New England

There is one facet of NorthEastern US which is very unique and distinguishes it from the rest of the country - Fall Colors. Hence, I decided to make a trip up North to catch up with friends and relatives and also catch up on this Nature's spectacle. The trip began with a not so peaceful flight to Philly, as 3 old ladies around me incessantly chatted about spice girls, wine & airline jokes and distracted me from my book and my thoughts. As I ended up sitting on seat 1F, I also ended up overhearing their gossip with the steward, and got a great insight into airline steward's life and the industry as a whole. My ride from PHL to Edison on the NJ turnpike was a trifle disappointing as I failed to see enough evidence of Fall foliage. Had I mistimed my trip?

The next day, after renting the car from the cute Enterprise lady, we set out on our journey up north in the hope of catching fall colors. As usual Upstate NY turned out to be pretty, as we took a detour on route 9W to drive along Hudson river valley. A small pit stop at Kingston, NY was well served by a nice bowl of clam chowder and some raw peppered Tuna & wasabi. The higher elevations of Catskill Mountain showed plenty of evidence of fall colors, and most drives through the park were extremely scenic. The ride along the northern edge of the mountains offered some great views, with Point LookoutMountain Inn offering a view of 5 states from the vantage point. The cold evening was capped by a fancy desi dinner at a suburban Boston restaurant, which reaffirmed my opinion that the quality of desi food is inversely proportional to the number of white people inside the restaurant.

On Sunday, I finally realised my dream of visiting the city of Boston. The day started with an agonising 30 minute hunt for parking in Boston downtown, before I finally succumbed to the fate of paying for parking. A sluggish start to the famed Freedom Trail was capped by
a mouth watering jaunt through Quincy Market. The trail culminated with an exhausting climb along 294 steep winding steps of Bunker Hill monument, but the view from top justified the effort. In many ways, the northern suburbs of Boston reminded me of European
cities. I came into Boston expecting it to be a smaller version of NY, but to my delight it
turned out to be more laid back, clean and sunny.

A short train to the lively Harvard Square, on the other banks of Charles, got me to a
neighbourhood which probably has the highest density of nerds in the country. The Harvard
campus was pretty impressive, especially the Business School area. As we relaxed along the banks of the Charles, I got to see the famous sights of teams of varsity students rowing on
the river and passing those red bridges in the campus. The last halt of the night was at a
lesser known university dubbed as MIT. As I parked my car at the Electrical engineering building, I immediately recognised The Frank Gehry designed Stata building, thanks to my previous visits to his creations in Los Angeles & Dusseldorf. The next 1-1/2 hour was spent with me listening to a passionate discussion on string theory and gravitational physics between my cousin and my friend, and a whirlwind tour of the theoretical Physics building. At the end of the day, Boston did leave a lasting impression, and despite the harsh weather and high rents, I still wouldn't mind living in this beautiful city.

The drive back to NJ on Monday helped me increase my state count by 2, as we cruised
through the beautiful states of Connecticut & Rhode Island. All along the I-95, there were
beautiful sights of fall colors, and bridges over docks in the state of Connecticut. But the best laid plans of men and mice often go awry, and so did I have my share of hiccups on the final day. Firstly, our car blew a flat in Rhode Island. Luckily, I noticed this right when I was pulling out of the gas station and a small visit to a service centre nearby, resulted only in a 45 minute break in the journey. This was followed by an unsuccessful attempt to dine at the desi mecca on Oak Tree Rd in Edison, NJ due to paucity of time and store closures on Monday.

However, I was not so lucky with my flight back home. After having boarded the flight, I
heard the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard on a plane. The stewardess announced "Ladies & Gentleman, this flight is over weight, and we need 14 volunteers who are ready to go on the next flight....blah blah". Bravo Houston, Bravo !! You continue to set records when it comes to obesity. Anyways after much drama and 12 willing and 2 drafted volunteers, the flight finally did take-off, only to land an hour late due to thunderstorms in Houston and some gate delays. So, like most of my vacations, I went to bed well past mid night only to wake up groggy the next day and resort to espresso shots to survive a tough work day.