Boston...home of the Baked Bean. [ 2003-08-02, 12:28 p.m. ]

To MISS OPEN SECRET...

Here are a few things that have captured my interest on trips to Boston...they don't stray too much from your typical tourist stuff, but there may be a few things of interest to you...

The cemeteries...particularly King's Chapel and the Granary - very old graves with very plain-speaking language on the stones --- not as much flowery "gone home" type stuff as you see today. My favorite stone is in the Granary - it has a skeleton on either side one facing out and the other looking back over his shoulder...very jaunty! There is a really good used bookstore near King's Chapel but I can't remember the name of it.

The Public Garden is lovely...the swan boats are cheesy but fun, especially if you ever read "Make Way for Ducklings" when you were young...there is even a statue honoring the book at one end of the garden...

In the Christian Science Publishing building there is a room called the Mapparium - a giant inverted glass globe that was created in 1935 - I think it was repainted recently but it still has the world as it existed in 1935, which is kind of interesting...

At Massachusetts General Hospital you can tour the "etherdome" - the first operating theatre where ether was used as an anesthetic. Kinda creepy and there is a small museum attached.

Harvard's campus is, of course, beautiful and has lots of great museums - the Fogg and the Peabody are two of my faves. Cambridge is land of the students -- lots of cool thrift stores, bookstores, etc.

If you venture out of Boston, be sure to drive over to Fall River to tour the Lizzie Borden museum. The museum itself is, I believe, called the Fall River Historical Society but it mostly contains Borden family memorabilia.The gift shop there contains a plethora of cheesy paperweights, keychains and other stuff commemorating America's sweetheart...the actual murder house is now and bed and breakfast and the guys who run it are kind of pissy about pictures being taken inside unless you are a guest or pay the outrageous $40 fee for the "tour". The Fall River cemetery where Lizzie and her family are buried is beautiful.

In Leominster there is the Museum of Plastics - small, but interesting. Word of warning: the tour guides here will explain things in more detail than you ever wanted to know. I found pretending not to speak English helpful...

And if you find yourself in Dedham, be sure to go to the movie theatre just so can can tour the Museum of Bad Art in its basement. It's baaaaaad.

JUSTIN has family in Boston and he might be able to give you some more ideas, especially as pertains to architectural stuff....

I also HIGHLY recommend picking up a copy of the ROUGH GUIDE to Boston. Lonely Planet guides are also pretty useful, although their maps are not as good as those found in Rough Guides...

Godspeed you, college girl.

thisaway - thataway

0 comments so far
navigate
current
profile
recently crappy
last year's crap
older crap
still crappy
the crappiest
read a random entry
guestbook
email
c.2001-2006 LAS
host
design