Winging it in...Boston!

In my world everyone is a pony, and they all eat rainbows, and poop butterflies

This morning saw a trip out to Springfield, MA. Which I have to say is not the most exciting city I have ever visited. It does however have a cute little museum area, and is the birth place and home town of Theodor Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss. Lark Grey Dimond-Cates, who is also Dr. Seuss’ step-daughter, created the endearing bronze sculptures of Dr. Seuss and his characters for the sculpture garden. It would have been nice to go into the historical center and discover more about his life, but due to funding issues it is closed for an indeterminate amount of time. As the sculptures and gardens are free I’m not seeing this issue being resolved any time soon. (It would also be helpful if they updated their website to reflect this information- but hey ho.)

The picture today is of me, sitting in The Storyteller: A Seussian storytelling chair, backed by a 10-foot-tall book with the text of Oh, the Places You'll Go! with Gertrude McFuzz perched on top and the Grinch and his dog, Max, peeking around the side. This is one of my favorite Dr. Seuss stories- and I did buy a new copy of it today- it does just reaffirm that my life is exciting, because I make it so, I am amazing, but nothing is perfect and sometimes things don’t go quite to plan. Then you just have to dust yourself down, look around and find a new way back to your adventure. 98.75 % of the time you will succeed in whatever you set out to do, you just might take a different route to the one you planned. (Or I might just be reading WAY too much into a children’s book.)

The sculptures in the garden are intended to tell the story of the Dr. Seuss as an author and illustrator by using his words and his characters to highlight ideas and beliefs, but as Theodor Seuss Geisel was born on in Springfield in 1904 and grew up nearby Springfield imagery can be seen throughout his work in the names of streets, the drawings of buildings, the names of his characters, and numerous other references. It must be great for local children to have the inspiration of having their surrounding in such well known books and being able to see his story and his legacy spread out in front of them.

At this point I would move onto the falls in the Connecticut River that the GPS so faithfully depicted. Unfortunately it looked more like a large boulder had gotten in the way of a rather large wave rather than a “fall” and thus the interesting trip out to Springfield was over- although I can confirm that the Simpsons do not live in Springfield MA!

Winging it in...Boston!

If we do, we shall be sure to give them a proper English greeting.
I know- not quite the right quote for this week, but it was as close to the Pilgrims as I could get.

One thing I do love about Boston is the fact that you can get a dose of culture and history without trying hard at all. In fact, at some points it is positively impossible to avoid it. This week I needed to head down to Washington Street for some essential shoe shopping. This inevitably means a trip past the Common, the New State House and in search of food a short walk to Faneuil Hall. Having bored you before with all these details I will merely mention the Old State House this week; which is passed on the way to the Mexican.

The Old State House is a quaint, Dutch style building that originally served, as the State House, and was the center of Government for Colonial Boston. In fact it was in front of this building that James Otis gave his famous speech against the Writs of Assistance and first sparked thoughts of independence fifteen years before the Declaration came in 1776. It was from the balcony on the Old State House that on July 18, 1776 the Declaration of Independence was first read to the Boston public. It was on that night that the Lion and the Unicorn statues adorning the front entrance were set ablaze, and by 1790 the New State House had been built, with the help of Paul Revere (that name again!) In 1880 it was nearly demolished-serving no particular purpose- but the City of Chicago intervened and offered to buy it and move it to Illinois, which of course meant the Bostonians decided to keep it and they set about a restoration project. It was from here then that Queen Elizabeth II (the first British monarch to enter Boston since the revolution) read a copy of the Declaration of Independence to celebrate America’s bicentennial in 1976.

The weather on Sunday was back to blue skies and bright sun shine, although a little on the blustery side, so a trip out to Plymouth was planned. I have to say Plymouth Rock, the landing point for the pilgrims in 1620, is a touch disappointing. Not only is it enclosed in a pseudo Greek monstrosity, it is actually very small and cracked. I did do the tourist thing and lean over the barrier to take the obligatory photograph, but I was expecting something a little more substantial, and after the vagaries of the Lexington Rock I was kind of hoping I could stand on top of it and adopt some form of enigmatic pose. Alas, it was not to be.

In the harbor is also a replica of the Mayflower, called appropriately enough, the Mayflower II. It was built in Britain in 1957 following plans from the original and sailed from there to Plymouth in the same year. I have to say I am shocked that people survived the voyage in ships that small and primitive.

The big part of the day was Plimoth Plantation, just outside the town of Plymouth itself. It contains a recreation of the British settlement as the village stood in 1627, and Wampanoag Indian Settlement from the same time period. The whole site has been developed using traditional techniques and actors and guides are dressed in traditional and period costumes in order to try and answer questions. Unfortunately the childish side of me emerged and having been given a list of “offensive” questions, and questions you may not ask, I was of course desperate to ask nothing but things on the list.

All in all a great weekend.

Winging it in...Boston!

I, too, believe that everyone should have a chance at a breathtaking piece of folly once in his life. (Do you think a race is won by luck?)

I’m not sure that there is much of a cohesive theme to the ramblings of the week, therefore I shall just start at the beginning (a very good place to start) and meander my way through to the end.

The weather this week has been very up and down. I was just getting very fed up with running in the freezing cold rain- I am sure there was white stuff falling from the sky at one point on Tuesday- and thinking about restarting my gym membership when the weather took a turn for the better. Despite the cold wind Thursday and Friday were gloriously sunny and led into an even better weekend. It has been warm, sunny and a pleasure to be outside. Running today was delightful and I wish I had managed to get out an hour earlier and make more of an effort to complete a long run. There is always next weekend…
I did manage to get out and wander around Newbury Street, and surrounding area for a while on Saturday. Newbury street seems to have a buzz all of its own on a warm weekend and a mix of eclectic stores, chain stores such as Nike, Gap and Apple, seem to intermingle with cafés, art galleries and restaurants in Victorian (yes, I know- wrong country) brown stones to create a laid back place to shop, browse and enjoy the outdoors.

No, I didn’t get lost- I knew exactly where I was- I also managed to find my way to Trinity Church. Built in 1877 Trinity Church is an interesting Romanesque Revival style. Personally I like it, especially in contrast to the glass of the John Hancock Tower seen behind. Originally the Trinity Church was to be found Summer Street, but in March 1872 the powers that be decided to move to the new Back Bay area of Boston and launched a competition to create a new design. Probably a good bit of forward planning on their part as the original church burned down in the Boston fire in November of the same year. Please note the photo this week- possibly not the best version you will ever see, but a fairly classic Boston image.

Completing one side of Copley Square is the Boston Public Library, the largest public research library in New England and one of the first in America to permit the borrowing of books. (One of the joys of being in one of the oldest cities in America is that I can often point to things and say, the first…) Of its many claims to fame- the huge bronze doors were designed by Daniel Chester French, who also designed the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC, and it houses a statue of one of the earliest Governors of the Massachusetts Bay colony, a man who soon beheaded for daring to declare that “God, law and Parliament” were superior to the king. Not a popular sentiment with the monarchy in 1662 (Can’t imagine why Charles II was so nervous…).

Just across from the library is the New Old South Church, which is actually a lot prettier than Trinity Church, but also partly obscured by the subway station. The name does make a little more sense when you realize that the original Old South Church decamped here when they outgrew their first meeting space in 1875. Just to prove how tricky building in the Back Bay could be, the bell tower was rebuilt in the 1940s after it started to lean and sink into the marsh land- everything including the copper roof and the gargoyle dragons were carefully moved back into place. The New Old South Church does also contain beautiful, fifteenth century, English Style stained glass in the windows. There really are some most extraordinary buildings around here.

May 1st also saw the dawning of Derby Day! The 136th Kentucky Derby was taking place today- and this is a big deal. If you can find any connection to Kentucky- and I think the fact I drove through it once, or I know someone who has a cousin who once visited, counts- it is time to don you best dress, find a fancy hat, drag out your best suit and tie and drink mint juleps and place your bets. You may have noticed by now that I am currently in Boston and therefore a few thousand miles from Kentucky. Luckily I know someone who calls Kentucky home, and not wishing to let his home state down, mint juleps were made, barbeque wings were served and a great party was thrown. I had a fantastic time- thank you. Can’t wait until next year… Although I am now thinking that maybe we should reciprocate and have Pimms and Lemonade for the start of Wimbledon in a few weeks…

Next weekend is looking like chores and work so I may have to start planning some thing entertaining for the week.