Museum and River Walk

This weekend Rick and I visited the Museum of Science to view their Harry Potter exhibit, it was about as Halloweenish as we got all weekend. The museum was a lot of fun and since it was a shockingly beautiful and warm day for the end of October we decided to take a long walk along the Charles afterwards.
I'm gad the sun was shining and the river walk provided plenty of free entertainment because I was still smarting from the exorbitant price of the Museum.
So, Boston Museum of Science, here is my plea, make your admission fee reasonable for students and families. The New England Aquarium is 20.95 for adults, the Museum of Fine Arts is 20 for adults, 18 for students (I get in free with my student ID and lots of libraries have passes you can check out), Isabella Stewart Gardener is 12, the Institute of Contemporary Art is 15 general admission or 10 for students and seniors and free for youth (under 17). What was the point of that list of prices? That 26 dollars is a LOT to charge and when I asked if the science museum has any student discounts or discounted days I was told only M.I.T. students got discounts.

People complain about the state of education in America and that students aren't learning enough. Here is my response, as long as it is cheaper for parents to take their kids to the movies rather than to the museum this is what they are going to do. Museum of Science, please reduce your prices or add some discounted nights because you are more expensive than any other museum in Boston.

Boston for Free

Cities can often be expensive and Boston is not exception. However I am happy to say that there are a number of things you can do in Boston for free or for very cheap! I love seals so it should come as no surprise that I love the New England Aquarium. What I don't love is their very expensive price for entry. Lucky for me you can stand outside and watch the seals swimming and playing for hours at a time, for FREE! Last time Rick and I were even lucky enough to catch a training session and learn some more about my favorite pinipeds, the Harbour Seal!

Seal Kiss!

Boston Cruise

My roommate went on a cruise around the Boston harbor a couple of weeks ago, and she won four free tickets for another one. Since Rick and I were moving out soon we decided it would be a fun last hurrah!
There was great music, lots of great people watching, and more than plenty to drink!
Plus we got beautiful views of Boston and the harbor. Definitely a great way to celebrate summer in Boston!!

Dragonboat Festival

This last weekend was the annual (and awesome) Dragonboat festival in Cambridge. While people were racing along the Charles, I was lazily watching them and eating fantastic chana masala. I like events that involve me eating and being lazy while other people are working hard. In addition to the boat races there were performances of drumming, dancing, and martial arts.

The drumming was fantastic and so much fun to watch, especially for the last piece where they started flipping sticks and one guy even jumped over his drum.

All the while rowers were rowing, and we were eating.

Here you can see Rick sampling a dish, he was not as happy with it as I was with my chana masala, but when someone doesn't like rice, cooked vegetables, or spicy food it can be hard to find something they'll enjoy (at least at a festival that features asian foods). Luckily for us we were able to get him a whole pile of naan which was deemed edible! Since the festival was free we ended up having a beautiful and exciting day along the river for just the cost of the bus ride there, and whatever food we wanted to sample! Hurrah for city living and cheap entertainment!!

Beautiful Boston

Spring and now summer have officially sprung in what now really feels like home, Boston. My roomate and I spent yesterday walking around the city. There is nothing like Boston Commons for free entertainment. Whether you enjoy people watching, soaking up the sun with a good book, or playing frisbee, this is the place to be in the summer. Fun street performers and roasted nuts are also an added bonus. I must now get back to enjoying my beautiful sun-soaked city (at least before the thunder storms start!!).

Birthday Extravaganza

Yesterday was my birthday, which I am honored to share with Terry Pratchett and Harper Lee!! Before the actual day of my birthday though I had quite the birthday extravaganza!! Between all my family and friends I must have had four celebrations and five birthday cakes before it was even my birthday!!
Here you can see birthday celebration part IV (maybe?), Rick got a quartet of delicious chocolate goodies for me!! Since I'm not a big cake person I loved this, along with the birthday tiramisu, birthday key lime pie, and birthday bananas foster that I celebrated with!! I had to work last night but Rick brought sushi to work along with my presents so it was a great celebration!
I think my favorite part so far though was after dinner at Legal Seafoods on Sunday I went to check out the seals in front of the aquarium. While the aquarium may be a little expensive, the seals are completely free and I could have spent hours hanging out with them and enjoying their antics.

With all the celebrations, love from friends and family, and the great weather yesterday, this has to be the best birthday ever!! Here's hoping 23 is even better than 22!!

MARATHON MONDAY!

Here is Harry, our spokesdog for the event.

Yesterday was the fantastic Boston Marathon! If you want hours of entertainment and excitement for free, then Marathon Monday in Boston is for you. A friend of mine lives on the course route, so we were able to set up a brunch on her front stoop and get a great view of the excitement!!
Here you see Kara Goucher battling it out with the other elite women runners. She ended up getting third, maybe next year Kara!
We were between mile 23 and 24 of the marathon, so there was a lot of excitement and a lot of people who looked like they wanted to die.
We spent about six hours cheering on runners. There were quite a few runners in funny costumes, and even more runners with great signs or who had their names on their arms or shirts so you could cheer for people by name. It was great seeing people get a boost from having 15 strangers yelling their name.

Red Sox Game!!

As my Christmas present, Rick got us tickets to the Red Sox Game!! I was so excited walking in the stadium. I had only ever been to Sea Dogs games before (which are my first love as far as baseball is concerned) and this was so different.
It was so exciting with people everywhere, all kinds of delicious smelling food.
Of course it was fun to see the stadium too, especially with all the history there.
Our seats were way up in the bleachers but I thought they were great. Plus, once we had beers and hot dogs what more do you need?
Slugger, that is the answer to what more could I need to enjoy the game! This is the mascot of the AA farm team the Portland Sea Dogs and I was jokingly asking Rick before the game if Slugger would be there. Then, lo and behold, SLUGGER!!! I challenge all of you to find a better mascot, you can try, but you won't succeed.

All in all it was a great night and so much fun! Now I can say I'm a real Bostonian cause I've finally gone to a game!

Harvard Museum of Natural History

I had an awesome sister visit this weekend! Ali wanted to go see the glass flowers exhibit at Harvard and it was amazing. The flowers were not at all what I was expecting, I was thinking of more art style glass, but these were very realistic replicas of glass flowers made by a German father and son team in the 19'th century for teaching purposes. When you look at the detail and intricacy it's hard to believe that these models were made in the field!
The museum also has animals and insects and a great collection of photos on birds and eggs.

Making a fool of yourself: always a free source of entertainment!

The museum only cost $7 (with a student ID) to get into, and seeing the crowds in Harvard Yard was free. As was the perusing we did later at the Harvard Bookstore. That evening we made dinner at home before watching Breakfast at Tiffany's which I got from the Boston Public Library (hooray free books and movies!). At the end of the day I was feeling pretty happy about our cheap entertainment so as the recession doldrums continue to hit I'm going to start a new feature of $20 entertainment where it will be my job to come up with a fun day of activities that can be done for... you guessed it... under $20! I'll try to also detail many of the fun activities that are free in Boston!

Tropical getaway for $20?!?!

Well now that I have everyone's attention... I have a confession, I am officially sick of winter. Right now it's snowing, and we have a winter storm warning, and I just want spring to come. I know I cannot possibly be alone in my miserly sentiments and thoughts of "What?!?! more f-ing snow?!?! Aren't we done yet?" So I want to get away, and go somewhere warm.
My Mom recently came down for a visit and had the exact same sentiments. We just wanted to not be cold and to not think about snow or the endless nature of New England winters for a couple hours. Our solution? The New England Aquarium! While the entrance fee is not as cheap as some other entertainment in Boston, it does cost a lot less then a round-trip ticket to Aruba. For three hours we wandered, enjoyed the heat and the exhibits, and forgot that we are in for at least another month of "wintery mix" as the weather channel euphemistically refers to the slush on the streets.
So if you too are looking out your window at the quickly accumulating snow and going "WHY GOD, WHY!?!" then cheer yourself up with a visit to your local aquarium (or inside botanical garden) and soak up enough warmth to last you till April, cause we're going to need it.

Reflections on two months in the city

I'm coming up fast on the two month mark for living in the city. Already I feel comfortable in Boston and have started to consider it home. I came here being so nervous: was I going to get lost, would I be able to figure out public transportation, would I be able to handle my various commitments? Luckily, many of my fears were unfounded. That's not to say I didn't get lost, I did and probably will again, but I have stopped carrying around my map and instead have learned to navigate using some of the big Boston landmarks like Fenway, Prudential Center, and the Charles. I am also now in love with public transportation (although my wait for the bus may become a lot less likable when there's snow on the ground) and consider my Charlie Card to be one of my most prized possessions. While I am busy going from the gym, to class, to internships, to work, to volunteering (and still trying to find time to cook something besides Annie's Mac and Cheese) I love all of my activities and have managed to stay on top of everything and not feel fried. Plus there's no better feeling than walking out of the T-stop at Copley and strolling through the farmer's market on Fridays to get to my internship, or watching the sunrise over the Charles. So did I make the transition from island girl to city girl? I'd have to say that's a yes.

Boston Public Library

My stealthy picture taking skills (and Rick).

View of the courtyard from the third floor by the Special Collections.

I am proud to say that I finally have a Boston Public Library card! Since I walk by the library frequently to get to my internship it will be nice to be able to stop in and check out some books too (there's also a smaller neighborhood branch near me but I can't resist the beauty of the main branch). Rick and I stopped by to visit it the other day and stumbled across an exhibit of photographic portraits of writers by Yousuf Karsh (a favorite of mine!) which was amazing. So either go to the BPL, check out the murals and sculpture, the exhibit, maybe also a book, or go to the Museum of Fine Arts where they have a more expansive collection of Karsh's work right now (although at the BPL they also have his written reflections of meeting with each author which makes it that much more interesting).

Christian Science Center

View from the front.

View from the reflecting pool.
View of the Prudential Center from the Christian Science Center.

As a fun surprise for Rick I planned out a little field trip after my Saturday class. We took the T to Prudential, had a nice lunch of sushi (some of the best unagi I ever, ever had!) then some Coldstone Creamery Ice Cream, and off to see the beautiful Christian Science Center. Once Rick got over his confusion (thinking it was Scientology not Christian Science) we were able to enjoy the beautiful architecture and reflecting pool before heading on to the highlight of the day: the Mapparium!! A four story, stained-glass globe of the world that you can stand inside, could there be anything cooler than that? There was also a light show that went with it which was great and since you're inside a glass globe there are some fun acoustics to play with (a whisper ends up being super loud). Unfortunately I was not able to take any pictures of it but at only 6 dollars to get in (4 if you're a student) you should go yourself and enjoy it (and if I remembered the name of the sushi place I would tell you to go there too, but it's in the Prudential center if that helps)!

Granary Cemetery

John Hancock

Paul Revere

The carving on the headstones is so beautiful

Mother Goose

As part of the Freedom Trail we walked past the Granary Cemetery, buried there are Sam Adams, Paul Revere, John Hancock, Mother Goose, the parents of Benjamin Franklin, and the victims of the Boston Massacre. As you can see in one of the pictures you can get a tour guide dressed in period costume, and there's also usually someone by the gate handing out guides to the cemetery and then asking for a contribution. The guides are helpful if you want a lot of history or if you just want to be able to find Mother Gooses' headstone.

Trinity Church

These pictures may look familiar from my last entry on Copley Square since Trinity Church is in the middle of the square. On Saturday I met up with my friend Amanda to walk the freedom trail and since we were so close to Copley and she had never seen it I decided we needed to start there. Normally I would give you all kinds of fun info about why it's important but I am a very busy and frantic grad student, so just enjoy the pictures!

Copley Square

I liked the contrast between the old church and the new office building.

Saturday was Brewery day but I had to go to class first and once I was done around noon Rick and I were too hungry to head straight to the brewery. So we hopped on the green line to head into the city and get closer to where we would eventually pick up the orange line. Playing it by ear we decided to get off at the Copley stop and look around for a restaurant. Before eating though I had to snap some pictures of the great buildings in the area, play with the statues of a turtle and a hare, and gawk at a dalmatian spotted pigeon. It was a beautiful day to just hang out by the fountain and people watch but we were on a mission and didn't hang out very long.

In case you didn't know where you are, the red pin will tell you that you're in Copley Square.

Boston Public Library