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| The hotel had limited parking so we had to search out a place to park for the day. We drove along the Charles River (above) to the Cambridgeside Galleria Mall where we found a spot in the parking deck. |
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| Playing with mirrors in the Stata Center. In the Stata Center there was an information booth and Derek picked up a flier for Codzilla, a speed boat cruise in the Boston Harbor, and became fixated on it instead of paying attention to the cool stuff at hand. After ignoring his hints for a while I finally turned and said, "Geez - we're not doing Codzilla - we're going to MIT and Harvard." |
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| There were lots of things in bloom - much later than back home in Atlanta |
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| Walking back to Kendall Square along the Charles River |
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| The museum covered an impressive number of subjects |
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| Adam really liked all the Indian stuff, especially the dioramas, in the Peabody Museum which was connected to the Natural History Museum |
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| We opted for something a little different...Thai food...at Spice Thai. Derek wasn't happy. We had to have the "expand your horizons" talk for the 999th time. |
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| Derek swore he tried satay beef before and didn't like it. This time he loved it, scarfed it down, and wanted more. |
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| We took the train back to the mall and picked up our car because we weren't sure how late we could park it in the mall parking deck. Then we drove to Fenway Park to take the tour. |
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| The tour took you around to several different areas of the park where we would gather and listen to the guide talk |
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| To the press box |
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| Our guide was really good and made the tour informative and fun |
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| The guide told us about the new seats above the Green Monster and how they are sold by lottery for individual games only |
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| Time for some ice cream after the tour |
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| ...and a hot dog |
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| Incredible marble work |
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| George Washington, as well as many of the other famous statues around town, sported Boston Bruins jerseys with their names on the back. The Bruins were in the middle of the Stanley Cup Hockey finals with the Vancouver Canucks and they were down 3 games to 2. They would eventually come back and win the series. |
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| The circle marks the site of the Boston Massacre |
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| We strolled back and forth trying to pick from all the wonderful food |
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| Adam decided he just wanted some watermelon...and that's why he has no belly |
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| Derek was elated that they had Philly Cheesesteaks. He was having withdrawal ever since Philadelphia...and that's why he has a big belly. |
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| Helen and I got some pizza |
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| Carrot cake and a chocolate whoopie pie |
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| Still following the Freedom Trail |
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| Paul Revere with his Bruins jersey |
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| We walked through the North End by all the quaint Italian shops and restaurants and wanted to eat some more but we had just eaten. We eventually followed the Freedom Trail to the Charles River. |
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| The Freedom Trail ends across the river at the Bunker Hill monument (lit up in the middle of the picture), but everyone decided they had gone far enough |
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| We walked by TD Garden, where the Bruins were playing the Canucks, on the way to the train station |
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| We waited a pretty long time for the train. Fans from the Bruins game were trickling into the station and they weren't all that excited so we figured the Bruins must be losing. We found out later they won easily. |
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| On the way out of town we saw this building displaying more Bruin appreciation |
Monday June 13, 2011
We were excited to get out and explore Boston, but first we had to move our van. It was annoying that we couldn't leave it at the hotel while we were out and about, but I guess in a big city parking is hard to come by. The hotel desk person told us to park at a nearby mall because the mall provided a shuttle to the train station. So that was where we headed.
The parking and shuttle thing was a little squishy to me. There wasn't any signs or anything and we weren't sure where to catch the shuttle. Eventually we found the right place and caught the shuttle to Kendall Square. From there we walked a couple blocks to MIT. We weren't sure exactly what we were looking for, but the Dr Seuss like Stata Center stuck out so we headed there. There didn't seem to be much going on during the summer session. There were some students in the Stata Center lobby working and eating. We looked at some of the exhibits and asked for directions to the visitor center.
We walked across campus to the visitor center and looked around and then stopped to admire the "Alchemist" sculpture. We walked back along the Charles River to the train station and took the train a couple stations west to Harvard Square.
In Harvard Square there's a lot of activity. There are a bunch of roads that come together and lots of shops. We took it all in and got a map and some information from a young guy advertising tours. We bought some postcards and some drinks at a little store and then walked towards Harvard University.
We entered Harvard Yard through the decorative gate and crossed the grassy quad. There was a tour in progress and we listened in on it for a little and then made our way towards the Harvard Natural History Museum. On the way, there was a fountain and some rocks where the boys stopped to play.
We were pleasantly surprised by the breadth of exhibits at the museum. We wondered how in the world the artists created those realistic glass flowers. There were plenty of rocks, reptiles, insects, and animals to look at. Things that sting and bite and kill. It was an impressive place.
We didn't know that the Natural History Museum connected to the Peabody Museum. We really enjoyed the Peabody and, especially, had fun looking at all the Indian artifacts. Adam loves to look at all the dioramas and eagerly runs from display to display telling us to look at this and that. Of course, when we leave the boys say that it was "alright, but not that fun." Sometimes I have an idea of how long I want to spend in a place and I sometimes might blow through or try to bypass some things, but Adam, especially, wants to look at everything...and then complain that we didn't get to do anything fun. Derek is more selective but more impatient and bothersome if there's something he really wants to do or see. He really likes reptiles and insects.
We looked up some places to eat on our GPS and decided on Thai. We walked for several blocks before finding the place. Derek pouted and claimed there was nothing he could eat at the restaurant. He dislikes rice, something about the texture, and always complains when we eat Asian food, but he has really liked some steak dishes in the past and we reminded him of that fact. We ordered some satay steak and the boys gobbled them up.
We joke with Derek about all his complaining and point out how often his complaints are proven to be unwarranted and how often he even ends up agreeing that he was wrong to complain. He has basically told us that he doesn't know why he complains and that it is kind of his job as a pre-teen to complain and that we should just ignore what he says and force him to do want he doesn't want to do and in the end it will all be ok. We reply how that makes for a lot of aggravation for us and that, if he would just cut out the complaining, it would be a lot simpler. I've never been good with indirection or anything that isn't straightforward. It's all so...inefficient. I want people to say what they mean and mean what they say. Is that so hard?
After lunch, we took the train back to the mall to get our car. We weren't sure how late we could leave our car in the mall parking deck. From the mall we drove to Fenway Park for a tour. It was a pleasant day for the tour and our tour guide was great. Helen was surprised at how many people were there for the tour. I don't think she thought Fenway Park was such a big deal. Our guide was informative and fun and we really enjoyed the tour. After the tour we had some ice cream and a hot dog and then walked to the nearest train station.
We took the train to the Boston Common area. Helen had not been that impressed with Boston up to this point, but the area around Boston Common was more like New York and Philadelphia...lots of people and activity and the area was very walkable. We thought the Public Garden was beautiful. It had the feel of Central Park. We got a kick out of George Washington in his Bruins jersey.
We eventually located the start of the Freedom Trail and proceeded to follow it. The trail was well marked and there were plenty of people following the trail and having a good time. We stopped for dinner at the Quincy Market and had a hard time choosing from all the delicious looking choices.
It was dark when we finished dinner and we picked back up on the Freedom Trail. We followed the trail to the Old North Church and saw Paul Revere in his Bruins jersey and then continued on to the North End and all the Italian restaurants and bakeries. Eventually we ended up at the Charles River. We could see the Bunker Hill monument lit up in the distance across the bridge, but we had enough walking and headed for the nearest train station.
We passed by the TD Garden where the Bruins were playing the Canucks in Game 6 and there were people trickling out of the game. We caught the train back to the Fenway Park area to pick up our car. We wanted to get some distance north of Boston to avoid rush hour in the morning and ended up about an hour north in Peabody at the Homewood Suites because the Hampton Inn was full.
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