Sun 13th: This is the last full day of our fantastic US & Them trip, and boy were we glad to get away from last night's accommodation, very noisy neighbours, with very loud voices, amplified by very thin walls. Our plan is to visit Plymouth and so we meander down the scenic by-ways, stop for a coffee and blueberry muffin in Woodstock, no not that Woodstock, but like a lot of wheat based food lately it repeats regularly for the next few hours.
Now, point of philosophy, I have been suffering this trip with heart burn and dyspepsia, or top end wind, an unfortunate bodily function, but nonetheless involuntary. A sneeze is also involuntary, and also a noisy bodily function, and is responded to with "Bless You" by friends and strangers alike. A belch however, is frowned upon as rude and distasteful, unless you are in Turkey. Now I am beginning to find this a paradox, can anyone explain it to me please; why are my unfortunate loud(ish) belches received with such displeasure, after all no germs are being propelled toward anyone, as they would be with a sneeze, a plague upon your houses!
Our meander continues through to Plymouth, and down to the beach front. We spy the replica Mayflower, or Mayflower II, built in England in 1955 and sailed over to Plymouth Ma as a museum. We also spy Plymouth Rock, reputedly the rock upon which the Pilgrims trod as they stepped ashore in December 1620. It was not recognised as such until 1741, and has been dropped twice since due to attempts to move it to a more appropriate locations for the influx of tourists. The front is slightly tacky, but we find the Pilgrims Hall Museum and spend a very informative hour learning about the birth of a nation, well worth the $15 for both of us.
The experience of the Pilgrims and the native Wampanoags should serve as a lesson for all time about intolerance, mistrust and war. King Philip's War occurred some 60/70 years after 1620, and after William Bradford, the leader of the Pilgrims and Samoset, the leader of the Wampanoags both died. They had cooperated successfully for 50 years, sharing resources and land, but after they died the Pilgrims got possessive over land sharing, and treated Samoset's son very badly, and he died in custody. King Philip, a brother of badly treated son took issue and the ensuing year's war destroyed most of what both the colonists and the Indians had built up over the previous half century, the biggest casualty being the trust between the colonists and the native Indians...........
........and it goes on. Examples of the trust and tolerance shown by different cultures and different leaders are too few and far between, here endeth today's lesson, amen.
Meander continues, and we look in on Barnstaple, as we are considering a 4 hour whale watching cruise leaving at 8am tomorrow morning!! Either we missed the centre of Barnstaple or it very small, but we do pass the Whale Watcher, and decide we must be losing it a bit, 8am, last day, could be cold, and we've seen whales up close before in Alaska, perhaps we'll just drive to the very tip of Cape Cod, Provincetown, it's only 80 miles round trip, and paddle in the sea at the very tip, or more likely have an ice cream instead. We need to be back at Logan by 4.30pm, so we have plenty of time.
Dinner at The Olive Branch, an Italian restaurant next to our hotel is unexpectedly good, and we have fun with the waitress, she's going straight home to watch Lorna's Leap. Dinner is also fun as we conject about a black couple sitting close by, she has a face on that says, "I don't believe a word you say, you lying bastard". Now matter how hard he he tries to weasle his way back into her good books, her face says, only time will heal, and in the mean time you're going to suffer, mark my words.
We speak the same language, well nearly, but visit a restaurant and we are poles apart. The way we use our knife & fork is different,
Navigation has been quite surreal, after Middlesborough is just down the road from Swansea, Barnstaple's just over the road from Chatham, it's as if someone, a Pilgrim maybe, took all the place names in England, threw them up in the air, and this is where they all landed.
The experience of the Pilgrims and the native Wampanoags should serve as a lesson for all time about intolerance, mistrust and war. King Philip's War occurred some 60/70 years after 1620, and after William Bradford, the leader of the Pilgrims and Samoset, the leader of the Wampanoags both died. They had cooperated successfully for 50 years, sharing resources and land, but after they died the Pilgrims got possessive over land sharing, and treated Samoset's son very badly, and he died in custody. King Philip, a brother of badly treated son took issue and the ensuing year's war destroyed most of what both the colonists and the Indians had built up over the previous half century, the biggest casualty being the trust between the colonists and the native Indians...........
........and it goes on. Examples of the trust and tolerance shown by different cultures and different leaders are too few and far between, here endeth today's lesson, amen.
Meander continues, and we look in on Barnstaple, as we are considering a 4 hour whale watching cruise leaving at 8am tomorrow morning!! Either we missed the centre of Barnstaple or it very small, but we do pass the Whale Watcher, and decide we must be losing it a bit, 8am, last day, could be cold, and we've seen whales up close before in Alaska, perhaps we'll just drive to the very tip of Cape Cod, Provincetown, it's only 80 miles round trip, and paddle in the sea at the very tip, or more likely have an ice cream instead. We need to be back at Logan by 4.30pm, so we have plenty of time.
Dinner at The Olive Branch, an Italian restaurant next to our hotel is unexpectedly good, and we have fun with the waitress, she's going straight home to watch Lorna's Leap. Dinner is also fun as we conject about a black couple sitting close by, she has a face on that says, "I don't believe a word you say, you lying bastard". Now matter how hard he he tries to weasle his way back into her good books, her face says, only time will heal, and in the mean time you're going to suffer, mark my words.
We speak the same language, well nearly, but visit a restaurant and we are poles apart. The way we use our knife & fork is different,
Navigation has been quite surreal, after Middlesborough is just down the road from Swansea, Barnstaple's just over the road from Chatham, it's as if someone, a Pilgrim maybe, took all the place names in England, threw them up in the air, and this is where they all landed.
Spend today: Pilgrims Museum (card); dinner (card)
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