June 20, 2019 was a rainy day in Boston, but that didn't keep us from exploring the city as much as possible on foot. After all, Boston is so accustomed to rain that every business has a special place for soggy umbrellas right by the door. We set out to visit a long list of places, rain be damned.
First we sought out Acorn Street only to find two problems when we arrived. There is a sign informing people that you're not allowed to take photos of the street, and even if I'd been able to capture one on the sly it would have had an ugly white delivery van smack dab in the middle of it ruining the shot anyway. Acorn Street is famous because it's pretty and because the street is really narrow and made out of rock -- actually really large rocks, I was surprised to see, and I couldn't imagine getting any enjoyment out of the bouncy and slow passage a small car would have to make to drive up or down it, and the stones would definitely cause me to turn an ankle if I'd even been allowed to walk on them. So, I was disappointed that I couldn't at least take a photo, but I understand the people who live there have a right to their privacy. I did, at least snap a photo of the sign to prove I was there. The second photo is not of Acorn Street but of another narrow one that has a similar road; however, Acorn's road is made of actual round stones and runs slightly uphill which has to make for nightmare to walk on it in the winter.
Then we took a stroll through Boston Commons and the Boston Public Garden. The Garden is beautiful and would be a wonderful place to sit and enjoy a good book by the pond on a sunny day. A person could also sit for hours and simply enjoy the antics of the resident ducks. For a brief spell, it stopped raining, and we were able to enjoy an umbrella-free amble through the pretty park.
By this time, we were hungry, and the pub and grill that inspired the TV show "Cheers" was just across the street, so headed that way and arrived just as it was opening for the day. How fun to walk down those famous steps! Of course, though, the interior is not the interior you see on the show, and it's quite small as many large-city establishments are. However, the waitress was friendly and excellent, and the food was good. You can buy the Cheers mug if you want -- we didn't, but we did step upstairs to see a replica of the set bar and to visit the souvenir shop where I got a cap and my daughter got a t-shirt.
Next on the agenda was a visit to some bookish places. First, we found Brattle Book Shop whose signs says it's "One of America's Oldest Antiquarian Book Shops." I love old books, and I was thrilled to find a large collection on the third floor. I spent a while perusing the shelves and even considered buying a copy of "Kim" by Rudyard Kipling in honor of my boyfriend (because that's his name), but the cover was torn off. There was a young woman sitting at the employee desk right behind me when I commented to my daughter -- out loud -- that the cover was torn off. I thought that the lady would perhaps rise and come see the book because I really thought the store would be wanting to present their merchandise in the best way possible, but she didn't look up from her phone the entire time we were on that floor, so I just put the book back and made my way to the stairs. As I passed her, I good-naturedly kidded her about staring at her phone while she was surrounded by such great treasures. She finally looked up at me and said, quite snidely, "Why would I read our merchandise?" I kind of raised my eyebrows, looked at my daughter and left the floor biting my tongue as I went down the stairs. Well, I didn't say you should be reading the merchandise, little missy, but the very least you could do is show an ounce of interest in the books you're supposed to be selling, and you could definitely put the damn phone down while customers (and we were the only ones up there) are on the floor, and you could certainly put the damn phone down and go investigate when a customer comments that a cover is ripped off an old book that your store expects to sell for $25 or more. There, I got some of that off my chest. I really liked Brattle Book Shop, but I really did NOT like that young woman's non-literary attitude and her very obvious sass. I did go to the main floor and purchase a couple used John Irving books, and I'd visit the store again. One of its eye-catching displays is outside the store where book murals are painted on the walls of the lot beside the store.
Next up, we visited the old main branch of the Boston Public Library. The modern addition sits behind it and is massive in scope, but the old building is architecturally and artistically beautiful, and inside you find a reading room that rivals the one in the main branch of the NYC Public Library. They ask that you not take photos that include patrons, and there were many people in there reading, so I aimed my camera at a case of books and the beautiful ceiling instead.
I loved that the lions for this library are inside on the main staircase being better preserved than the lions in NYC that have to perch outside the library and withstand the elements. I also liked that they are dedicated to the memory of fallen military men.
We went into the interior garden patio of the library where I found a quote that I especially love and agree with by Henry David Thoreau. You can see it in this photo.
Here are a couple more photos of the interior and one of the front exterior of the main library.
Next we went to the Mary Baker Eddy Library to visit the Mapparium. She founded Christian Science and started a publishing company in her mid-80s. While there was much to see at her library, we only visited the incredible Mapparium. It is a 3-story stained-glass replica globe of the world in 1935, and you can go inside it. You aren't allowed to take photos while inside it, but if you search it online, you'll find many photos of it. They take groups in about every half hour, and while inside you stand on a narrow bridge that spans the middle of the globe. There is a light show along with narration, and then you have time to simply look at the globe and marvel at its beauty and at how the world's countries have changed since 1935. I actually didn't know that Belize used to be called British Honduras! I found that interesting. You can also stand in the middle of the bridge directly under the North Pole and speak and hear your voice bounce all around the interior of the globe. Standing at either end of the bridge allows you to whisper to the person at the other end of the bridge and be heard clearly. We loved our visit to the Mapparium! They did have a partial replica outside the room for selfies, so that's where this photo was taken.
Next we simply walked around the Back Bay part of Boston and visited a modern bookstore called Trident Booksellers where I purchased a newer novel as well as a box of postcards with paintings of 50 of the world's greatest bookstores. So far, I've visited three of those 50, and I'll soon be visiting a fourth. Some of the others are on my bucket list of bookstores I hope to yet visit.
All told, we walked somewhere between 8-10 miles (and my feet were very sore to prove it), often in the rain, but it was a great day and we passed many beautiful buildings, homes, and parks, and we also crossed the Longfellow Bridge twice because we were actually staying across the Charles River in Cambridge. Here are some other sites from our walk through parts of Boston. The first is from the Cambridge side looking across to a rainy and foggy Boston.
This is simply a great photo of my daughter.
Our first day of exploring Boston was mostly over. Shortly after I took this last photo, we ran into an elderly woman wearing a long purple coat who stopped me to inquire where I bought my stockings. I told her I wasn't from there, and she immediately went into a long explanation of all the shops in downtown Boston she'd been to recently (and which I didn't know, of course) and how none of them sold stockings anymore. She also told me, rather huffily, that every woman she'd stopped to ask this question about stockings to had told her they weren't from there, and I believe she was getting really tired of hearing that from us ladies. I apologized and again told her I couldn't be of any help because I wouldn't know where to send her to buy stockings, and we beat a hasty retreat because she was really quite worked up about the inability to find stockings!
We then returned to the hotel and ate supper in its expensive restaurant, and we also visited the mall that was adjacent, and then we rested up for our busy visit to Harvard that was to take place the next day. I'll write about that later.
