Harvard Business School - Day 20 & 21

Saturday, 26 Sep 2009
Well I have finished class for week three. It has been a fantastic week of learning and insight, but I am glad I have some time off this afternoon and tomorrow.

It is a beautiful day here and four of us took Neil’s (one of our working group) car up to Salem, which is north of where I am at HBS. Salem is where they burned the witches in a very ugly period of American history in 1692 due to some religious Puritanism that escalated to a point where-by woman were being accused by young girls (who as it turns out were just pretending to be possessed and having a bit of sport) of being witches and hanged when found guilty. Neil’s car is a convertible Volvo happily on loan from Hertz Rent A Car, and although it was a bit tight with four of us in it it was a nice day to have the hood down. The traffic was appalling and what should have been an easy 30 minute drive ended up taking over an hour and a half.

Salem itself was a bit of an anticlimax, there were a few loosely themed witch type attractions and we did spend $8 each sitting through a very average presentation on the historic events at the Witch Museum. Never mind it was nice to get out and the trip home was no where near as troublesome. Neil, Philippe and I had dinner at a restaurant called Mortons Steak House ( http://www.mortons.com/ ) it was quite nice but very expensive, and the steak they served, although well cooked, was obscenely large and at least half of it got wasted. Both Neil and Philippe are wine buffs, so I am getting the opportunity to educate my pallet on some old world as well as American wines which I am enjoying (picture is of Neil on the left and Philippe).

Sunday, 27 Sep 2009
I decided that I would fly solo and go and check out Boston, and find some shops to to buy a few toiletries etc.
I took the underground (the MBTA) from Harvard Square into Boston. I had used the map facility on my iPhone to identify a J C Penney (department) store, which required me to walk about 2 kms from the MBTA station. Having walked there all I found was a J C Penney warehouse, not a retail outlet. Sometimes you shouldn't rely completely on technology, but not to work, I got to walk back to the MBTA and then found some other shops nearby.
I did a bit of work Sunday afternoon and then grabbed some dinner with Neil (which was much cheaper and equally as nice, if not better, than the night before).