We flew to Boston in the morning and grabbed a shuttle van to Rolling Ridge at North Andover. We were assigned our sleeping space in a big multi-bed room upstairs. Carmen's presentation was that afternoon, so she went right to work setting up her props and script. As her staff photographer, I went to work taking pictures.
The Thesis Presentation was very well done, with the usual exception: she needed to be louder. All of her stuff needed more volume. The crux of her message was (and still is) "We need each other" as the stained glass needs light (the candle wasn't bright enough) and as the wind chimes need the wind (the fan wasn't strong enough) but we got the message. She got her usual 4.0, paving the way to graduation in a month.
We spent the night in the big multi-bed room upstairs, ate breakfast with the students and faculty, stayed for a couple of other people's presentations (I explored the edge of the pond) and caught the early afternoon shuttle van back to Boston. We stayed in a hotel in Cambridge in an area I know very well nowadays. It's an easy walk from there to the Museum of Science, where I spent about a third of my working days during my four years at Mystic Scenic Studios.
That evening we caught a cab to Symphony Hall, where we participated in the pre-symphony dinner right next to the hall. The BSO was doing an evening of Mahler, with which none of us were familiar. Carmen and I simply enjoyed the experience of a live world class Symphony Orchestra. Karen was fascinated with the violinist near the edge of the stage. He looked as if he could keel over dead and land in her lap at any moment. Our seats were right up front.
The next day we ventured out on public transportation. From this perspective I can tell you we took the Green Line from Lechmere Station, got off at Government Center and walked through Faneuil Hall to the waterfront, where we caught a trolley tour of Boston. This was our first trolley tour, but by no means our last. Well, it was Karen's last one. Every guide on these tours has a personal slant on the history of Boston. This was the "dirt hauling" tour. Our guide was, we guess, descended from laborers who hauled dirt around Boston over the centuries. It used to be a land of hills and swamps. Many of the hills (including Bunker Hill) were leveled off and used to fill swamps. This was the focus of our driver's spiel - how much dirt, hauled from where to where, how many men, how long it took. After the trolley, we had an included-in-the-price harbor tour boat ride, which was a little chilly, but nice when the sun came out.
We shopped our way back through Quincy Market, and ate an early dinner there before Green Lining it back to Lechmere.
An early riser, I was dressed and out walking hours before anybody else was up next morning. I found a grocery store and a CVS, and bought some stuff for my first breakfast. After a while we all came trooping out to Lechmere Station and caught the number 69 bus that takes Cambridge Street through the day-to-day business part of Cambridge all the way to Harvard Square. It passes the Fresh Killed Chicken store. During the time of day we went, the plain folk were out and about. One guy on the bus had a big clock on a chain around his neck like Flave-O-Flave.
This was my first time at Harvard Square, but by no means my last. We shopped at The Coop book store, and a couple of other places Carmen knew, then got on the Red Line outbound to Porter square.
It's a long escalator ride up to street level at Porter. Along the way, the work gloves of the construction crew are bronzed and attached to the housing between escalators. Kinda cool. Carmen has a long list of shops to browse on Massachusetts Avenue from Porter square south. Karen and I went into the shops with her primarily because it had begun to rain. This did not deter us from meandering from shop to shop all the way to Leslie University proper, which I now know is within a few blocks of Harvard Square. She went to the office to straighten out some stuff, and then we trooped all the way back to Porter, shopping in the funky little shops and eating lunch in the student-rich restaurant on Mass. Ave. whose name I can't recall. From Porter Square we grabbed the Red Line to downtown Boston and the Green Line back out to Lechmere. Wow, if I'd only known then what I know now about public transportation in Cambridge/Somerville.
Back at the hotel, we changed out of our wet clothes and tried to figure out what to do for fun on our last night in Greater Boston. Karen wanted to go to Target, but there was none nearby. The person at the front desk told us about Sears over on the other side of the Green Line. It was dark as we made our way around the route described to us. We found the Sears, and Karen bought a bag to haul her souvenirs in. We asked about nearby restaurants, and were directed around the corner to an Italian place (no longer there) and we found it easily. We ordered, but before our food came, Carmen saw a mouse run across the floor between booths and was so freaked she couldn't eat. What a fun night!
We took the hotel shuttle to the airport the next morning, and our adventure (Karen's nightmare?) was over.
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