Boston Day Two

A new day made everything brighter.  J was at his conference by 7:00 and I woke up a few minutes before he left.  A luxuriously lazy morning for me, and only hunger for breakfast (and knowing that things would be open soon) pushed me out the door around 9:00.  

I found the train station, and a ticket window to purchase a pass for the week.  Public transportation is a beauty here- an $18 pass will get me anywhere the subway, bus, or ferry can take me this week.  I also found breakfast (a steak and egg wrap) and enjoyed people watching while I ate.

I took the subway out to town and went to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.  It was amazing, and HUGE.  I started at. 10:30 and didn't finish the first floor till1:30.  I grabbed a sandwich at the shop (BLTA on a croissant) and tackled the second floor for the next few hours and then found the one staircase in the corner that would take me to the basement- there was a John Audobon exhibit I especially wanted to see.  Definitely recommend this museum to everyone who likes to walk :). My favorite exhibits were the Impressionists, musical instruments, jewelry, pink in fashion, Dutch painters, the later European portraits, Ancient Egyptian... There was really a ton of exhibits.  There were perhaps a dozen fully furnished period rooms to view that were also very cool.

Here are some pictures I snapped of my favorite things-

I love how Van Gogh accented with black lines and used such intense colors.

Everyone loves Degas, right?  Interestingly the placard noted that while modern audiences view her as graceful and lovely, contemporary audiences viewed this as a grotesque representation of a scrawny girl.

Monet's colors are wonderful.

Again, with the bright colors and outlined in black.  This wasn't a large painting.

This statue of Columbus made me giggle- the picture doesn't capture his hilariously intent and burning gaze as he receives his inspiration to make his travels.

This was terribly cool- a collection of ROUND seals used on clay tablets.  The pictures they created were so dainty and stunning.

This picture reminded me of the artist in Kiki's Delivery Service.  Love the purples and greens.

Ernie and I studied Albrecht Durer in school this year, and this fellow was influenced by that man's rabbit painting. Love the details and colors.

I didn't finish at the museum until 4:30- I intended to try for two museums but ran out of time :). I caught the train back towards town and got off at Boston Common to poke around.  Back home Spring has arrived- daffodils, azaleas, hyacinth, forsythia, flowering quince are all in full bloom.  Here, nothing is in bloom.  There is not a single green thing out there.  I was hoping to see some color at the public gardens!  Alas.  I saw lots of statues, though.

Here is George Washington.

State House

The morning was cold, windy, and wet.  By the evening the rain had stopped but it was still in the 30's and windy.  My excellent Seattle-Style jackets kept me dry and warm- can't beat fleece under a water-proof rain parka.  Plus, my pickle-green self got more than one second glance yesterday among the sea of black coats :)

After I walked through Boston Common and the public gardens I found dinner a few blocks away (a nice apple cider and soda drink and a steak sandwich) and then wandered down Newbury, the "Fashion Street."  It was billed as a Rodeo Drive but it's not very big :). 

It's funny, but Boston really reminds me of Seattle so far.  The weather is just like ours, the building styles are so close to Pioneer Square area (so far.). People here are more professional though, in everything.  There are lots and lots of young, white, male professionals.  They are exactly the boys I went to business school with, with the perfect hair and perfect jeans and shiny shoes, and they all walk around complaining how busy and stressed they are .  So that's different than our Seattle boys who seem to be constantly laughing at their lives!  So there's that kind of professional, but even the art museum attendants and sandwich shop clerks just leap to attention whenever I speak to them.  That is very different from the laid back, friendly, vibe at home.  I also have not seem a single homeless person or mentally ill person.

After wandering a bit I got back on the train towards home.  I took two trains and then figured I was close enough, I'd walk the last mile or two.  J decided to play hooky from the big dinner at his conference last night so after I got back to the hotel we went back out to find him som dinner.  We ended up walking to Chinatown and he ordered a few plates of dumplings at the busiest restaurant we could find (figure that was a good sign!). We stopped for fro-yo afterwards and they have different toppings here- longan, rambutan, red beans, lots of jellies... I loved it :). 

We walked back to the hotel and I took a scalding bath- J walked 6,000 steps just at his conference and to town and back, I can't imagine how many I walked those twelve hours I was out!  

My prayer in the morning was just that I be able to find meals and not get lost.  He answered that brilliantly and I had a wonderful day!  It's extremely rare to get dropped off in a strange city, alone, with no responsibilities to attend to.  Super fun, though!