Saturday 1 December, 2001 at 2:06PM (Nereus)  ::  permalink  ::  comments (2)

We just got back late Friday night from Boston - well, Marlborough actually, a little way out of Boston. We were there because IceQueen had a work-sponsored programming course which was really tough apparently, so it was a tiring week for her. It was real hard for me too, having to dial '53' for room service and having to cruise around the thriving metropolis of Marlborough during the day.

Ok, let me tell you a bit about this amazing town... ' - ' ...that's about it. Not a lot happening in Marlborough. To be fair, we were about seven miles from the center of Marlborough so I guess we couldn't expect much, and if you were a person who didn't expect much, then this place would not disappoint you. We stayed at the Best Western Royal Plaza Hotel, and yes, it was just as impressive as the name makes it out to be - in fact it's the largest hotel in Massachusetts outside of Boston. The hotel itself was pretty awesome, it's just that there is bugger-all to do around there. They have a pool and gym which is great, and there's a shopping center within easy walking distance, but other than that, zip. I will run through how our week went anyway.

Sunday 25 November
We wake up as planned (amazingly enough) and get the last of our shit together and call car service to take us to the airport. The driver gets lost on the way to the airport - good one - kind of hard to miss you'd think, but whatever. It's cutting it a wee bit close, but we find the airport in time and attempt to check in. I'll just mention here that the driver was Russian which in itself is no great surprise in NYC, but the plot thickens... you'll see.

So we're at the air terminal and go to the check in desk. We have cut our baggage down to one small carry-on bag each in order to avoid having to wait for our bags at the other end. Good idea, right? Wrong. The tosser makes us check our bags in anyway to go in the cargo hold - apparently it would have normally been ok, but this day was 'special' (yes, I raised an eyebrow at that one too), not that he expanded on exactly what was so special about it. We soon realized just how special it was when we had to wait half an hour in a queue to go through the security checkpoint into the departure lounge. I didn't mind the wait at all, I'd rather be safe than sorry, but what really annoyed me was the fact that people in front and behind us in the queue had carry-on bags about the same size as ours that they were allowed to take on! What the hell is up with that? I was pretty pissed off about that for a few minutes. We get to the front of the queue and put our coats etc through the x-ray machine and walk through the big metal detector thingy, and it starts beeping away at IceQueen. I stand there looking suspiciously at IceQueen as she is frisked by a police officer (female) and another check is done with a hand scanner. Bad little weasel. Turns out it was probably the metal in her bra that set it off (a good argument why women shouldn't wear bras, some might say).

The flight is uneventful, with the obligatory crackers and cheese and something to suck on for the descent so your ears don't freak out at the pressure drop with the change in altitude. When I say something to suck on, I meant a boiled lolly... *weasellook*. I have flown in hundreds of planes, but admittedly I was a bit nervous for the first few minutes of this flight in light of recent events, but soon settled down. We landed safely in Boston and then waited another half hour for our 'baggage' (this prompted another outburst of annoyance at the tosser in NYC again, but it passed quickly enough) and we went outside and hailed a taxi. Guess what? The driver was Russian (this is the 'plot thickens' bit I referred to earlier, so you can stop holding your breath now). I think I have met more Russians than Americans in the US. Go figure. We hop in the taxi for an hour long ride from Boston to the hotel in Marlborough, during which IceQueen and the driver talk to each other for most of the trip, which in itself was fine, except they spoke in Russian so it made it impossible for me to join in the conversation. I stuck my bottom lip out for a few minutes but it had no effect, so I just looked out the window for the most part of the journey.

Monday 26 November
OK I'll try to keep this brief from here on as this is turning into a really long post. We get a car service in the morning to take us to where IceQueen is doing her course (about five minutes drive, if that) and then take me back to the hotel. I spend the day exploring the nearby areas to the hotel and find a shopping center with restaurants, books shops and so on. How quaint. It all looks fairly new (which it is as it turns out) and after a while I return to the hotel. Around 5pm IceQueen calls me to come and pick her up, so I ring the reception to get them to call for a car, and they turn around and say they will take me in the courtesy van for free! Nice huh? This turns out to be the norm for most of the week, which was really good of them. Anyway, IceQueen is pretty blown away by the course (very hard) so I tell her about the shopping center nearby and we head over there for dinner. We end up going to an Indian restaurant and eating an awesome chicken tandoori - one of the best I've ever had. I talk to the Indian dude who appears to run / own the place (he is serving us as hardly anyone else is there) and it turns out he's from Sydney, Australia, and has been to New Zealand. Small farking world, I tell ya. I thought Auckland was a melting pot of cultures, but wow, NYC is incredibly multi-cultural... maybe it's the fact that the mix of cultures are so different from what New Zealand has that makes it more noticeable, whatever (actually I've since heard that 40% of the population of NYC are from outside the US). We end the day back at the hotel with IceQueen showing me some pretty groovy card tricks and a couple of new card games - she's full of surprises. *kiss*

Tuesday 27 November
I attempted to order breakfast, and although the room service menu said it was available until 10.30am, I rang room service at around 9.45am to be informed they had closed... I rang reception to see if the other restaurant in the hotel was open and they asked me what I wanted and then put me on hold. A few minutes later they came back to me and said breakfast was on its way *grin*. When it arrived, I motioned to pay for it, and they advised it was free! I'm liking this. Little else of major interest happened during the day. I drew a picture for IceQueen at some point and put it in her pyjamas to discover later, we went to the Indian restaurant for chicken tandoori dinner again, sat outside the hotel together in the gazebo and smoked a cigarette, ate some cashew nuts for lunch. Exciting stuff. As ya do.

Wednesday 28 November
Another mellow day, did some exploring again, bought some green candles at the shopping center, we had dinner in our room via room service - chicken parmesan - very nice. IceQueen taught me another card game called 'fool'.

Thursday 29 November
Omigod fark it got cold on this day! It barely went over 32 farenheit (0 celcius) all day and it was overcast and raining (a little colder or more wind and it would have snowed) so not much was done today. We hit room service for dinner and had a candlelit bath... nice. very.

Friday 30 November
Last day here, it warmed back up but still misty and raining all day. IceQueen finished the course around midday and we get the same Russian driver taking us back to Boston airport, although this time we both doze off in the back of the taxi all the way. We arrive at the airport way too early so we eat some food and buy a couple of books and generally weasel around. The books? Two of them - The Black House by Stephen King and Peter Straub, and the other book is The Darwin Awards II - very amusing book. If you have never heard of the Darwin Awards, check them out at darwinawards.com, worth a laugh for sure, in a twisted way.

That's pretty much the week. The flight back was groovy - it was a night flight so we got to see the lights of NYC as we flew in. It's now December.. already! We were going to go to the Bronx Zoo and / or Metro Art Museum today, but it's a crappy day and we are both just wanting to relax so it's all good just staying at home and being together.