I´m starting to plan a two-week holiday this coming summer with my wife. We have some points fixed already, it will be in late July/early August. We will fly to Boston, visit my brother-in-laws girlfriends family in Maine, and have the vague idea of doing a round trip with some sightseeing. This will probably include: Boston itself, New York, Washington (D.C.), perhaps Philadelphia, perhaps Richmond (VA), then back up north, with our thoughts on either Chicago or the Niagara Falls, and perhaps a short trip into Canada.
Do you have any tips and hints for this kind of trip, like must-see sites, things to avoid, cool RPG shops to plund... err, visit and the like?
Stefan
I´m starting to plan a two-week holiday this coming summer with my wife. We have some points fixed already, it will be in late July/early August. We will fly to Boston, visit my brother-in-laws girlfriends family in Maine, and have the vague idea of doing a round trip with some sightseeing. This will probably include: Boston itself, New York, Washington (D.C.), perhaps Philadelphia, perhaps Richmond (VA), then back up north, with our thoughts on either Chicago or the Niagara Falls, and perhaps a short trip into Canada.
Do you have any tips and hints for this kind of trip, like must-see sites, things to avoid, cool RPG shops to plund... err, visit and the like?
Stefan
I would plan your itinerary fairly carefully, especially if you are planning to drive yourselves as opposed to booking into a tour.
The time of year is close to as hot as the east coast gets, especially the further south you go (towards D.C. / Richmond). The heat is not really difficult most of the time - it is often the humidity, especially in the coastal cities, or (in D.C.) that the city is basically built on top of a large swamp no one else wanted 200-odd years ago.
Off the top of my head some interesting places to consider checking out:
- The Mutter Museum, Philadelphia (check spelling, do not plan on eating really soon afterward, absolutely worth seeing at least once.)
- Liberty Bell and 'Rocky Square' - also in Philadelphia
- Washington D.C. I live outside of on the Virginia side of the Potomac. It is chock full of museums, especially the Smithsonian buildings, although what you will think of them in comparison to the museums of London is another matter. If you wish to tour the Capitol building you will need advance tickets. Make *sure* your passports are in order (due to security paranoia). The monuments can be similar, especially the Washington Monument - and it too often requires early morning acquisition of advance tickets, with further-in-advance purchase being highly desirable for the tourist season you are coming in the middle of.
- If you and the missus are "Foodies", I recommend coordinating your nights to stay as close as possible to the restaurants in the cities you plan to visit. I believe Craft Steak and Morimoto's are in New York and Philadelphia, respectively.
- Broadway typically has a number of excellent-to-craptastic plays, although the ones you may want to see are likely to be known even 7 or 8 months in advance - advanced booking is again helpful here.
- Ellis Island in New York is not really worth the hassle of going to see from everything I've heard about it.
- Chicago is likely to be untenable if you are driving, although I caveat this by saying that this is also dependent upon where you plan to fly home from.
- Niagara Falls is gorgeous and worth seeing short of being able to go to the Victoria Falls in South Africa (I think). Toronto and Quebec are not far from there.
Hope this helps some!
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I agree with the above tip about Ellis Island - if you don't have a lot of time, I would recommend skipping it, along with Liberty Island which is another time-sink. You can see the Statue of Liberty from Manhattan without having to take a boat and make a day of it.
If you go to Niagara, don't even stop on the US side, unless you are a fan of industrial decay. There is some nice parkland right on the river, but it's otherwise on eyesore. I recommend going straight to the Canadian side, where there is plenty of nice parkland too, but there's also actual shops and restaurants, attractions like the Cave of the Winds and the Maid of the Mist, and so on.
In my experience, visiting Boston works best when you have specific sites you want to see. If you just start wandering around downtown Boston, you may wind up seeing little more than office buildings. But there are some great things to see there - I just recommend planning it out a little.
While you're in Maine, you need to get yourself a lobster roll. My friend, you will not be disappointed.
I'd also second the recommendation to avoid driving much in Chicago, if possible. I've been all over the U.S., but Chicago traffic still holds a special place in my 'things to avoid' list. ;)
I'm a travel writer (among other types of writing) and I wouldn't mind sending you some info on those cities you mentioned. Got an e-mail address I can send some stuff through to?
Thanks a lot for your offer. You can reach me at stefanbeate_at_gmx_dot_de.
And thanks to you all for offering some advice - with only two weeks, careful planning is crucial if we want to visit, so your advice is worth a lot to me.
Stefan
For Boston, if you are interested in Revolutionary-era stuff I'd suggest the Freedom Trail. It covers the famous spots and gives a fairly decent 'digest-version' of the events leading up to the Revolution.
If you like shows, the Wang Theater has always got something good going on.
If shopping is on your agenda, Newbury Street is stocked with funky shops. As is Harvard Square.
Speaking of Newbury Street, Newbury Comics is a local chain of comic and music stores that started on Newbury Street and spread Massachusetts wide. They have excellent comic stocks, used CDs, and all sorts of collectables (sadly no RPGs).
I would avoid Plymouth Rock, as it is disappointing, and Plymouth ain't that great of a town. If you are looking for lobster rolls, head directly to Cape Cod. :P If you are going in the late summer, the Cape is at its peak of interest. You can find lots of interest here
One thing I found curious was the, at times, almost overly-politeness people adopted. Especially in the supermarkets, where people would continually say "excuse me" as they passed by you 5 feet away in a 10 feet wide aisle and thus wasn't even close to inconveniencing you with their passage. This was especially prominent in L.A./Santa Monica and Boca Raton, FL (not so much in small town WV (well, small town US sizes)).
... and, oh, God, Boston? Wow, not even close.
I wish I could say you're wrong, but ...
:(
Actual Boston city dwellers seem evil to ME. And I'm a crotchedy old monkey ...
I´m starting to plan a two-week holiday this coming summer with my wife. We have some points fixed already, it will be in late July/early August. We will fly to Boston, visit my brother-in-laws girlfriends family in Maine, and have the vague idea of doing a round trip with some sightseeing. This will probably include: Boston itself, New York, Washington (D.C.), perhaps Philadelphia, perhaps Richmond (VA), then back up north, with our thoughts on either Chicago or the Niagara Falls, and perhaps a short trip into Canada.
Do you have any tips and hints for this kind of trip, like must-see sites, things to avoid, cool RPG shops to plund... err, visit and the like?
Stefan
You cannot possibly visit (and experience) all these places in two weeks.
You will spend most of your time sitting in a car.America is HUUUUGE.
My suggestion is to concentrate on Boston, NYC, and Philadelphia.
"i'm new to D&D, what should i get - i've got the three core books, but don't know where to go next"
the clerk just goes "dunno, anything", shrugs, and goes back to his book.
...
I smile at the clerk, and say something like "you don't need to thank me for the same" in a nice, not nasty, way, and he just looks at me, with eyes that said "if i could, i would cast metior swarm on you now"
That guy must not be a gamer, and/or must really hate his job. You practically made a big sale for him and he gives you a death glare? WTF?
Then again, it might just be NYC. I've never been there, the closest I got geographically was DC and I was only there for a week and spent nearly all of it in a hotel or in local Tour sites. Never got to actually meet people outside the tour groups.
Most of my travels have stuck to the south. Texas, Louisiana, Tennessee, Arizona, and one summer trip to Colorado.
One thing I found curious was the, at times, almost overly-politeness people adopted. Especially in the supermarkets, where people would continually say "excuse me" as they passed by you 5 feet away in a 10 feet wide aisle and thus wasn't even close to inconveniencing you with their passage.
In my small town, the only time someone shopping in the supermarket is going to say anything to you, unless you know each other from somewhere, is if they get in your way or you get in theirs, an attitude I fully endorse. Why would anybody just passing by in the aisle interrupt your shopping for an empty pleasantry? It's just rude.
But I hate telephones too and really just want complete indifference, not friendliness. So I'm the weird one.
I think i also discussed the differences between UK and US play-styles to him
There's a difference?