady’s actions.

    And, one more story. When I was already boarded an initially pleasant woman wanted to pay cash to get the bus. However, Megabus don’t work like that, so the driver told her to book on-line. With two minutes until the bus left, this added some extra excitement into the arrangements, so half of the bus was really getting into this drama. I think I speak for the bus that we were disappointed when she got off and didn’t try and book as she said her phone didn’t work.

    We weren’t disappointed with how this drama progressed though, as she found someone with a phone in the terminal who would book her ticket using his card and she would pay him cash. The excitement was mounting now, the driver helpfully telling them that she would give this one go as she wanted to leave. The man agrees to give it one chance and tries to book the ticket. Anyway, he couldn’t as the bus had technically already left so the Megabus website wouldn’t let him book it.

    The woman made a final plea to give the driver cash as she needed to get the bus desperately. Not so desperately she didn’t book it before like everyone else, but I don’t judge. Well, I do, as did the woman opposite who was very excited by this late night turn of events. The outcome of this story is that the driver told the customer (not really a customer I suppose though) to get off the bus, so the customer swore and got off.

    And with that, the night bus was ready to go, about a 7 hour journey. I did get sleep, although there was a mid-way stop at a 24-hour McDonald’s. I didn’t get off, but I rather regretted that, as the woman with two kids bought half the restaurant and then promptly made me hungry with her bags of food. So, I went back to sleep in a mood.

    Also, I woke up to see the New York skyline, which I hadn’t expected as I didn’t think the bus would go that way, as it only had one stop at Syracuse before Philadelphia. It was beautiful to see the Freedom Tower at night, quite inspirational.

    As for whether I’d book Megabus in the US again, absolutely I would.

  • Quincy – Hancock Cemetery (William Tompson)

    This is the earliest headstone in the Hancock Cemetery, dating back to 1666. William Tompson was a puritan and was also the first Minister in Quincy, apparently known for his “intellect and zeal”. Tompson was born in 1597 in Lancashire, England, and was educated at Oxford University. He came to New England in 1636 and was the Minister in Quincy from September 1639 until his death in 1666.

    Tompson’s son, Benjamin Tompson, is known as the first American poet and he was born in Braintree (which was later divided into two areas, one of which is Quincy) in July 1642 and he was educated at Harvard College. He died in April 1714 at the age of 71 and is buried in Roxbury, just to the south of Boston.

  • Quincy – Hancock Cemetery

    Hancock Cemetery is located in the centre of Quincy and the first burial here was in around 1640. The former Presidents John Adams and John Quincy Adams were also buried here, although they were later moved over the road to the United First Parish Church.

     

    Some photos of the cemetery, which is in a good state of repair. There were little markers on many of the graves which indicated if the person had died in the revolutionary wars and I took several photos of what I considered to be interesting graves (which I’ll post about separately in due course).

    Many of the burials here were of Puritans and they often didn’t want grave markers, so there are many more people buried here than it might appear from the number of gravestones. The cemetery remained in use until 1854 when Mount Wollaston cemetery was opened.

  • Quincy – United First Parish Church

    This is the fourth church to have been built either on this site or nearby, with this building dating to 1828. I was fortunate that it has only just re-opened this week, so I was able to get a guided tour of the church.

    The interior of the church with everything being mostly original, including the pews, although the organ dates to the early twentieth century. The church uses granite donated by John Adams and it was designed in the Greek revival style.

    Visitors to the church are allowed to sit in the Adams Pew. There were two of us on the tour and the other person didn’t want to sit in the pew. But I did. So I did.

    There’s a little plaque marking that this was the pew used by the Adams.

    Interesting pulpit arrangement.

    A model of the earlier building. The lump of the wood in the corner is important as it’s an original part of the church in the model, it’s one of the supports in the tower.

    This weather vane is from the second church and it was moved to the third church. Someone pinched it, but it was reclaimed, although not before it had been used as target practice.

    However, it is in the crypt that the pride of the church is held, it’s the body of the second President of the United States and the first Vice-President of the United States, John Adams.

    As if having the remains of one President isn’t enough, the church has two. The other is John Quincy Adams, the sixth President of the United States. There’s only one other President who is buried in a church, which is Woodrow Wilson who has been laid to rest in Washington National Cathedral.

    There’s an optional charge for the tour of $5, which I paid as I thought that it was all just fascinating. The tour lasted for around 35 minutes and the crypt was kept until the end, and was a highlight. There’s another quirk of history, as both John Adams and Thomas Jefferson (the third President of the United States) died on 4 July 1826, exactly 50 years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

  • British Airways (Heathrow T5 to Boston)

    The British Airways 747-400 service from Heathrow T5 (B Gates) to Boston Logan Airport. It had 22 crew and is aircraft G-CIVE, which has been operating for the airline since 1994. The boarding was well managed, with a staff member guarding access to the desks and checking that customers boarded in the correct group.

    I did hear a few customers complaining that they weren’t allowed to board whenever they wanted, but if someone has Group 5 on their ticket and they’re calling Group 1 only, it shouldn’t come as a complete surprise to them. The person behind me was also extremely displeased at the queue of customers who needed priority boarding for whatever reason. I heard a “he doesn’t look ill” and “that one definitely isn’t ill, he must know the pilot” with lots of tuts.

    My seat was 40D, which is a bulkhead aisle seat, and there was also no-one next to me, so the whole arrangement was spacious and comfortable.

    The first drinks service, which was my only alcoholic drink of the flight (and indeed day) which was a gin and tonic. British Airways have done away with Tribute ale and instead have the slightly ridiculous products of Heineken and Tiger. Ridiculous given that BA is British and quite why it isn’t serving anything British is a mystery to me. The lady in the row behind asked for Tribute and rejected the other beer options, and quite right too.

    The other drink was a sparkling water, and a water which the crew member accidentally poured. Best to stay hydrated though.

    I think it’s fair to say that British Airways don’t serve the most beautifully presented food in World Traveller. One half of the cabin was advertising the choice as “chicken chasseur or pasta with a pesto sauce?”, the other was offering “chicken or pasta?”. I’m not sure that this really is chicken chasseur in any traditional sense, but it tasted much better than it looked. The chicken was tender, the sauce had a decent flavour and the vegetables retained just the slightest of bites.

    As for the rest, the posset actually contained lemon and was satisfactorily sharp, the cheddar cheese was excellent and the starter was tolerable. The roll was soft and the two portions of butter were, well, butter and not margarine. For the cabin, I thought that this was a perfectly good meal.

    The mid-flight ice cream.

    The second meal was basic, but this is an east coast flight, and this is better than it was for a while on British Airways when Cruz’s first cuts came in. The seeded roll had some tender chicken in as well as some tomatoes, which I wouldn’t have guessed were slow roasted. That might be over selling just a little. The chocolate bar was, well, chocolatey.

    The in-flight entertainment system, which now has the seat number handily showing on the front of the screen. Saves looking up I suppose.

    This was a highlight, a film that I had wanted to see last year. Free Solo is the incredible documentary of when the free climber Alex Honnold ascended El Capitan. He did this climb up what looks to me like a sheer rock face and it’s 3,000 feet high. He did this without any ropes, so if he made a single mistake during his 3 hour and 56 minute climb then he would have died. Brave isn’t the word for it….. On reflection, if he had made a mistake in the first few minutes, he wouldn’t have died as he wouldn’t have fallen very far. But the rest was very dangerous indeed.

    A mid-flight view.

    One important thing to note about this flight is that it cost £128 for a single trip (which includes the positioning flight from Newcastle), plus I received back around £5 back in Avios. Taking into account it cost BA £78 in air passenger duty, it cost £56 in Heathrow charges and about £26 in US airport arrival charges. They then had to cover the costs for my lounge access at Heathrow T5. It doesn’t take a Labour Shadow Home Secretary to work out that this is more than the ticket cost I paid……

    Taking into account the cost of the ticket, this flight was IMO excellent value for money. The flight arrived on time, the crew were helpful, the seat was comfortable and everything on board worked as it should. All very lovely.