So, in the middle of October York University gave all us students (and the professors to I suppose) a week off. Why you ask, well York officially calls it co-curricular week where students are supposed to sign up to clubs, the professors call it reading week and they say we are supposed to get a head start on all our reading and assignments that will pile up from when we start classes again, and to exchange students it's considered a week to go travelling.
Thus since the beginning of term discussions had been taking place about where we were going to go and what we were going to do. After much discussion and an awful lot of internet searching Monique and I set our hearts on Philadelphia, Boston and Salem. Then the heard part started: booking it! When we had originally started our search we could get cheap hostel accommodation in both Philly and Boston (Salem is but a train away from Boston and we were planning a day trip). However, by the time we got around to actually booking the places this wasn't the case. In Philly we ended up in a cheap travel lodge which considering they gave us breakfast every morning was a great deal and in a hostel outside of the city in Boston. For awhile we thought we may be able to stay in Salem for a few days and travel to Boston from there if we couldn't find anything closer for a good price in Boston. Then the reality that it was only a couple of weeks before Halloween hit and thus Salem had absolutely no accommodation, anywhere, let alone cheap, it was just lucky that we found the hostel when we did, otherwise I fear Monique might have had a minor temper tantrum as she had definitely set her heart on seeing both Boston and Salem.
For travel we booked the good ole megabus from Toronto to Philadelphia, and Philadelphia to Boston. Sadly, although turns out not so (their wifi was much better!) we had to use the much more expensive greyhound buses to get us back from Boston to Toronto again. I would not recommend undertaking a 10+ hour bus trip without serious thought. If you are easily annoyed by other people, then don't do it! Or if faulty wifi grates on your nerves, it's probably not for you and if you find it difficult to sleep on a bus at the very least be prepared to be sleep deprived at new levels. Monique and I came extremely close to thinking horrible thoughts about the adorable baby in front of us who wouldn't stop crying unless I was looking at it, which when trying to read my comparative foreign policy book was not what I needed. Luckily we can both cope without wifi for small times when we have other things to amuse us, and we are both very adept at coping with little to no sleep (see previous posts :P ).
Philadelphia:
We had three days in Philadelphia.
Day one:
Saw us going backwards and forwards like mad women. First we went to the area where all the independence sites are located and booked our time slot for the independence hall tour. Then, we went to the other side of the city to visit the Eastern State penitentiary. It was a really interesting experience as we learnt all about how the prisoners were kept in isolation for their entire sentence and the idea was that this would give them time to think on what they had done and repent of it to God. In there cells they even had a slit in the ceiling which allowed a slither of light into the room and was called the eye of God. Later this model of prison was dropped and replaced and then the prison became a much more diverse place. Other cool things from the prison where Al Capone's cell and (well I don't know if you can call this cool) death row. After the prison we went back to the independence area and had our tour of independence hall and learnt all about the signing of the declaration of independence and the swearing in of several presidents. We also went to visit the tomb of the unknown solider. After having a quick rest back at the travel lodge we had dinner in china town before heading back to the prison for the haunted house they put on around Halloween. It was student night so the queue was huge but we finally got in and it was scary! Both Monique and I screamed quite a lot. After this we headed back to the Travelodge to get some sleep ready for the next day's adventures.
Day Two:
We set of for the west side of the city. We were heading towards the Rocky steps and a few other sites in that direct. On the way we passed some lovely architecture , and a fountain. We reached the Rocky steps and did the obligatory run, taking turns to video it for each other. Then we went behind the museum (for which the Rocky Steps exist) and there are the water works and a lot of statues and a garden area. Photos of which can all be seen in exhaustive detail on facebook. We then walked all the way back to the other side (East) of town and went to the graveyard where Benjamin Franklin is buried. We chilled in the park at the independence area for a bit before heading south to south street which is the really artsy area of the city. This is where we found the diner we ended back at for dinner that evening. It was a really cool place, so much so that we ended the night dancing in the aisles.
Day Three:
For our final day in the city we started with a walk over the Benjamin Franklin Bridge. We put the music from Monique's iPhone on and partied our way across with many stops for photos. We had planned to get off on the other side but after some friendly advice from a passer by and then having confirmed the safety of getting off with a policeman we decided not to and instead once we reached the end we just turned back and walked straight back the way we had came. After this we went to check out the town hall, which due to the occupy protesters was incredibly busy. What was probably cooler that the town hall (which, and yes i know I'm a nerd, was pretty cool) was the court yard of an office just across from it. Where a bunch of large sized games pieces had been set up. You could sit in the monopoly barrel, climb a top a rook from chess, lean against a giant domino. We got some pretty great pictures of these. By now we had done most of the things on our list to do except two main things: eat philli in philli and get a philly cheese steak. So we headed to a store and bought some crackers and Philadelphia and then went to sit once more in the park and eat. We chilled for a bit longer then went to get our philli cheese steaks. I am sad to say both of us we a little ( a lot) disappointed. So as not to be rude let's just say they weren't are thing. After this we went back to the diner of the previous night where we met up with some other friends who had spent the day in Philly on there way between New York and Washington. After some more dancing in the aisles and making friends with our waiter and the boss we headed out once more this time to get our bags from the Travelodge and head to the bus station to get our bus to Boston.
Boston:
Day one:
We arrived early in the morning and got a train and then a bus towards the outskirts of the city where our hostel was. After checking in we quietly as possible entered the shared dorm we were in and sorted out our stuff so as to have showers before setting out for the day. By the time we had done that the other girls in our room had awoken and we decided to all hang out together for the day. We got the free shuttle to the train station from there we headed to the Common. After a quick breakfast stop we picked up the freedom trail heading towards Bunker Hill where there is a monument similar to the one in Washington. There we climbed the 294 steps to the top of the monument to get amazing views of the city. Then we went to the museum that it was attached to and learnt all about the fight that had happened there during the revolution. After finishing up there we went and checked out an old navy ship, which was a lot of fun as we got to walk around on it while hearing all about its history. Then we went to Quincy market to grab some food before heading over to check out MIT and then Harvard. We finished our day with hot chocolate in the cutest chocolate shop in the city (you could smell the chocolate a mile away it was that rich).
Day Two:
We were still hanging out with one of our new friends (Sophie) from the hostel the other had had to leave for home. So, Monique, Sophie and I headed into the city to go to the Aquarium where we spent several hours stroking sting rays, watching penguins and trying to spot giant turtles amongst many other things. Next we headed over to the oldest baseball park in the US, Fenway. There we had a great tour of the stadium learning lots about the stadium and baseball. After we walked some more of the freedom trail before heading to little Italy for dinner. After this we went to the gardens in the common where we walked around and talked for an hour or two.
Salem
On our third day in Boston we took a train out of the city and into Salem (yes the witch trials Salem). It was a great day to visit this creepy town as it was incredibly foggy. It was such a beautiful city we spent most of the day walking around the old streets and grave yards. We also went to the witch trial memorial. Other things we did include dressing up like seamen at a museum, walking out to a light house and having a brilliant meal at the red roof inn. The last thing we did in Salem was a night time ghost tour which was a laugh. Despite the fact that it had rained all afternoon and we had ruined our shoes both Monique and I had a great time. After heading back to Boston we had one final night in the hostel before we headed back to Toronto the next morning.
Overall the travels were a lot of fun and worth every penny spent and every minute not studying.
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