Boston [Old Town]

I was delighted on Saturday morning when I woke up and saw blue sky with a few fluffy clouds. I decided not to waste the beautiful weather and will go explore downtown Boston.
For the rest of the term I will probably be exploring and traveling alone because Seiji, my roommate, thinks I am
1) too touristy with all the camera gears
2) crazy with all the walking and early schedules
3) dreadful boring waiting to shots to ‘happen’
[they kinda make sense cause he is not very keen about photography.] So instead of burdening each other we’ll do our own exploring and share about it in the evening.

I loaded up my backpack with my tripod, laptop, and camera and off I go. By luck there was a yard sale and Mr.Smarty-Pants here decided to buy some books and not even consider the fact that I will be lugging them around for the rest of the day…
I decided to hit up the oldest part of Boston, Beacon Hill and it is a really amazing neighborhood filled with old but well-maintained buildings on both sides with trees overarching above the one way streets. The atmosphere is very relaxed and many people enjoy just going there for a stroll, see some old architectural buildings and grab a starbucks.

One of the most beautiful streets is a cobble-stone road preserved from the ancient days. I saw the road from the pictures of tour guide book but unfortunately they didn’t provide a name for the exact street. I was determined to find this street and began to probe every little corner in this neighborhood. Fortunately 3 tour buses load of people (did I mention loud?) were leaving (reminds me of 2 armies trying to fight on a narrow bridge..haha) and the street was empty. I had plenty of time to enjoy the view and try it from both sides.

Next I walked along the more commercial streets and when I entered a European grocery store I inquired whether I could take photos and this chap wanted me to take his picture cause he claims to be the ‘Boston Ben Affleck’. Funny guy!

Next I explored Haymarket, it is a really big fresh produce market in the middle of Boston downtown district. Even though the prices were really good (it was approaching closing time) I have learned my lesson with the books and won’t even think about reaching for my wallet (those watermelons looked so juicy! haha)

This is by far the most multi-cultural area in Boston I have experienced and it somewhat reminded me of Toronto. It was nice but still it is different, maybe I will cover that at a later time.

I got busted in the subway stops again for taking pictures…no worries they can’t stop me. The green line is THE oldest subway in the USA and it was quite interesting to ride it. It starts from the downtown area and then it branches into 3 different routes after a while so you have to pay attention which train you get on. From the map some routes have no less than 40 stops in total and the amazing thing is that they come so frequently there could be 2 trains on the platform at once. The subway stations are made from black wires so there is a dungeon feeling and the cars screeches a lot and is quite turbulent at times but I think this is my favorite line so far!

My final stop was at the Church of Christ, Science. This is the world headquarter and I have a picture of the exterior from one of my first posts. The inside is amazingly large with three domes and the largest organ in the country.