Happy Birthday America!
OK a quick break from the "trip" recap!Yesterday was the 4th of July - American Independance Day. Of course everyone knows this is a huge holiday in the States and we decided to take in some of the festivities, not having realised that Boston holds the biggest celebrations in the States, mostly due to the history of the patriots, the signing of the Declaration of Independance and Massachusetts being the birthplace of Samuel and John Adams. So we found out that the Boston Pops are playing, as is customary, a free open air concert at the Esplanade, the riverside area along the Charles River here in Boston. The celebrations were actually part of Harbour Fest, a week long series of events and happenings culminating in the concert and huge firework display over the river. Due to the rain and thunder storms during the day we didnt venture down until around 7:30 and it was already really packed with people! We managed to get to the concert area quite easily, albeit that we couldnt actually get to the park area in front of the stage. Instead we watched from a distance but had clear sound of the entire show. It was a blast hearing the full orchestra (most famous, perhaps, as having had John Williams as a conductor since 1980 - he of Star Wars theme tune fame, not to mention numerous other movie scores) playing a mixture of movie themes (Rocky, Star Wars etc), show tunes, more traditional American songs such as Yankie Doodle Dandy and even an excerpt from God Save The Queen!
But - by 10 PM the place was insanely busy! Organisers were estimating 500,000 people in attendance. I'm not sure if this is accurate, but it probably wasnt far wrong. Anyway we found a back route that took us back to the bridge over the river and we found a nice spot not too far from the metro station (for a quick escape - if that was possible) where we could see the majority of the fireworks, and what an amazing display it was! All choreographed to a musical score which unfortunately we wern't in a position to hear, but it was a stunning end to what was a great night for us and I'm sure a fantastic week for the city of Boston.We're already planning next years festivities - you can guarantee it involves coolers of food and beer (actually - scrap the food!) and some raincoats.
posted by Shaun S @ 11:11 PM
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