Quick trip to Boston, MA

Pam and I headed to Boston to connect with Kirsten & Alan (Elmo) for some fun and relaxation.  We parked at Wellington Station and took the subway in to the Marriott Long Wharf.  K&A were waiting for us when we arrived around 10AM.

 

We checked in and decided to take an early afternoon “Boston Duck Tour”.   We had some time so walked by the harbor which was nice.  We walked back by way of the Rose Kennedy Greenway with many statues and art works along the way.

The Boston Duck Tour was fun.  We cruised through the Boston and over to Cambridge to enter the Charles River.  The tour guide was full of historic facts about the different buildings along the Charles.

The hotel had a very nice outdoor deck/landing just off the pool.  It had nice views of the harbor looking east toward Logan Airport.  For those of you that know me I had my camera and decided my mission would be to take some time laps photos.  Why I didn’t decide this before we left home was a mistake.  No Tripod … Because of this I would need some Tripod Creativity.

For dinner we decided Italian in the North End.  Kirsten likes Lasagna so that was a must on the menu.  We made a reservation at 6:30PM.  Several restaurants didn’t have openings until 8:30PM and even 9:30PM.  I have never been able to figure out how people can eat that late at night but that’s just me.

Returning from dinner we headed for the outdoor deck.  Looking toward the airport the planes were landing over the water.  No kidding … once I thought about what I wanted to do they shifted and started landing on a different runway. 

The rails were rounded over and the tables didn’t clear the top of the rails.  Tripod Creativity - I ended up leaning out to set my camera on top of the light fixtures hanging beyond the rails.  I was told several times not to drop my camera.  It wouldn’t survive a 4 story fall so I kept my lanyard around my wrist the whole time.

I took pictures from 1 to 15 seconds.  Increasing the exposure time increases the amount of light or brightness of the picture and shows object movement so experimenting was fun.  Here is a day picture and a night picture to compare.  The horizontal lines on the horizon of the night picture are planes descending into Logan airport.

Next we headed to Faneuil Hall and I took a couple pictures.  Tripod Creativity - used the side of a flower planter and a phone charger to point the lens to get the right angle.

There were several wedding parties and a reception at the hotel.  As I was looking down from the fourth floor to the first floor I took a couple pictures of the colorful panels near the escalators.  Also, there were orange colored ornamental lights hanging down from the high ceilings.  They were open at the bottom to project light down toward the escalators.  Still in my experimental mode I decided to take time lapse pictures (pointing my camera straight up) of those lights with different camera settings while going up and down the escalators.  Because I was moving it was tough trying to point and hold the camera straight up.  I did receive some rather perplexing looks while doing this.

Tripod Creativity - I used the hand rail of the moving escalator to try to hold the camera straight up pointing at the lights.  Note to Self … The inside hand rail of the escalator going down at the Marriott Long Wharf moves at a slower speed than the steps you are standing on?  I found that out in my experiment.  It’s something to watch out for next time you are in Boston!  hehe ...

  

Sunday morning up at 5:15AM and off to take more time lapse pictures.  Tripod Creativity - I used a table and my wallet to prop up my camera at the right angle.  At one point I set a chair in the middle of the road and set my camera on that.  Not much traffic that early in the morning.  The red streaks were from the side markers of 2 panel vans going past me when the shutter was open.

Boston is great and full of history.  I decided to think more historic so headed up the street to “The Old State House”.  This is one of the stops on Boston’s Freedom Trail.  The plaque on the building says:  “The Old State House, Boston’s oldest public building, was built in 1713 as the seat of British colonial government.  Here the Royal Governor and Massachusetts Assembly debated the Stamp Acts and the Writs of Assistance.  The Declaration of Independence was first read to the Bostonians from the east balcony on July 18, 1776.

The building served as the State House until 1798, and was also Boston’s City Hall from 1830 to 1841.”

My pictures show the east balcony where that took place.  The headlights and tail lights are from cars as they passed by me.  Tripod Creativity - My camera was resting on top of the corner garbage can lid while using my lens cover to get the right angle … really!

I headed back to catch the sun rise out of the east over the water and started to wake people after 7AM.

Once everyone was up and moving we found a place for breakfast and ended up at the Boston Common by the pond.  We enjoyed the rest of the morning, checked out around noon, and headed for home.

We had a great time and decided New York City may be next.  OH, next time tripod too …

Day trip to Boston, MA

We headed in to Boston for the day.  We parked at Alewife T station and took the Red Line to Park Street.  Had a a great time walking around.  We walked across the Boston Common to Acorn Street (oldest street in Boston).  Stopped at a couple shops on Charles Street.  We headed down Commonwealth Ave. ( a beautiful walk) toward Devonshire Street.    We then cut over to Copley Place and into the Mall.  Trinity Church was open so we went inside.  What a beautiful church, inside and out ...  

We ate a late lunch in Faneuil Hall at Hard Rock Cafe which we enjoyed last year.  Dessert was reserved for  Mike's Pastry in the North End.  We looped around to look at the Old North Church.  We wanted to go inside but they had closed early. 

Fat squirrel's that were very friendly.  It was quite obvious they have been had fed by and not the least bit scared of people.  Reach down and act like you have food and they come right up to you.  This one looks to be shaking hands with Kevin as it grabs Kevin's glove. 

Megan met up with her old flame she sees once a year ... hehe. 

As it got dark we enjoyed the Christmas lights and the tree lit up in Faneuil Hall.  We jumped on the subway at Park street and headed for home.  A great family time for us. 

Boston for the Weekend

On Friday we dropped our kids off for snow camp at 5PM. We said our quick goodby's then Pam and I were off for our weekend.

Pam didn't want to know anything about the weekend. Up to this point I had been giving her misleading and deceptive hints of what we were doing. I hinted at things like: 1) A Bed and Breakfast with a common bathroom down the hall. (When she asked if we would have our own bathroom, my face dropped and I told her I would see what I could do.) 2. We would need hiking boots for the woods and ear plugs for shooting. 3) We would be taking the truck 4 wheeling and I was worried about the depth of snow. 4) We would have a good time meeting some of our friends. (She wanted it to be just the two of us for the weekend). Etc ...

When it was time to go I told her we were taking the van and we started driving south into MA. To her, that ruled out 4 wheeling. I brought no guns so shooting was out. No boots so the woods was out. I told her Rt 128 may be faster than Rt495 so that explained heading to Rt 128. At that point she guessed Newport, RI and the mansions as we had done that a few years ago. Wrong.  As we headed south on Rt 128 I veered off onto Rt 2 toward Boston. I parked at Alewife Station and we hopped the Red Line to Park Street. A block or so away was our destination ... the Omni Parker House Hotel.

The Parker House was a great location for walking. A 10 minute walk from Faneuil Hall, 4 minutes from the Boston Common, 10 minutes from Hanover Street, etc. with the subway close by also.

We checked in and headed out for dinner to the Hard Rock Cafe.  After dinner we headed for the Prudential Center to the Top of the Hub. The Top of the Hub is on the 52nd floor of the Pru. It was a clear night so the city lights were pretty. I used to work in downtown Boston so I pointed out many things I recognized.  We don't typically stay up real late but found it easy to do with all the activity in the city.

Saturday morning I was up pretty early and headed out for a walk while Pam slept.  Pam likes her frozen coffee yogurt for breakfast.  I didn't find any coffee yogurt in any of the convenience stores I went to.  No frozen yogurt of any kind.  Must be one of those "Live Free or Die" things. 

Early morning also gave me some time to take pictures. City shots and buildings aren't something i've taken many pictures of so I experimented a bit.  I saw some good shots as it started to get light.  Next time I will bring a tripod.

The King's Chapel burial ground and the Granary burial ground are historic cemeteries right by the Parker House so I investigated.  Some good history.

When I returned Pam was up and ready to go so we headed out for an Old Town Trolley Tour around Boston. It was a lot of fun. We experienced good history lesson from the drivers. 

One place we stopped was at the USS Constitution.  We took the ship tour.  They said there were 500 people aboard the ship so very tight quarters and low ceilings.  Pam in the Captain's Quarters.

We stopped at Cheers for lunch then more trolley.   We also visited the Old North Meeting House and ended up in the Jewelers district a few streets away. Saw a watch I loved but ya know ...

At around 5PM we headed toward Hanover Street for dinner.  Earlier in the week I reached out to Tom B. and asked him his opinion on where to eat Italian in the North End. 

He recommended L'Osteria Ristorante on Salem Street which is one street over from Hanover.  I made dinner reservations for 6PM. 

I wanted to take a picture of the Old North Church before dinner.  One if by land ... Two if by sea ...

The service at L'Osteria was great , the food was outstanding.  Pam had the Veal Saltimbocca alla Romana and I had the Bocconcini Di Vitello Triestini.  Both excellent choices. 

We had to head to Mike's Pastry for desert.  The line was out the door and down the street but moved quickly.  It was well worth the wait.

Sunday morning I was up and out walking at 5:45AM.  The city was asleep.  Dunkin Donuts wasn't open ... what's with that.  I set out across Boston Common toward Charles Street and only saw one other person walking across the common.  I wanted to find Acorn Street and take a couple pictures.  It didn't take me long to find it.  I was early enough so the gas lamps were very pretty.  I could have used the tripod again.  It is very pretty looking up the street or down.

I noticed 1-a Acorn Street is for sale.  It's at the top of the hill and listed as a "sun-filled 6-bedroom, 3 full and 2 1/2 bath house with three exposures, fronts at the corner of Willow Street and quaint Acorn Street. The house has rich architectural detail, and yet retains a 'country' feeling. The main entertaining rooms are all on the same floor and there are two wonderful roof decks. Part of the house is a newly renovated air-conditioned two-bedroom apartment with separate entrance at 10 Willow Street." 3175 sq. ft., 0.02 acres, Built in: 1826.  With housing prices so low you get all this for $2,645,000.  Ok ... I had to run the numbers ... with a $529,000 (20%) down payment and a 30 year fixed at 5.5%, that would be a $12,014.42 monthly payment.  Makes no sense to me since I would do the 15 year fixed at 5.15% for only $16,899 a month.  I'd do it if the property taxes weren't so high ... hehe ... A small piece of history can be expensive.

Once I returned to the hotel we headed to Commercial Street in the North End and had a good breakfast an Anthony's.  We walked to the pier before heading back to the hotel to check out. 

It was a very relaxing and fun weekend.  We will do it again.