Lester Mak

It was the last of my four weekends in New England, and my hub and spoke tour of the region, it was finally the long overdue trip to Cape Cod. Here’s a brief overview of the outing…

* Jamie *
The train ride out of South Station wasn’t extraordinary. Annie and I had made the train as expected and chugged along the commuter rail out to Kingston. A couple of quick games of Chess later (Annie’s new past time), a win for me and a polite concession to her, we made it to the station in the middle of nowhere.

Or so we were told. But that wasn’t a problem. Annie had met a local resident, Jamie, a few months ago on the Cape, and she had kindly let us stay with her on this trip. Jamie grew up on the Cape as a child, but had spent 40 years teaching first graders in various parts of the world including Fiji, the West Indies, but mostly in Hartford in Conneticut. Now retired to the Cape again, she had plenty of stories to tell over the years, which provided much interest for Annie and me over the weekend.

Jamie now lives in Sandwich, a smallish town just on the Cape and would be our base camp for the two days ahead.

* Beaches and P-town *

Cape Cod has some very beautiful beaches and we visited a few on the east coast of the Cape. A national park designated by John F Kennedy, the arm of the Cape is effectively a series of sand dunes, and therefore is a very fragile landscape. It amazed me how much conservation goes on, and looking around, there is a lot of green foliage, much of it is clearly artificially planted (plants that would not have grown in that environment) to prevent the dunes simply blowing away.

It was also quite poignant for me that we went to Marconi Beach. Slightly away from the beach, Guglielmo Marconi had planned to receive the first wireless message from across the Atlantic to Cornwall, UK to this point. However, he decided to receive the signal in Newfoundland instead, but Cape Cod still has the communication station he built and named the beach after him

The Cape has a series of beaches running on the east coast up towards Provincetown. Probably the gay capital of the US, Provincetown is eclectic, vibrant and fun-loving. Very much touristy (much like the rest of the cape), theatre, music and performing artists do their best to draw you to their stages and artists try their best to get you to bring your eyes into their galleries (and your wallets too, of course).

But whilst this wouldn’t really be the best town for your kids, it is a playground for the grown-ups. Cosmopolitan in it’s very nature – flags for dozens of nations fly on the buildings, not to mention many rainbow flags – it is welcoming for everyone and it simply feels like a town that knows how to enjoy itself without over-exertion.

* Martha’s Vineyard *
There is a little island to the south-west of the Cape called Martha’s Vineyard (or MV). Arriving in Oak Bluffs, on the north-east shore, it’s reknowned for its historic gingerbread houses. The houses orginiate to a camp that was built every summer for teaching Christianity, but eventually instead of building tents every year, houses did the job instead. Each of the houses are uniquely and elaborately decorated, with current owners having the obligation to maintain their appearance. Ultimately, this means that the houses make up an idyllic model village, only they’re real size and people live in them.

Edgartown, on the east coast, is MV’s Capital. Whilst I have to admit that there isn’t that much else to see there than the norm, several America’s Cup boats had sailed into port and were taking part in some races. I have to admit, sailing is beginning to grab more of an interest for me and maybe I might take it up one day!

* Sunset Sandwich *

Before the final departure from the Cape, one last chance to see a sunset in Sandwich. A trip to the Boardwalk, a bridge on salt marshes in Sandwich harbour, and a couple of photos later, I had the photos of my trip.

A quick dinner and a rush to Kingston to catch the last train, it had turned out to be a beautiful weekend.

Links:
http://www.capecod.com/

Photos will appear in due course

Tagged: Friends, Places

It’s a long way to Niagara Falls and back to Boston, you know. A map told me it was around 462 miles to Buffalo, the nearest city to the Falls that’s still on the US side. But we thought we’d try to go anyway. So on a Friday afternoon (thanks to L.E.K.’s summer hours in the US), Annie, Elaine (a friend of Annie’s) and I set off on the long drive ahead to Buffalo…

* OFF TO SEE A BUFFALO *

Now I’ve never driven on the right had side of the road. Nor had I driven a car larger than a small hatchback, but this time, I had the chance to drive a beige Chevvie across two US states. Tricky at first (I couldn’t really feel how fast the car was accelerating and more worrying, how fast it was under braking), I managed to drive down to Buffalo without too many mishaps. Except we got lost on the way in Albany. Twice.

After some extra speed (I admit, I did surpass expectations, if you know what I mean…), we did make it into Buffalo, or rather its suburbs late, at night. An early morning rise come about as we seek what we came a long long way for.

* NIAGARA FALLS *

The falls are one of the most amazing sights one would ever see. Sitting on the River Niagara and straddling between US and Canada, the falls are actuually two. The American Falls are more of a traditional straight edge waterfall, whilst the Horseshoe Falls are as the name suggests and curved. Due to the shape of the falls (which are probably around 240 degrees around a circle, the water falls down and a mass of mist arises from the pool below, to a height probably around 20 feet above the top of the falls.

A series of boats (The Maid of The Mist) go down to the base of each of the falls, taking tourists and soaking them. But if that wasn’t enough wetting, the Cave of the Winds allows you to travel by elevator to the base of the American Falls. Four platforms can be climbed, the third of which is called The Hurricane and an apt name it is too. You get totally drenched!

The American Falls are a fantastic sight at night, but the Horseshoe Falls are more of a disappointment, mainly because the mist obscures much of what you can see of the falls.

* WHERE HAVE ALL THE BUFFALOS GONE? *

In the middle of our day and night visits to the Falls, we decided to go into Buffalo for some Buffalo wings, of course. Having made it into Buffalo, though, it was very much a ghost town. Barely a soul was in sight, no shops were open, and we had to travel a little further uptown to find a bar serving the said wings.

But it was amazing that the town could be so empty. Where do all the kids and teenagers go? One person suggested we go to the Galleria Mall close to our hotel, which we did, but still not many people were there? So what do Buffalos do on a weekend?

* ANNIE’S WEDDING LOCATION *

Annie’s found her wedding location. Our journey back from Buffalo was a more relaxed affair. Taking a detour from the I-90 highway, we decided to take US route 20 to visit the Finger Lakes. Our first stop was at Canandaigua, a little town on the edge of the lake of the same name. A beautiful lakeshore greets you with gazebo that reaches out into the water. Now Annie has picked a place, all she has to do is get married!

The rest of our journey took us through the Finger Lakes region and a few extra sights to see. It was a very good trip and the 1,050 miles were worth it. Not a bad weekend at all!

Tagged: Friends, Places

It’s the end of my first working day in Boston, and it feels very different to what things were like in London. My commute is 5 minutes instead of 50, I have a view to die for from the 16th floor of a skyscraper, and I have Quincy Market, one of my most favourite places in the world at my doorstep…

It’s been great so far. A chance to meet up with Annie when I arrived, it almost seemed a little surreal that only 4 months or so ago, we were both still in London. Even more so was Sunday and a lunch with Pak Wing. And I must say, he hasn’t changed a bit. At least not his accent! Sunday evening, though, was the highlight of my stay so far. The Commonwealth Shakespeare Company put on a free production of Much Ado About Nothing on at the Boston Common. It was a marvellous performance and I enjoyed it very much. Only odd thing was the American accent in a Shakespeare play. Certainly not what I expected.

But today the rains have started to fall and it looks like I’ve brought the London weather with me. Oh well, you can’t win all the time. Anyway, two working days gone and just the remainder of 5 weeks to go. I’ve enjoyed it so far…

Tagged: Friends, Places