Boston’s Street “System” 1, Me 0
January 31st, 2008 by MarkI made a thoroughly unpleasant first visit to Boston today. You know, I was totally predisposed to like the place, too. I loved the accents in Good Will Hunting. My college buddy’s girlfriend who visited from Harvard was awesome. Just their stand on Pop vs. Soda vs Tawnick is sweet.
The problem is, the roads suck. In trying to get to the Taipei Economic Office, I spent hours drivingriding around and around, never more than a couple of miles away, and yet not being able to find the @#$@!* place until after they had closed at 4:30. A nice grid, like Toronto, would have been ideal. I could have managed a diagonally aligned street system like Denver’s, though. Any system would have been nice. Boston doesn’t seem to have one, though. It’s almost as if the layout was designed by a bunch of drunkards pushing oxcarts around. Oh wait. It was.
Beyond the general madness of its design, of course it’s a pain in the ass just by virtue of being big. It’s filled with one way streets, pedestrian only streets, the parking sucks, and it’s freezing. With the subway and all, I’m sure it’s a nice place to explore on foot in the summer, but I didn’t make it to the Taiwanese “embassy” until 4:45, at which time they were already closed. That means borrowing Sonia’s car and making another 3 hour trip back there tomorrow.
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February 16th, 2008 at 9:23 pm
Did you try using a website like MapQuest to get driving directions to the Taiwanese representative office?
Boston’s great to explore on foot, especially if you follow the Freedom Trail, which takes you to a number of historical sites.
February 17th, 2008 at 2:42 am
Mapquest’s the one I used, actually. Unfortunately, I didn’t have access to a printer, though. From what I saw on the site, I had no idea how much of a pain it was to get there.
I’d love to go back to Boston as a pedestrian… preferably in the summer.
February 18th, 2008 at 1:41 am
[...] not making it in time yesterday, I had to make another trip from Hanover, NH to Boston today. It was an adventure to say the [...]
February 18th, 2008 at 9:38 pm
And by that I’m sure you meant “Sonia spent hours driving around and around…”
February 18th, 2008 at 11:41 pm
You’re right. I conflated the two trips and uh… overstated my part on the first day. Sorry about that. I’ll fix it.
February 19th, 2008 at 11:12 am
Haha, it’s okay. I was the one who got us lost in the first place.
Hope you’re getting over jetlag alright!
February 19th, 2008 at 3:35 pm
I’m pretty much back to normal. As for getting lost, I blame the drunken oxcart drivers.