Going To Boston... Boston... Boston, Massachusetts... Ohh, I'm going to Boston... Oh yeah baby - I'm telling you like it is; I'm going to Boston! The City of Champions - yeah baby!
(Singing this to the rhythms of Paul Simon's old tune about some other place that he visited - wherever that was...! Oh yeah: I'll be singing these lyrics I spontaneously cooked up on my way to... BOSTON!)
And I will be going there a mere few weeks after I went to... CUBA!
Is it to antagonize Americans in general, that I get to go where they cannot go, due to their own embargo and associated imbroglios...? (As for the latter, sing it to the tune of Guantanamera like I do...! But that's another story - back to our questioning here!)
Is it to partake of the ambiance that permeates the entire Boston area, ever since they defeated seven annoying adversaries in roughly a decade (give or take 12 months) and were therefore crowned seven times in that short span, effectively becoming thecity of champions, hoping some of that will rub off on me and extend my very own lucky streak (hopefully make it reach ever higher, greater heights too!) and consecrate me as a champion, too?
Or is it simply to bask in the merriment of March Break *and* upcoming St-Patrick's Day festivities in a city that truly appreciates the Green... The Red... The Silver... And the Black and the Gold! But we're getting sidetracked here, now...!
Let's say that it is, quite simply, all of the above!
(After all, I am a history buff -formally trained in the field too but, alas, with the least interesting subject there was- and I may just be in the midst of a Revolutionary Tour -instead of, say, an umpteenth Luminous Tour?- so certainly Cuba and America had to be the first two stops there! In that order. Just to antagonize Americana - indeed! After all, the latter's revolution was done and over with by the late 1780s while, in Cuba, it's 53 years of Revoluciòn - and counting! They had to be first. Next stop: I think I'll simply go back to Bulgaria then...? But let's leave all that revolutionary talk at that, for now...)
And let's just explore the luminous city of... Boston!
Truth be told, we didn't have time to truly roam all the historical sites, streets, nooks and crannies of the great city of BOSTON - but we saw enough and we WILL RETURN...! And, next time, we'll shoot for certain true blue Bostonianstandards as far as the choice of our lodgings are concerned - not that we poorly set up at all, mind you, but then again we were not in Boston per say: we were in one of its suburbs' hotels!
On our way there, though, we know what to expect now for we had to go through the harshest territories there are or that there could possibly be (you know the drill: New Hampshire, Maine... Vermont! Brrrrr - it's so damn cold there! But then again - we were coming from the darndest, grimiest cold town there is: murky Montréal - yerck!) and we had the fortune of stopping by The Eastside Restaurant & Pub - if we had not, we would have surely died!
And to think that the American customs guy sent us, originally, to Hoagie's! It was a chance encounter at the gas station that made us discover The Eastside, guiding us there! You can eat as unhealthily as cops and other boogers do, customs guy - but we sure won't!
The Eastside is described as a fine establishment and its slogan sums up its attributes well; it reads like this - "fine family dining on the water." The menu does have lots of seafood on it - but not exclusively that, fear not! Fine dining on or by the water is just fine with me though: I love the water! Especially that dirty water; you know it! And, so it is here, fine dining by the sea, with an atmosphere of nautical paradise (complete with washrooms for mates and mermaids) that most certainly can be more convincing once it is summertime again! We gotta drop by once more - the very next time that we'll be going to BOSTON!
Okay, maybe it is a tad overstating it - but there is no denying that BOSTON is indeed THE CITY OF CHAMPIONS now, what, with 7 championships in 11 years - my, that's got to be the best 7-11 of all time! ;-)
Too bad the video doesn't have more Bruins content though - especially pertaining to championship #7 indeed which the Bruins brought to the city after winning nothing less than three seven-game series and sixteen extra victories on top of their great season totals, in the playoffs... (the required number in order to win it all, really!)
It is true that, overall, in the last decade the Patriots won three times the Red Sox twice and the Bruins are tied with the Celtics with a championship apiece.
However, historically, the Celtics have the most titles followed by the Bruins now and then the Red Sox and, finally, the Pats. There are lacrosse and soccer teams in Boston, too, but they haven't won a title yet.
Winning isn't everything though: and before you quote that crazy guy who said "it's the only thing" - well, think again!
All the accolades, the cheers, the joy - all that glory - is very ephemeral. There were so many truly GREAT players, great athletes and great individuals (no matter what they did in life) that NEVER got to taste such "glory" - and nowhere else is that better understood than in BOSTON. In the above video, we see several greats that were never part of a championship team: chief among those would be Ted Williams. There were TONS more, in Boston: and yet they are there, on the video. And the Boston Bruins of 2011 are not. That is due to two things, most certainly: probably this video was done before 2011 and whoever made it understands like Boston does that one can achieve glorious moments even in defeat or apparent defeat...
Another GREAT that could have been there part of this glorious montage would have Boston Bruin Normand Leveillè: another site of Bostonian Remembrance recently chose him as their "vintage athlete of the month" and it was one of the greatest choices they could have made! Léveillé's story is one of tragedy indeed; but it is interesting to note at this time that his name literally means "the awakened" and perhaps it was in the tragic unraveling of the promise of a brilliant NHL career that he did awake to greater things... Some will say it is just lost opportunity others will focus upon the tragic destiny of an unfulfilled tremendous potential but all will agree that there still lies a GLORIOUS accomplishment there, as Léveillé's path resonates with all who know it and from his tragedy came true glory and a greater cause:
Even so, even after all we've said here Normand Léveillé himself would agree that the 'City of Glory' video above could use much more Bruins footage which consists of beating adversaries and beating them up! ;-)
Dreams can go international on you too; as evidenced by this bit of garage league music -a gem in and by itself- that somehow links Massachusetts, Mississippi and several parts of Europe, judging by the subtitles...! And don't forget Acadia...!
