One of the nicest but maybe also strangest rituals of being a scientist is travelling across the world to take part in conferences. It is a work-related trip, you are supposed to present your research, look for new possibly useful network contacts, and hope to be inspired by the work of others. But at the same time you are often in a city you have never seen before. So most conference participants including me use the opportunity to get away from daily work routine and do things that make a conference trip feel like a holiday.

This time the conference ritual took place in Boston. I was at the AAG Conference, a yearly gathering of most American geographers and an increasing amount of Europeans and Asians. More than 7,000 people took part, the programme offered at least 50 parallel events at any time of the day. So you really had to make an effort to find the most interesting events and not get lost in the programme jungle. In-between sessions, I was amazed by the eternal queue in front of the in-hotel Starbucks (why queue there with at least 10 other coffee bars within a 5 minute walk?) and the typical 1970s/1980s conference/hotel/mall environment we were in. Too bad to spend most of your conference time in a grey concrete complex with such a nice an interesting city at the doorstep!

So fortunately I had enough opportunities before and during the conference to go outside and experience the city. Probably the most European of all US cities, at least of the cities I saw there. I liked the Public Garden and Commons (a 'miniature Central Park' in the middle of the inner city), the wharfs of the old harbour, and the North End most.  The experience of a NBA game was also special; the conference organisers had reserved some seats in the Boston Celtics stadium for the last game of the regular season. As I could have guessed, not the best seats, being very far from the field in the uppermost ranks. But still close enough to experience the game and of course especially the show around it. The only disappointment was that despite my 35 years and a very official Dutch ID, I could not get a beer (US citizens only!), which made me feel a bit like a kid again... Which reminded me also that even in an almost European city like Boston, the US are really different from Europe.