I stayed up until midnight last night watching the first NFL game of the season. It was a great game that went down to the final play. But, I went to bed too late. I woke up at 7:30 and skipped my morning routine to just get ready and go. I was on my way by 8:15. It was a cloudy day, but no rain and a comfortable temperature.
My first stop was the Boston Aquarium. I arrived a little before it opened at 9:00. I was one of the first people to get in.
The aquarium had four floors of exhibits with a large aquarium in the middle. I went up to the fourth floor right away and had over 20 minutes of watching the fish in the large aquarium before anyone else came up there. I’m not a big fan of crowds, so I really enjoyed this “quiet” time.
I spent a couple of hours touring the aquarium. It was good, but not great. I enjoyed the tropical fish and the sea horses.
I left the aquarium at 11:15 and walked about 15 minutes to a sandwich shop called “Pauli’s”for lunch. I had seen Pauli’s after my dinner a couple of nights ago in the North End. It had a very good rating, and they featured a lobster roll sandwich, which I hadn’t had on this trip, yet. So, I ordered the lobster roll, and it was excellent. The people working there were typical Boston people, and I enjoyed listening to their banter as I ate my sandwich in this cozy shop.
After lunch, it was a short walk to the T where I picked up the train to the Museum of Fine Arts. I arrived at the Museum a little after noon.
The museum was huge, and excellent. I could have easily spent the entire day here, and wish I had more time than one afternoon. I went to the information desk when I got there and a nice lady there helped me to put together a plan for my visit.
I started with the Egypt exhibit. When I was in the Harvard museum yesterday, they said that most of their collection was on display in the Museum of Fine Arts, and it turned out to be a large collection. Allegedly, the largest collection outside of Egypt. It was excellent and very well done with lots of information about Egypt and the articles in their collection. I need to come back here with Alexa.
From there I went through the museum’s Greek and Roman sculpture collection. I’m a big fan of sculpture, and these were nice. Unfortunately, all were damaged by time. One of my favorites was this statue of Hercules.
The museum’s old coin collection was very interesting. They had a magnifying glass that you could use to see the details of the coins. Also they had a great description of each of the coins. I’ll spend more time here when I come back.
Then, I spent some time in their large impressionist art collection. They had several paintings from Monet, Renoir, Pissaro, and others. My favorite was this Renoir.
And this Pissaro.
It was already getting late by this time, and approaching 5:00. The museum is open until 8:00, but I had tickets to the 7:00 Red Sox game, and didn’t have a lot of time.
So, I quickly walked through the Native American art exhibit. The Peabody Museum at Harvard was a lot better. Then I quickly walked through their special exhibit on Salvador Dali’s paintings. I would have loved to spend more time there.
I finally left the museum. Fortunately, it is located in walking distance to Fenway Park. I found a well rated restaurant between the museum and Fenway to stop for a good dinner.
After dinner, I walked over to Fenway Park. I walked around the outside of the stadium and took in the atmosphere of game day before entering the stadium. My seat was out in the outfield, because I was cheap and didn’t want to spend a lot of money on a ticket. But the people sitting around me were friendly and I had a good time. The game was good as well with the Red Sox coming from behind to beat the White Sox 3-1.
The game ended just after 9:30 (thank God for the pitch clock!). I walked a few blocks to the Fenway T station and boarded a crowded train to get back to my hotel. I was back at my hotel by 10:30.
Went right to bed and slept well. My alarm was set for 5:00am to get up and fly home.
It was a great trip to Boston and I really enjoyed the adventure.