The Rain has Stopped and the Sun is Out

Saturday, April 3rd, 2010

Boston, Massachusetts

So I was sitting on the T heading into the city when I saw a guy wearing a Red Sox hat. My first thought was "wow, he's brave" and that's when it hit me.....I'm not in New York City anymore......I'm officially in Red Sox country.

Anyway, after a very stressful week of moves and re-moves and new jobs....oh and did I mention the constant rain (severe flooding in the area)........the sun came out and I headed out to enjoy a day off. It is of course Easter Weekend so the 27 C (80 F) weather was very welcome. Of course I was not the only one out and about. It seems like the entire city was on the streets.

I'm getting use to the train trip into Boston from Braintree. It takes about 25 minutes to get to the hospital and today that was my starting spot as I know where I am when I get there. I'm not sure if I have mentioned this in earlier blogs about Boston but the roads here are very, VERY confusing. I use to think that there was nothing I would hate more than driving in New York City, but I assure you driving (and walking) in Boston is worse. NYC at least is on a grid...straight north/south and east/west. Boston on the other hand seems to be build like a giant kaleidoscope. It kind of reminds me of walking around Rome....but not as Italian.

I decided to hit a few places I have not been during previous visits including the famous Quincy Market. Any place named Market is probably a bad place for me to head as we all know how I like to shop. And well I did a little shopping, checked out a few things and got annoyed by the crowd. Apparently the long winter has made people forget how to behave in public or maybe I was still just annoyed by everything so I actually could not handle the crowds for long. However, the sun felt great on my face and listening to people talk with "Bawstin" accents is amusing (I'll have to talk about that sometime. I actually bought The Boston Dictionary today.....it will probably come in handy).

Anyway, here are a few shots from my wandering of the streets.

The Liberty Hotel as seen from the Charles/ MGH Red Line T station. (The T is the nickname of Boston's subway system). This is my station because in behind The Liberty Hotel is Massachusetts General Hospital. Interesting story....The Liberty Hotel use to be the Charles Street Jail. Constructed from 1848 - 1851, the jail has housed many famous inmates including Malcolm X and World War II prisoners from a German submarine. In 1973 the US District court deemed that the overcrowding violated prisoners constitutional rights but the jail did not officially close until 1990. The hospital now owns and runs it. I have not been inside yet but hopefully I can take a quick peak before I leave the city.

This is the Old West Church. It can be found just down the street from the hospital. It was built in 1806. It is said by some that it was in this building that the phrase "no taxation without representation" was first coined. I'm not sure there is any way to prove (or disprove) that statement so I will leave it to everyone individually to decided if they think it is true or not.

The unmistakable gold dome of the Massachusetts State House.

This is Park Street Church. It sits across the street from Boston Common and next to The Granary Burying Grounds. The Granary Burying Grounds are famous because of some of the people who are buried there. These people include Samuel Adams (one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence......he now has a beer named after him), Paul Revere (you know from the Revolution......I'll talk about him later), John Hancock (also a singer of the Declaration of Independence) and Mother Goose (it's true).

Some of the entertainment in Quincy Market (and I don't mean the guy's head that ended up in this picture). In a moment that guy on stilts will start juggling stuff. So fun. No matter how old you get, a guy on stilts juggling is always entertaining.

One of the small alley ways.....sidewalks.....walkways....whatever we are calling them, that you will find in Boston.

This is the Copp's Hill Burying Grounds. It is the second oldest cemetery in Boston. There are a few famous people buried here....well famous if you know a lot about US history. But really it is full of many unmarked graves belonging to African-Americans who lived in the New Guinea community that sat at the base of the hill.

This is Old North Church. It was in this steeple that the "one if by land, two if by sea" signal was said to have been sent to warn of the movements of British Troops during the American Revolution. However this was a back-up method. Paul Revere as well as William Dawes were also to deliver the message to Patriots by horse back. You may recall hearing about Paul Revere's Midnight ride where he is said to have shouted "The British our coming. The British are Coming". More likely however he shouted "The Regulars are coming". I have also been told that he actually shouted " The Red shirts are coming". I guess we may never know exactly what he said but I guess for American what was really important was that they were warned of an impending attack by the British.

This is the Old State House. It was built in 1713 and is the oldest surviving public building in Boston. It also happens to be the seat of the first elected legislature in the New World.

So as usual, everything in Boston was entertaining me due to it's age and place in history. The whole city is a giant history book. So much fun.

I love this city.

Julie