Beautiful BeanTown

So Doc and I spent three days in Boston, while I was on my way to Philadelphia for SHEA ID week. We had a layover in O'Hare airport, which sorta scared me, because the few times I have gone through that airport, all I remember is running madly to catch my plane, which was far, far away. But this time, all went smoothly. We had genuine Chicago dogs for lunch there.
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Here is a shot of the B terminal. They have figured things out - if you are making a connection from United to United, then you stay in the same terminal. None of that tram stuff needed.

We stayed at the Westin Waterfront, which was really nice. For our first meal, we went to O'Connors, an Irish pub there. We had fish n' chips, clam chowder, curry fries, and Angry Orchard cider. It was indeed a bit o' the craic.

The next day, we took the subway to the train station, and then took the train to Salem, the witches' town. It's a half hour by train. It just so happened that since Halloween is coming up, they were having a big street fair called the Biz Baz Fair. It stands for Bizarre Bazaar. We walked practically every street in town.

As you can imagine, everything there is dedicated to witchcraft, sorcery, and the like. Here I am, posing in front of a statue of Elizabeth Montgomery as the lead character in the show Bewitched.

We also tramped around a creepy old cemetery, where all the town's movers and shakers have been buried since the mid 1600's. The oldest grave we could find dated back to 1616. We were surprsied that there were several people who lived to a ripe old age back in those days, although there were lots who died young (some very young.) In this picture, you can see the BizBaz in the back, along with the Salem Witchcraft Musuem. <

This is the Witch House, which is said to be the last house standing that was at the center of the Salem Witch Trials. At first, I thought it was the house of the Seven Gables, which is also in Salem.

After that creepiness, we walked through the historic district, to look at the beautiful old mansions. This one was my favorite. They mostly date back to the 1700s, and are now converted into bed and breakfasts.

Here is the porch of a private library, called the Anthanaeum- members only. We speculated that maybe there are a bunch of secrets and spells in there.

We had dinner at Pickering's Wharf. In the background, you can see the antique vessel "Friendship". We ate at a restaurant called Finz. Doc had a lobster roll and a farmer's salad, and I had more clam chowder and fried calamari. Here is a picture of the lobster roll.

Then we took the train back to Boston, and relaxed. The next day, we took the subway over to see Harvard University. Doc really like riding the subways and trains. Here I am, in front of the Harvard logo, "Veritas", in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Building.It's blurry, but it's the only pic I have.

Doc had a burger and fries there. He is quite the bottomless pit. Since it was a beautiful day, we strolled around campus for a while. We stopped at the bookstore, where I got a jacket and Doc got a ball cap. Then I went into the Memorial Church Hall. Inside, they have all the names of all the students who died in either WWI or WW2 engraved on the wall. It was quite a sight.

Then we took the subway back to Boston Common. Once again, Doc relaxed under a tree, while I walked around. I covered the entire thing in under an hour. The weather couldn't have been more perfect. There was a man playing a samisen on this bridge, so when you walked around, you were accompanied by beautiful, haunting Japanese music.

In the Public Gardens part of the park, there is a lovely floral garden, wich a huge statue of George Washington on horseback right in the middle.

Then I went across the street and walked the Commonwealth Mall, which is a lovely, tree shaded pathway. I spent some of the walk with a man and his awesome Smooth Fox Terrier. Then I circled back around to see the Frog Pond. There was a sign saying that feeding the frogs was strictly prohibited, along with depositing human waste. I had no intention of doing either.

Then we went to Chinatown. We had a nice dinner at the Dumpling House. We had beef with scallions, Szechaun pork, and BBQ ribs with sauteed spinach. We also had soup with tripe, but I ate Doc's, because tripe grosses him out.

After that, it was time to go home and rest and pack up for our flights the next day. I flew directly to Philadelphia, while Doc flew back to HB via Houston. We had a great time - we liked the old buildings and bridges, and we liked trying out the inner city life. Boston is a very clean town. The weather was nice - it was sunny, and in the high 60s in the afternoon. This was one thing that I had wanted to cross off the bucket list, and now I have done so, with many fond memories attached. Stay tuned for part 2 - Philadelphia !!!