Boston Trip

Bicycle

Linda and I returned from Boston yesterday - a very nice trip. We left on Sunday and drove to Sudbury, MA to the Wayside Inn. This is advertised as the second oldest Inn in America, and it is certainly quaint. The grist mill is interesting - it's certainly large, and it works (Linda bought some corn meal ground there), and the external street view is dramatic, but otherwise it doesn't have any special visual interest.

There is also a small chapel that Henry Ford built as a memorial to his mother. It's a quaint New England church on the outside - white clapboard and all that - but the inside is pretty nondescript.

We then continued into Boston. The plan had been to take a ferry to Georges Island and Fort Warren. But plans don't always work out. Boston is a great place for walking cause no one can drive there. More seriously, driving is OK if you stay on surface streets and take the time to carefully read signs (and have good directions). But traffic moves so fast in the new Big Dig tunnels moves so fast that it's easy to miss turns - signs are not always legible (especially in the older tunnels where the lighting is pretty murky). So the bottom line was that we got lost - really lost! Eventually, we found our way out of the tunnels, but by then it was too late to get the ferry and still have any time on the island. Instead, we found a place to park on the street next to the Public Garden, and spent an hour or so walking around. Linda took a swan boat ride, while I made a few pictures. Later that evening, we drove into Cambridge and walked around Harvard Square for a while.

On Monday we drove up the coast to Cape Ann. We stopped for a few hours in Salem to visit the House of Seven Gables and the National Park Service facility at Central Wharf. Then we continued on to Gloucester for lunch at a restaurant on the pier. Finally, we ended up in Rockport. This was our first time there, and we definitely plan to go back. Our stay was cut short by the treat of a thunderstorm. That night we were back at Harvard Square to share a small pizza at Bertucci's.

Tuesday was supposed to be very warm, but the front parked itself just south of Boston. The result was that it was a beautifully sunny day with very cool temperatures. We parked at Boston Common and walked the Freedom Trail, visiting the State House, Park Street Church, Kings Chapel, the Old City Hall, Old South Meeting House, the old State House, Fanueil Hall and Quincy Market. We had a light lunch (a bowl of chowder) at the Union Oyster house, and then sat next to Fanueil Hall for a while to watch people. Then we walked back to the Public Garden where Linda fed the ducks. That evening, we found our way to No Name Restaurant on the Fish Pier for a wonderful baked scrod dinner.

We departed Boston yesterday for Concord to visit the Louisa May Alcott home. B-O-R-I-N-G! And stuffy. The docent who conducted our tour had memorized a script that probably read well, but the language came across as very stilted and unnatural when spoken. From there we drove west on Route 2 to Shelburne Falls to see the Flower Bridge. Had lunch at Cafe Martin (have to go back there!).

This picture is a Pt/Pd print of a negative made on our day trip to Manchester and Pawlet, VT last month.