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Free in-flight entertainment provided by BA |
And aint BA great, giving my free drinks. So of course I took more than I needed and I stored a couple of my JDs from the flight for later consumption...(in fact I've still got them).
Arriving in Boston, I did have to go through FURTHER grief from US customs, apparently my finger prints didn't match this time...but that was just an excuse to drag me down to passport control so that they could search through all my belongings, and quiz me over the exact same things that they quizzed me about in London back in June. And quiz why I brought my snowboard over here in September...it's gonna snow eventually!
My place of residence was in Providence, the capital of Rhode Island. Pretty decent place in an area called Fox Point, right near a few local bars and restaurants and very close to several Universities including Brown and Downtown (that's American for "city center" (which is American for "centre" - I know, it's been a struggle)).
As mentioned, this blog is about 6 weeks behind, so this is over a months worth of blogs crammed into one!
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Hot Club |
A few of the local bars included 'Wickenden Pub', which was about a minute away from the gaff, pretty sweet, but wicked expensive. I was up for the "99 beer challenge" and getting my name on "the wall of shame" until I worked out that'd cost me at least $600 to do. 'Hot Club' (not a club at all) was pretty awesome, $2 Narragansett Beer (a local Rhode Island beer, which I got addicted to), no complaints from me, plus awesome bar staff that'd let me carry on getting drunk after they were closing....I never did learn that bar-maids name....but it aint Rebecca! 'Rick's Roadhouse' and the 'English Cellar Alehouse', which showed football....real football (not padded up rugby), and although they tried to be "British" it still felt pretty much like every other American bar, but the guy serving us was from Southampton (well Southampton, New Jersey), and they did serve Southampton Ales (brewed in Southampton, New York)...home from home!
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Wickenden toilets - I do think this was vandals, I think they did it to themselves! |
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Sunday breakfast for Chelsea Vs Arsenal |
Providence is a pretty sweet city, with a fair amount going on, I described it as a small big city, which does make sense if you've been there, plus you get to meet people at bars like Tom, who "used to sell weed all up and down Hope Street and all other corners, I used to ran this town" - brilliant - no you didn't! And Andy's cougar friend in the bar, with a "English accent that'll fool any American" - Unlucky love, cause you sound like nobody that I know, but none the less, still very entertaining. Or if you're very lucky, like I was, you'll see next Dave from Connecticut (and no he didn't know Ken Kaniff) and him and his friends will keep topping up you're drinks, and then you'll somehow walk out a bar $130 richer. Or Tammy who claimed to help work on Muse and Radiohead's albums, and he used to date Britney Spears, I didn't believe it wither till he gave me a lift home in his Porsche 911, then showed me the DVD (in his car) of him stood with Miss Spears. He really did have a lot of money!
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| India Point Park |
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| The three towers Melissa told me to look for to find my way home...it worked. Taken in India Point Park. |
Whilst in Rhode Island I also headed to Narragansett beach, which is right on the south of the State, which is meant to be a surfers hang out. Pretty nice beach, also headed across to Newport (which involved going across Jamestown (but I don't think it's the "Jamestown" that The Movielife were singing about, I don't remember going down 94-West or getting a forty hour train back to Penn)). Newport was a pretty nice port town, but in my honest opinion...snobby! I used Rhode Island buses to get around http://www.ripta.com/ which involved going through Bristol and Portsmouth (seriously look at a map of New England, it really is "New England" - the weather's the same too). I also got a grand tour of Woonsocket, and the glory that is the DMV. And thanks Mishka (Melissa's Pomeranian) for deciding that the best time to 'make her mark' was right outside "House of Brides", in full view of all in the store. I suppose, when you gotta go you've gotta go.
These four photos are all Narragansett beach (where the drink got its name - "The beer of the Clam")I also survived a plane collision on the runway at TF Green airport with a "3cm metal laceration to hand" yaaaay - GO GREEN TEAM! I wanted to be mangled, but they ran out of RED TEAM forms.
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| This is Red Team - Near Death... |
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| ...And this is what I got! |
Mum, you'll be pleased to hear that I also experimented with my cooking....and to top it off, I'm still alive. Eva did question the first mince (ground beef) that I was making, asking "is it a stew!?"...yeah I added way too much water, that's what happens when you cook Jamie Oliver style when you're learning to cook! But they got better!
Rhode Island is such a small state (in fact it is the smallest state), everything is pretty close by. Boston is only about an hour away from Providence, and New York is about four hours. If ever in Providence check out http://www.waterfire.org/ (I never did (although I was aiming to volunteer to help)) but it's meant to be awesome. Also the number of Dunkin' Donuts, on EVERY road. Due to the season "fall" everything at the moment is pumpkin, now before I got here, I don't think I'd ever had pumpkin anything, I've now had: roast pumpkin, pumpkin iced coffee, pumpkin muffin, pumpkin beer and it all tests great, I can now walk in a room and KNOW that there's been a pumpkin candle ablaze (that actually happened). Also if your ever in Rhode Island check out http://www.narragansettbeer.com/events, this basically just got me cheaper (or free) beer at certain venues at certain times (you owe for that Amanda). Whilst I was there I also joined a gym, which I recommend if you're ever in States, it cost me $1 to join and $10 each month. Seriously, ever in the States look up http://www.planetfitness.com/, where I managed to lift 300 on a chest press (shhh, so what if that aint metric). I already miss my run through Downtown Providence. And they also make a big deal of Columbus day...why not celebrate a failure.....I mean that's like getting excited about a draw because Robert Green can't keep hold of a ball....oh.....
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| Free T-Shirts.... |
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| ...Thanks Amanda for this on my last night in Providence |
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| I said I was addicted to the stuff |
I did get very drunk for my last night, which made the last of my packing a little bit harder on Saturday morning, much to Eva's (my room mate) entertainment, but she couldn't watch for too long,
Overall Rhode Island's pretty sweet, and I really do get so many more Family Guy jokes now, Seth MacFarlane has got Rhode Island down to a 'T', sorry Rhode Islanders, but it's true....and not necessarily a bad thing!?!? I had a Stuffie, which is a quahog stuffed with other claims...amazing! And quahog isn't a place it's a type of clam (although I think the city of Quahog is meant to be Pawtucket)? But I never tried proper fried clams, and I never did get to Connecticut in the end.
And for the record, NO, Rhode Island is Not an Island...And YES, it is named after the Greek island of Rhodes
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