View From An Umbrella

Boston was great! The people are nice, it is absolutely beautiful, there is so much history, the food is great....and I saw it all from underneath an umbrella! Hurricane/Tropical Storm Kyle skipped across the North East, leaving lots of rain while I was there.



All day Friday and Saturday was spent in meetings in a hotel in Cambridge, right by the MIT campus. With the doorman's accent and the surroundings I felt like I was living on the Good Will Hunting set. On Saturday, some of us left Cambridge and were shuttled out to Watertown for a training. I didn't have to go through some of the training that the others did, so I went for a walk while I waited on them to finish.


This was what a typical house looked like in Watertown as I walked along the Charles River




















This was just a couple of views along the Charles River in Watertown. The leaves are just starting to change. I can only imagine what it looks like just a little later in the season.....absolutely beautiful!









Finally, after the meetings were over, a few of us went out for dinner and just a nice little walk Saturday night. We went to Haavud Squeere (that would be Harvard Square to those of us in Texas) to eat at Legal Sea Food. Soooo very yummy!

These are some people from Michigan, Utah, and Iowa that were at the meeting and went to eat with us.










Mariam is the nurse/research coordinator that I work with at Children's.










Clam chowder is to die for in Boston - and I am not a huge clam chowder fan! I also had a salad with grilled shrimp and scallops that was amazing!

This wasn't at Legal Sea Food, but was another fun little snack that I found that I liked quite a bit! Nantucket Cranberries covered in Milk Chocolate!!! Move over chocolate covered raisins....there is a new favorite in town! : )










Saturday morning I was scheduled to run 15 miles for my marathon training. I knew I wouldn't get all of that done on my own, but I was determined to do my best. BUT, I also wanted to see some of the historic sites. SO, I compromised. I left my hotel about 7:00 am. (It doesn't get light out before then and I didn't want to run in a strange place in the dark)

I ran along the Charles River for about 3 miles and then crossed over a bridge at Massachusetts Ave. This was the view of downtown from the bridge. Yes, it was raining....HARD....and very foggy.


After crossing across the bridge, I ran along Beacon Street. It is this long street that is lined with old brownstones.











This is just one of the doorway/entries of one of the brownstones. They were all so different and unique and all so beautiful.










As I ran along Beacon street, I ran by the original Cheers. It was 7:45 Sunday morning. So, no, I didn't stop in for a beer. But I did stop long enough for a picture!






Across the street from Cheers, is Boston Common, the oldest park in the United States. It is really pretty. It reminded me of Hyde Park in London.






At this point, I had stopped running and was walking and taking in all the sites. Snapping pictures as best I could while trying to keep the camera dry. I had to duck into a 7-11 to buy some batteries as my camera ran down about halfway through my tour. Just along Boston Common is where you can walk the freedom trail, which takes you through some of the historic sites in the city. So, I decided to walk along and see as much as I could see. It is kind of like the yellow brick road of Boston and you literally follow a path of red bricks. I had until 11:00 that morning to do as much as possible.


This is the cemetery in which Paul Revere and Sam Adams as well as other noted Patriots are buried.




This is the steeple of the Old North Church. This is where the lanterns were hung to warn that the British were coming.




This is a view of the harbor in North Boston. Even on a rainy day it was pretty, but I can only imagine what it is like on a nice clear day!



I won't bore you with more pictures here (Laura, I know you will be appreciative of that) But I was able to see quite a bit in the small amount of time I had Sunday morning. I would have loved to have more time to really take it all in.
It was then time to turn around to get back to the river so that I could finish my run. I happened along a fundraising walk and walked with some of the participants for a while. Then I needed to hurry on so that I could check out of the hotel and make it to the airport in time. So I ran on ahead of them made it to the hotel just in time to take a warm shower (I was pretty cold from the rain and a little chill in the air) check out and get on the train to the airport. I figure I only got about 10 miles in on Sunday (along with the 10 inches of rain that I think fell on my head while I was out), but there is always Central Park in New York next weekend!