'Show me potato salad'

We decided to start off our American tour in New England because we wanted to follow in the footsteps of our forefathers, and we followed thousands of them today as we breathed in the sweet air of democracy on the Boston 'Freedom Trail'. This is a sort of yellow-brick road (except it's red-brick) that cuts a path around a cluster of the city's most prominent landmarks, the majority of which, as you would expect in a place considered to be the cradle of the American Revolution, are from that era. 

We opted to exercise our own freedom by following the trail unerringly, never deviating from it even slightly, and consequently we saw pretty much everything. There's the graveyard in which Samuel Adams, Josiah Franklin and John Hancock are buried (as well as hundreds of other 18th-century Bostonians, but, rather sadly, the tourists seldom stop to look at their graves), and the Massachusetts State House, outside which stands a stone sculpture of a cod that caused a splash in the 30s when it was 'codnapped' (geddit? Not my joke it's in the guide book). Then there's the Old South Meeting House where the decision was taken to carry out the Boston Tea Party, when some royally cheesed-off New Englanders dressed as Indians boarded an incoming British supply ship and chucked several tea chests into the harbour. Unfortunately, and rather hilariously, they did it at low tide, so they had to jump down onto the sand and smash the chests up to make their statement, though you don't hear about that part of it too often. In addition, there's the restored house of Paul Revere, who rode to Concord to warn George Washington of an impending British attack, and all around the city there are statues of Washington, Adams, and many of the other revolutionary heroes.

While these totems are undeniably impressive, I'm slightly uncomfortable with the mythologising of the revolution here. There's certainly a great deal to admire in what they achieved, but, make no mistake, the root of the colonists' unhappiness was money, not oppression, or even inequality. The declaration may have stated that 'all men are created equal', but it meant, of course, for it went without saying, wealthy, propertied, male, and, above all, white men - even though the concept of a union of disparate states was inspired by the indigenous Iroquois Confederacy. As a result, I find the lionisation of these men as champions of universal liberty ever so slightly galling.

That said, it's not that surprising. America is often, slightly absurdly, accused of being a land devoid of history, but it is true that it lacks the long, romantic historical narrative of Europe, so naturally its inhabitants have been keen to extol the virtues of those pivotal figures that have appeared on the scene. And clearly, the revolution, in the long run, had a distinctly positive impact. So perhaps I can forgive the mythology after all.

We're still pretty tired and we walked a hell of a long way this morning, so this afternoon has been pretty chilled out, but, after eating a Phillie Cheese Steak from the Quincy Market, which I would recommend to anybody, we've managed to find time to watch the season opener of the Boston Red Sox on TV. It's been a good first day in the land of the free.

- Adam