Overcast skies greeted us at the start of Day 11, but we were promised a warm summery day and so we dressed for the warmth, perhaps somewhat mistakenly. Breakfast was in the hotel this morning because it is an extension to our Globus Tour which begins tonight. So out we went in front of the Sheraton where we waited for the Trolley Bus... and waited... and waited. So much for them coming every 15 minutes. We even ducked back inside to collect a jacket and the queue had only got bigger. So we decided to walk up to the tram stop and catch the underground tram Downtown. The map chart for the Boston underground is not as good as Philadelphia and New York so we were a little confused momentarily, but we found that the Arlington stop would put us out near the Boston Garden, straight across the way from Boston Common and that sounded like as good a place as any to start.
What a delightful green space in the middle of the city. While we didn't find it out until later in the day while on the trolly bus, Boston Common was originally the shoreline of Boston and the area that starts with Boston Gardens was part of a swampy backwater known as the Boston Back Bay.. the area which today houses some very expensive real estate along with our hotel. Hard to believe, and yet what foresight the 18th century Bostonians had when they created this beautiful garden. We were greeted by some very friendly Bostonian squirrels... hundreds of which live in the park. We walked past the Swan Lake, where the pair of Swans, Romeo and Juliet live, and where the Swan Boats (paddle boats) sail all through the summer months. We also saw the statue of of George Washington on horseback at the entranceway. Over the bridge and we crossed the road and entered the Boston Common, which is literally a huge open space park.
In the Common there is a plaque that commemorates the first Open Air Mass said by Pope John Paul II in the USA. When you think about the scale of Papal Masses at Randwick it certainly puts the Common in size perspective and here it is right in the middle of Boston. We wandered through the common, chatting with the squirrels ( and no Sarah we have not adopted any!), and saw the war memorial, the first glimpses of fall foliage on some of the trees, before making our way to the frog pond and out to catch the trolley bus, which could not fit parties of 4 but could fit us because we were only a 2! We were only on the trolley for one stop, but it was a long stop as we made our way down through the Old Town, past the renowned Old Meeting House where the Tea Party plan was hatched and then down to the harbour to the Boston Tea Party Experience. Here we were greeted by characters from the tea-party, were given our feather disguises and became patriots on the fateful night in December 1773 where tonnes of tea were tossed into Boston Harbour. We were taken aboard the Eleanor, one of the Tea Party ships, where Chris tossed the tea into the harbour and then we saw some animated footage of potential exchanges between key characters and even Samuel Adams and King George, before seeing Paul Revere's ride and the start of the American Revolution in Lexington April 1775. It was a very interesting and informative display and we finished by drinking tea in Abigail's Tea Rooms, sampling the Boohee tea and other tea varieties. Back on the trolley, there was time for more exploring.
We caught the trolley bus back up town via stops 1-4 and ended up back near the old town where we went in search of Kings Church and the Irish Immigrant Potato Famine monument. Kings Church is one of the oldest continuously used churches in North America. The pews in the church are all closed in, designed to be owned by families and surrounded to help keep out the cold and to enable families to keep an eye on their children. Today, anyone can sit in them at any service, and the church indicates the Reformation influence on the Episcopalian church in the USA, given the fairly austere nature of this church in comparison to Trinity Church which we saw a little later. But before Trinity, it was a walk through the theatre district and back to the common to board the trolley for a trip past that bar, "where everybody knows your name" the Cheers bar on Newberry Street.
When the trolley came to stop 8 we made an impulse decision to get off at the square at the Trinity Episcopalian church. This is literally half a block from the end point of the Boston Marathon where the bombing took place, but that was not the attraction. The attraction was the spectacular church that drew our attention. The exterior is heavily carved in a style reminiscent of Westminster Abbey.. the evangelists are all there along with significant women saints such as Mary Magdelene and Martha of Bethany. There is also relief carving of significant scripture stories such as Jesus baptism, calming the storm, the last supper and many others. Inside the church is breathtaking. It is an eclectic mix of just about every artistic style you could name. Parts of it have gold leaf frescoed iconography, which reminds me of monasteries such as Hosias Lucas in Greece. Each kneeler in the church is padded and covered with a hand embroidered tapestry with a message from scripture. The bronze cross suspended across the sanctuary appears to hover in space, but by far the most dramatic part of the church is the stained glass designed by none other than Tiffany. It is exquisite and in the afternoon sunlight it sparkled, especially the "laminated" glass of the resurrected Christ on the back wall. The church is overall very dark, but simply beautiful and we are so glad that we stumbled upon it and learned something of its history. It is regarded in America as one of the top 10 pieces of religious architecture so that is fairly high praise.
We made our way back to the hotel, with just a little drama as the trolley we were on had a malfunction at the stop prior to ours and we needed to swap onto another trolley. It was time to check out our paperwork and prepare to go to the meet and greet for the tour. We met a few fellow travellers including a few Aussies who were travelling and then we headed down to the Prudential centre next door to find something for dinner. The Cheesecake Factory was there and so we had a meal with Jim and Carole from Seatle Washington.... Americans are really big on this where you come from thing. Then it was time to finalise the packing and fall into bed before beginning our Fall Foliage adventure tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment