Off to Salem! Breakfast of home-made waffles with Mike and Anne. Mike then drove us to the care hire place where we got a gold car, he amusingly offered us a crucifix for protection. I enjoyed the drive into Brooklyn, and made me feel like we were in the The French Connection.
Picked up Weezer and Troy who were armed with an interesting assortment of CDs, including some Bluegrass music played by people with eight or twelve fingers per hand. Lots of tunes in the car, and was taught by demonstration how to yee-haw! by my travel companions.
New England beautiful -- I loved all the trees and the wide open spaces, and imagining what life would be like in the small and pretty towns we drove through. "Fall" more advanced here than in Long Island and the whole country seemed to be covered in leaves, and people busily engaged in apparently futile attempts to clear their lawns.
Noticing again for the nth time how many flags there are in the US. Stars and stripes everywhere. Pride and patriotism runs so deeply, and permeates everything. Take the Long Island Rail Road for example. On the side of the carriages there are crossed stars and stripes with the legend Proud to Serve. It is nothing for a car seller for example to have 10 stars and stripes fluttering outside the garage -- even when he is selling not US manufactured cars. As a jaded European it seems almost Orwellian at times, but that probably says more about European history and the dangers of nationalism, than the pride people in the US show in their flag.
The journey took us longer than we expected, we got lost a few times and there was much pouring over maps and so on. But we arrived tired but safely in the cold and dark, checking into a motel and then going into town for a really nice meal and drinks. The old part of Salem atmospheric as we drove around it at night. Back to the motel and much needed sleep.
Driving down streets that should be in films in Brooklyn...
Picked up Weezer and Troy who were armed with an interesting assortment of CDs, including some Bluegrass music played by people with eight or twelve fingers per hand. Lots of tunes in the car, and was taught by demonstration how to yee-haw! by my travel companions.
New England beautiful -- I loved all the trees and the wide open spaces, and imagining what life would be like in the small and pretty towns we drove through. "Fall" more advanced here than in Long Island and the whole country seemed to be covered in leaves, and people busily engaged in apparently futile attempts to clear their lawns.
Noticing again for the nth time how many flags there are in the US. Stars and stripes everywhere. Pride and patriotism runs so deeply, and permeates everything. Take the Long Island Rail Road for example. On the side of the carriages there are crossed stars and stripes with the legend Proud to Serve. It is nothing for a car seller for example to have 10 stars and stripes fluttering outside the garage -- even when he is selling not US manufactured cars. As a jaded European it seems almost Orwellian at times, but that probably says more about European history and the dangers of nationalism, than the pride people in the US show in their flag.
The journey took us longer than we expected, we got lost a few times and there was much pouring over maps and so on. But we arrived tired but safely in the cold and dark, checking into a motel and then going into town for a really nice meal and drinks. The old part of Salem atmospheric as we drove around it at night. Back to the motel and much needed sleep.
Driving down streets that should be in films in Brooklyn...
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