Quest into the north-east USA

[Seat0B]

Yes I thought I was late to the party on this TR @Drakecula, but turns out I've timed it just right. Sorry that your trip is starting with a delay and re-route, but I'm sure it will all be worth it when you are enjoying the beautiful north east of the US.

 

[VPS]

Good luck - that is not a good start to the trip but hopefully things will get better

 

[Drakecula]

Despite it not being my choice to stay here, I figure I'll give a mini review of the Ibis near SYD airport.

The check in staff were friendly and efficient, a plus in having to deal with a gaggle of tired, grumpy and stressed travellers.

The room is small, but it's fine. The bathroom is one of those enclosed closet types.

We were given some food allowance, which covered lunch, but the chef didn't arrive til 4 so had a very late lunch. The staff member taking food orders was lovely and did her best to calm the kitchen staff who were freaking out at the hungry horde. Twas a bit chaotic when food was coming out, but it was tasty.
Dinner a few hours later was a bit more calm.

The hallway shows wear and tear, there's some damp, musty smells, but overall it's fine for what it is. We were booked in Y after all. I guess J might get you nicer digs in this scenario?

And United did well to manage the situation. Clear guidance on what to do, arranged the hotel, food allowance and a shuttle to the hotel. I was also able to call up and get on an earlier flight than what we were initially re-booked on.

Compared to our cancellation in Mexico City with Air Canada on our 2019 trip, it was handled far better.

 

[antycbr]

No but they fly to IAH (Houston) daily which is a major hub for them.

So ask about LAX and IAH (or if they can put you on a Air NZ flight), noting they also fly AKL to IAH so they could put you on Air NZ to AKL and then IAH flight form there if the times align.

As an aside SYD-IAH is seasonal, last flight was on 29 March until the Northern Winter season starts.

 

[Drakecula]

We're here! We left the SYD hotel at 6am local and reached the Providence hotel at 8pm local. I'm not sure how many hours that is in travel time, but I'm glad it's over now.

Thankfully our SYD-LAX flight went smoothly, and we got through customs, collected bags/dropped bags, walked forever to the next terminal, back through security and straight onto our connecting LAX-BOS flight.

We were flying Y and were right up the back of a very full flight (no doubt others got re-booked on this one too). Lunch was chicken and rice, we got a chicken roll snack (I devoured it so no pic) and eggs and sausage for breakfast with some kind of coconut muesli.





Now, I was a bit miffed that for the nearly 6 hour flight from LAX-BOS all we got was a small snack (I got a stroopwafel, MrD the pretzels). There were options to buy, but would've been nice to get a larger complimentary snack at least.

Then from BOS to South Station to get the train to Providence. Of course the train was delayed too, but it worked in our favour this time. I think we might have had to wait an hour for the next as it was cutting it close.

We're staying at the Omni Hotel which is a short walk from the Providence station and is conveniently attached to the convention center. Nice room too!

 

[Drakecula]

Today we visited the Rhode Island State House which is much like one of our state parliament buildings, a working building with politicians in residence. It's got the 4th largest self supported marble dome in the world. Pretty impressive for sure.

The State Library is also housed in this building!

It was free to enter and once through security we were able to wander. There was a free audio guide, or an actual tour from 10am, plus they had a brochure that pointed out key features/rooms.

 

[Drakecula]

Afterwards we wandered along Benefit St, checking out old houses, then down to Brown University to have a sticky beak. We found the oldest Baptist Church in the US as we went. Also found a house that apparently H P Lovecraft lived in at some point.

Love the style of the old houses. I'm not sure what the feature is called, but the round tower bits on some houses are so cool (at least to me). I always imagine having a good comfy chair in the middle, with a good book and able to look out all the windows. Sounds wonderful to me.

 

[RooFlyer]

I'm not sure what the feature is called, but the round tower bits on some houses are so cool

You mean this?



I'd call it a turret, with some French chateau pretentiousness!

Love the house pics and the upwards shot of the parlt building, in particular.

 

[Drakecula]

Love the house pics and the upwards shot of the parlt building, in particular.

I took the photo and thought of you and your church photos!

I also think turret, but wasn't sure if there's a specific term for them on houses, as opposed to castles.

 

[RooFlyer]

I'll ask an expert here.

 

[Drakecula]

Stayed close by the hotel today but still wandered a bit of Providence downtown. Some cool old buildings here, like City Hall, and the Providence Public Library. Of course I went in and they've got a newer wing while the older building (built 1900) seemed empty.

I somehow made it from the newer side (where you enter) to the older side. Amazing inside, but eerily empty. I didn't see anyone else, made me feel like I was trespassing.

 

[Drakecula]

Tomorrow I'm off to Boston. Feels weird to leave MrD and head to the next state, but I guess it's a little bit like going to Goulburn from Canberra...

I was going to go today, but apparently there's a flat rate of $10 unlimited travel on the commuter rail for the weekend. As a one way trip from Providence to Boston is $12.25 it made sense to go tomorrow (Saturday) instead. According to the MBTA website you can buy this through the mTicket app, so I'm about to give that a go.

 

[Drakecula]

mTicket app was easy, provides a QR code to present to the ticket checker on the train to scan. Yes, I made it to drizzly Boston. I am having a put stop to sample the teas that were hurled into the sea at Boston Harbour.

The Boston Tea Party Museum was fun. They present the information via staff dressed in period costume acting as some of the people of that era. We even got to throw some East India crates into the sea from a ship.

They have a tea room with the five teas that were part of the cargo. 4/5 were good, the 5th being a smoky tea not to my taste. I hope they have a gift shop where you can buy some tea, as the third tea was my favourite.

 

[NSun]

Jumping on board for this one. I'm in the US at the moment myself - in New York for a few days - and have been considering day tripping up to Boston since booking the trip. This just might be the nudge I need.

 

[Drakecula]

Jumping on board for this one. I'm in the US at the moment myself - in New York for a few days - and have been considering day tripping up to Boston since booking the trip. This just might be the nudge I need.

We're off to New York on Monday

After I finish my tea, I'm off to visit Harvard. There's an app you can get for a self guided tour, so I'll soon find out if it's good or not!

 

[Drakecula]

Quick update before I forget and before I go to bed (long day!).

The weekend pass is just for the commuter rail, not the Boston subway lines. But a one way fare on the subway is just $2.40 and you can buy them from the vending machines at stations. Alternatively, you can get a rechargeable Charlie ticket (like Opal or Myki). There may also be an app, but I just got the printed out tickets.

Proper update tomorrow, need sleep!

 

[Drakecula]

After tea throwing and sampling, I navigated the subway over to Harvard. The student led tours had all been booked out, so I settled for the self guided tour they provide via a free app. This was pretty good actually, it had information about key buildings/sites and some old photos to compare old with new. I was able to navigate easily.

One building not on the tour was the Harvard National History Museum, so I had a detour over there to check it out. I'd heard it had a magnificent collection of glass flowers. It was $15 entry and well worth it. The glass flowers were amazing! I couldn't believe they were glass. So intricately detailed!
Some more info here: Glass Flowers: The Ware Collection of Blaschka Glass Models of Plants | Harvard Museum of Natural History

There was also exhibits of rocks and crystals, skeletons, stuffed animals from around the world, fossils and dinosaurs... So much fascinating stuff. I could have spent longer, but I only had a day so had to move quickly.

I got back on my app tour to finish off my Harvard visit. Sadly two buildings I wanted to enter, the Memorial Hall and Widener Library, required Harvard IDs. I believe Widener Library has a virtual tour on their website so I'll check that out when I get home. My Harvard tour app said it's the largest library that has browseable open stacks.

After wrapping up at Harvard, I hopped the Subway back to Boston Common. There was a group of ladies dressed up as American icons/founding fathers on my carriage. Bachelorette party. They looked very hot (one of them was in a bald eagle suit) in the humid weather, but they seemed to be having fun.

At Boston Common I just wandered through the park where there was some kind of Indian/Hare Krishna event going on. Lots of people milling around and lovely smelling food smells.

I then made my way back to the train station to get to Providence, but realising I had nearly an hour (I clearly didn't time it right) I took the opportunity to visit the Boston Public Library as it was nearby, and got an afternoon tea of a slice of Boston creme pie at a cafe also right by the station.

I wish I had more time to explore Boston. It was a lovely city to walk around and lots to see. But I'm glad I managed a day trip at least.

 

[Drakecula]

Oh @RooFlyer, thought this place might interest you...

 

[RooFlyer]

Oh @RooFlyer, thought this place might interest you...
View attachment 454056

Noice, thanks! They squeeze rocks. That was my Prof's speciality when I was an undergrad