Do you remember that scene in The Simpsons when Homer thinks that Bart is gay and tries to straighten him out by taking to a nice hardworking manly steel mill. It turns out that all the workers are gay. As Homer`s jaw drops Bart asks him why he had been brought to a gay steel mill, and Homer sobs that he didn`t know.
Welcome to Provincetown.
I had been recommended this "picturesque village" on the very tip of the cape, and since I wanted to see Cape Cod I was keen to go. As I pulled up I saw lots of rainbow flags and wondered to myself about the naivety of the owners, not knowing what this flag symbolises. Then in the hostel there were only immaculately-manicured and coiffured pretty-boys.
It turns out that Provincetown is a gay resort. Perhaps even America`s gayest gay resort. Ooops. Someone had mentioned this fact to me but I had either forgotten or assumed that it would be no more flamboyant than San Francisco. How wrong I was.
Not only were there no women apart from the odd girl there with her family, but I had visited in the middle of "Bear Week." Apparently a "bear" is a large hairy gay man... the place was crawling with them.
On the main strip at night there were drag queens, convincing or otherwise; endless bears, "cubs" (a young bear), "twinks" (good-looking clean-shaven men), and sight-seers like myself. I went to see some drag karioke and get a bite to eat, but I really didn`t fancy attending the Vault or Purgatory night clubs.
Before reaching Provincetown I stopped at Plymouth to see the world-famous Plymouth Rock. I assumed that this rock was a large cliff or similar, but in actual fact it is simply a rock. A boulder about 5 feet long with "1620" carved on it. In the words of Alexis de Tocqueville, who would have known that the foot falls of a "few outcasts" would make it so famous.
Plymouth itself is a very nice town, with old mills, stocks, 17C houses and a lovely park housing the rock.
One the downside my latest run-in with the motoring authorities: I returned to my car to find a note alledging that I had dinged the adjacent car as I parked. Sadly a cop was nearby and wrote me up. I visited the station and they gave me some paperwork to complete, but no fine.