Visiting Boston 1- Boston's Many Firsts (Boston, MA)

My daughter got into college in the Boston area. After two years of staying in the dormitory, she moved out to an apartment. So I finally got a chance to visit Boston to help with her moving.It wouldn’t be too much of an exaggeration to consider Boston as the Boston of America. I could tell the pride from “Spirit of America,” which was written on the car number plates.

I took a late night flight via Atlanta to save money. Being very tired by the time I arrived in Boston, my first impression was total disappointment. Even if Boston is not a large metropolitan city like New York or Chicago, it is a famous education city. But the shabby airport was small and crowded. Fortunately, even if it was a summer day, it did not feel that hot and humid.

I took a taxi and I found out later that they charge people and luggage separately. As for the Boston I saw from the taxi window, there were not many high rises except for a few in the downtown area. Classical old world buildings were among newer buildings and it felt like modern and old world are co-existing in Boston.

After helping out with moving, I went to downtown Boston by the subway, called the “T” (the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority: MBTA) by those in Boston. 

Since Boston is one of the oldest cities in the U.S., it has many firsts. Boston's many firsts include the United States' first public school (Boston Latin School- 1635), first college (Harvard- 1635), first newspaper (Publick Occurrences, Both Foreign and Domestik- 1690), first post office (1639), first police force (1630), first public park (Boston Commons- 1634), and the first subway system (1897). It was also the location of the first U.S. chapter of the YMCA (Young Men's Christian Association) in 1851.

The famous Boston Marathon (site of terrorism in 2013) is the world's oldest annual marathon (since 1897) and ranks as one of the world's best-known road racing events.

*This posting was translated from a Korean post. Click here to read the original version.