The hot dog was great…

Hi guys,

too sad that our weekend is almost over but I hope that all of you had a nice time enjoying probably really the last hot summer days in Boston.
I definitely did, especially on Saturday when I made a trip to Castle Island which we could see from the ferry on Wednesday.

It is really a very nice place to go to relax and enjoy the sun and there was a very long water walkway to get there. This offered us another great view on Spectacle Island and the huge number of sailing and speed boats on the water. It reminded me of the very nice harbor in Travemünde near to my hometown in Germany so it really felt like home…
Oh I shouldn’t forget to mention that I followed Professor Berman’s recommendation and tried the Hot Dog for 1.80$ and I must say that it was really delicious and a perfect finish for our trip!

Okay, actually I wanted to talk about my impressions of our harbor cruise on Wednesday what I’m now going to do…

It’s pretty hard to say something that hasn’t been mentioned yet as I share the enthusiasm about our first field trip as well. J I have to admit that it wasn’t my first harbor cruise as I have already done the Quincy tour twice - especially to get a sunset cruise for free ;)
Nevertheless, the cruise with our class was definitely different as we got a lot of history and landscape input. It depended on my position on the boat how much information reached my ears but I think I got the most important points! So, I still remember some pretty obvious names of the high number of harbor islands, like Moon Island, Snake Island and Spectacle Island.

Then, we passed these very beautiful living areas close to the water which might probably be some of the most expansive houses in Boston and its surrounding areas. As we’ve learned this had not always been like that. After enjoying the wonderful day at Boston Harbor it is really impossible to imagine what it was like when the water hasn’t been clean and with its wonderful fresh, salty smell, yet. I’m really happy that people realized all the advantages of a harbor cleanup not only for Boston’s economy but just for possibility of enjoying this beautiful part of Boston.

As Professor Berman told us the other huge change during the beginning of the 21th century was the “Big Dig”, another project that turned Boston’s harbor into the popular place for tourists as well as for Bostonians. This project paid by citizens’ taxes required around 18 billion dollars and more than 20 years, which might be an example for the inefficiency of many governmental projects but nevertheless I’m really happy that they were able to finish it before my time here in Boston…

I could go on talking about so many other interesting new things I got to know about Boston, like for example the nice expression that Boston’s recent economy has been developed out of dead people’s money and great new ideas…

All in all, this trip made me very excited about still getting so much more information about Boston’s way to become the city like we know it today, especially regarding its economy.

See you soon guys,

Rebecca