Spouting Cave

There seems to be a point you reach traveling when enthusiasm begins to wane, and you feel you are going through the motions. I started to feel a bit like that in Boston, where it rained torrentially for the first couple of days. Most cities would probaby be a little underwhelming after New York, and at first that was my impression of its rival to the north. But it's funny how the sunshine can make you see things from a different perspective. Suddenly the city seemed alive and worth exploring. My friend Linda and I took advantage of that by going on the Freedom Trail and swanning around leafy Harvard on Graduation Day. We even got a tour from a graduate called Orad, a friend of Linda's sister. He told us some inner secrets of the Ivy League school and showed us (but wasn't allowed to let us inside) his futuristic science lab. Orad was an knowledgable and passionate guide, traits he has put to good use in his own travel guide of his home city Montreal, which we would later u...

There is a great scene in Home Alone 2  in which Kevin McAllister arrives into what he thinks is an airport in Florida, only to be awestruck by the towering vista of New York out the window. His jaw-drops when the woman at the desk confirms, "That's New York, sir". Unlike Kevin, my visit was planned, but I reacted similarly when my bus from Philadelphia turned a corner to suddenly present the mighty Manhattan skyline in all its glory. Other American cities have skyscrapers, but nothing comes close to the visual impact of New York. It was an odd experience to witness something so instantly recognisable yet unlike any place I'd ever seen before. I met my friend Linda at Port Authority bus station, just off Times Square, and we were happy to make a quick getaway from the manic and overhwelming corner of 9th Avenue and 42nd Street to the serene and residential Brooklyn Heights, where Alex, my Mum's fri...