Visiting Boston

Last week we flew to Boston for three nights. I loved seeing water and the city itself as we landed. Usually airports are so far out.

We stayed on the outskirts of Boston at a Hampton Inn in Revere, with hotel shuttle service to the closest subway station at Wood Island. It wasn't the greatest situation but it was suitable for all-day trips into the city.

Here's the station we emerged from on our first foray into the city

We walked the Freedom Trail, led along by a painted red line through historic neighborhoods and sites. Here's Paul Revere's house

We also saw the old North End church and dropped a donation into the original donation box.

While crossing the Charlestown Bridge a lone man with a mullet and a confederate hat remarked "ya'll from Atlanta!?" after seeing my Georgia Tech shirt. We nodded. He exclaimed "Me too!" and slogged on. We were a little sad about the affiliation.

Michelle took pictures of almost every Duck Boat in town. She wanted to "collect them all" and I tried to help.

We also shopped and ate around the Faneuil Hall marketplace. It was a little crowded and an obvious tourist/large family spot but worth seeing.

We visited Harvard square and walked around the campus. The day was warm and many of the dorms and lecture buildings lacked air conditioning so they felt stuffy.

We ate at Wagamama on the Square and watched the street. It was nice, and the food was great.

Later we visited MIT and headed for the Stata Center. Michelle may have written some kind words about Georgia Tech somewhere. The bookstore across from The Coop was full of interesting titles, and a couple of the books we had seen at the Harvard bookstore were in stock and on sale, so we picked up extra reading material.

We took part in the Sam Adams tour and got some souvenir glasses. One guy in the group was wearing Budweiser shorts, a beer-branded wife beater, and a hat with a beer logo. He was with some fratty guys and they were stoked about free beer.

We also had a great time visiting Boston's public library. It's amazing inside, apparently architected with the goal of being a great palace for the public, serving as the only palace they'd ever be able to see.
A dark ancient books section had medieval texts and old copies of Emerson and Thoreau works. I admit to feeling joy and wonder staring at the books and photos.

We caught a Bolt Bus to NYC out of the South End station. Incidentally, Angelina Jolie catches a Bolt Bus in Salt.

The ride was about 4 hours, and the bus seemed to be passing most cars it came upon. The bus has free WiFi; slow for me but it worked.

Eventually we could see some of New York's outermost buildings on the horizon.