They call it Boston, because it's big

Well, we arrived in Boston yesterday. On the way to the plane, I glimpsed a random celebrity. In fact, I was checking in my luggage and going through security right next to her. I was trying to get B* to look at her, by widening my eyes and gesturing with my head. Finally I had to whisper about her to him, but he still didn't believe me.

I was standing next to a woman about my height, with red hair in a pony tail. She was wearing a black sweatshirt, black jeans, white converse and had chipped black nail polish on. I recognized her from her wide set blue-green eyes. B* didn't believe me, so I approached her and asked her if she was Shirley Manson. She said that she was, and I told her I enjoyed her work. She thanked me, and we went on our separate ways. She has quite a thick Scottish accent.

Our flight was uneventful, except for the really bad sweet rice that I had, and the fact that we got to watch "Mr. and Mrs. Smith", which sucked as much as I expected it to.

We travelled into the city and arrived at Harvard, which made me think of [Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com] and Good Will Hunting. Then B*'s friend picked us up and we spent the night at his place. I love the New England architecture and the brick streets, but find it really muggy here. The weather was much nicer today.

Second day in Boston...

We moved to our hotel at MIT. The hotel at MIT is gorgeous, but was designed with the geek in mind. Patents hang behind the lobby at the check in counter, the elevators have cool blue lighting and carpets with atoms on them, and the bedspreads have chemical equations on them. The aesthetic is very masculine and spartan, but classic. We explored the campus at MIT and sampled some free stuff available to local freshmen including a really disgusting energy drink called "Rock Star."

After this, we went for a walk and walked over to Boston Common where we saw the frog pond and various statues, some of which were quite amusing.I was disturbed by a statue of two naked boys on top of each other. When a kid defecated, or peed in the frog pond, the lifeguard loudly declared the room "contaminated", and ordered everyone out while she cleaned it. We wandered through Downtown Crossing and through Quincy's Market. People in Boston definitely love the Red Sox, because every fifth person we saw was wearing a Sox t-shirt.

We stopped at the Boston Public Library, which was pretty interesting. They had a display of local authors and I discovered that I have read books by Bostonians Anita Desai, Andre Dubus, Robert McCloskey and Dennis Lehane.

We then wandered over to Haymarket, spotting on the way for a pretzel and some fried dough. I'm not sure what to make of this fried dough. In Canada, it's called an elephant ear or a beaver tail. Very strange. I

Other observations- I love the old architecture of the city. It's a bit of shock coming from Vancouver, which is such a young city. I was also shocked by the T, which seems noisy, smelly and old compared to the pristine and compact Sky Train. I was also surprised because there seem to be actual people driving on them and announcing the stops, rather than an automated message. There are a lot of tall buildings in the downtown district here, just as there are in Toronto and Montreal. I don't think there is anything similar in Vancouver. It definitely cuts off the light in the downtown and gives a bit of an ominous feel. However, there are fewer street people, and public space seems to be a priority in Cambridge, as there are tons of benches and places for people to sit and hang out.