When you actually live somewhere, oftentimes you avoid the famous monuments and parks out of fear of being grouped with the fanny-pack carrying tourist. At the same time, if you have the imagination, pretending you're a tourist in your own city can be a lot of fun.
Being completely out of any extra spending money (I got my first paycheck yesterday! It was $21.00! Woo!), that is exactly what I decided to do today- pretend to be a tourist in my own city. I went on a walking expedition of downtown Boston.
I've lived here for four years, and as most of you know have had mixed feelings about the city. Although I have felt not-so-positively over the years about the early closing times of public transport, stores, and nightlife as well as a somewhat more subdued / less outgoing / a bit rough (than California, I guess) local interpersonal demeanor, I do have to admit that Boston is beautiful in the early summer. It is right when everything is blooming and green, and people are coming out of hibernation.
I think human hibernation is a really real thing- snow storms may sound like fun, but shoveling snow every day to go to work or school or falling on black ice or scraping ice from your window or having hair frozen to your head is not fun. When the weather forecast says "wintry mix," (who the heck made that term up anyway? trying to make it sound like some lovely potpourri??) you know it's time for you to go to bed and not wake up until it is over. In that kind of weather, you can't tell who is who, let alone what is male or female underneath swaths of sleeping-bag coats, which are disproportionately made in black and grey. People don't say hi to each other, but rather scurry from building to building. Even on the Tufts campus, when I know there are thousands of people right around me, the campus looks silent a lot of the time- just bare trees and frozen concrete.
But, Boston just blooms in the summer- there are so many outdoor events and festivals, people wear color, people say hi to each other (well, still not in the street, but maybe to a neighbor). There are outdoor markets and street performers, the tulips and dogwoods bloom in the Commons, and Boston gives its residents free admission to one of its museums or parks every Friday throughout July and August. As the ice melts, so do a lot of people. Boston really celebrates the coming of spring like no other place I've ever experienced.
Well, today was a bit rainy oh well (did you know?? we have had such incredible thunder and lightning lately- even some buildings got hit downtown)...but in any case, here are some photos from my mini walking tour (as a tourist!) of Boston in the springtime.
The tombstone of John Winthrop. I think the family crest is so neat...I wonder if my ancestors had a family crest?
We visited King's Church in downtown. Read this information about the pews! It's so interesting that apparently the church seating was basically all "box seating." All the boxes were numbered, and different families owned each box. I like the sentence about how families were allowed to bring blankets and family dogs to compensate for the lack of central heating!
A view of some of the box pews, complete with furniture from individual families...
A local hole-in-the-wall pawn shop- they had lots of collectible coins and pocket watches.
These swans make their nest in the very same spot every year in the Boston Common. The city puts up a fence around their nesting area to protect them from too-eager photographers...
These blossoms remind of Dr. Seuss...I wonder what kind of flower they are?
A bit of humor for historical monuments- many famous statues like Make Way for Ducklings and this statue of George Washington are dressed in Bruins (ice hockey) jerseys for the Stanley Cup Finals.
What a beautiful ivy-covered apartment :).
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