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Yesterday i went to Boston for the day which was fantastic! As soon as i stepped off the train it was snowing...and i mean really snowing, so at first it was a bit disorientating but i soon got the hang of it all and went off exploring this new city! It was nice to get out of Providence for a while and see some new things - i went EVERYWHERE! well, i went as far as i could and saw as much i could see in the short space of about 6 hours which was all i had before i had to get the train back to Providence.
So to start with i went to Washington Street, which is one of the main shopping streets, (a little like Oxford Street really - altho i have to say, London has much better shops - this was all a bit higgeldy piggeldy!) and following my map (that i wripped out of my USA guide book - didnt want to take the whole big book for just one day!), i sort of walked up Washington Street into what i suppose is central (altho not really central), or 'downtown' Boston. From there I kept walking north up to Quincy Market and Feneuil Hall Marketplace. Quincy Market is an awesome place - it was designed by the same person who designed Covent Garden so its very similar in feel. It's basically three long buildings side by side, with a sort of walkway between each one. The central building (Quincy)is all food stalls, with probably every different kind of food you can possibly get all under one roof - italian, japanese, chinese, thai etc etc...there was even an irish pub in there! and then the other two buildings, North and South Markets are all shops, and then behind those there are more shops. And yes i did a bit of shopping!
After that i followed the 'Freedom Trail', a line of red bricks (or red paint) embedded in the pavement that basically takes you around the city's biggest historical buildings. First i followed the trail north to the New England Holocaust Memorial, which displays these five huge hollow glass pillars that you can walk through, and on them is etched the 6 million numbers tattooed on the Jews by the Nazis. It's very striking - have a look at the pics.
Then i took the trail south again back through Quincy Market and past the Old State House, Old South Meeting House, and the Old City Hall. I didnt go inside any of them as i didnt really have the time but all the buildings were pretty impressive from the outside. Then i stayed on the trail and walked past King's Chapel Burying Ground and then the Old Granary Burying Ground, which was eerily quiet and still and a little depressing. Staying on the trail i got to Boston Common and then to the State house, this huge building with a big gold dome on the top. That was the end of the Freedom Trail.
After that i decided i wanted to go to the Musuem of Fine Arts (MFA), which is quite far south and requires getting the subway, or 'T'. But first there were some other places along the way that i could walk to - so i walked through the common and down to the John Hancock Tower which is this REALLY TALL building that towers above the city...and just behind that was Trinity Church which is quite an amazing building to, altho apparently its more incredible on the inside but i didnt have time. I carried on walking and got to Newbury Street, this really long road with cool little shops and cafes all the way along it. Anyway, i finally got to the right 'T' station and managed to get the right train so as to get to the MFA.
The MFA was pretty cool - i was quite rushed cos i still wanted to go across the river to Harvard square, in Cambridge, but i managed to see some cool stuff. There was an exhibition on Modern Prints, some of which were amazing! And i saw some Impressionist paintings as well as some Asian and European art.
After i left the MFA I got very confused on the 'T' as i didnt actually have a subway map and had to backtrack to get onto a different line in order to get to Harvard Square, but i got there in the end. Harvard Square isn't really a square at all - i mean, you come out of the subway into a sort of small square but its mostly split into streets and blocks that branch off from the little square in the middle...a little confusing at first but you just sort of go round in a circle in end. so i wandered around there for a while, went in some shops and generally explored before i had to get back into Boston to get to South Station and get my train back to Providence.
I loved my day out and am looking forward to many more of these (not so rushed) sightseeing days in other cities!
Well done for reading this far - i didnt mean to write so much!
loads of love and hugs to all
Rusja
xxx
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