The Boston Diaries 5: A Garden, A Common and A Trail.


The sun was shining, the tulips in front of Trinity Church were owning the colour yellow

and Carly Copley, the official canine in residence at the Fairmont Copley Plaza was pleased with it all.

Meanwhile, on the corner of Exeter and Boylston, the Lenox was looking dark and mysterious.  A little old school Hollywood glamour woven into the rich fabric of Boston’s history and culture.

Judy Garland lived here in 1968 and in her honour, the hotel now features the Judy Garland Suite which is suitably ornate and lavish homage to the Hollywood icon.

A local artist created this mural on a wall of the Lenox. Somehow the street art feel made me think that a cafe would be in the lobby.  There was none but a bell boy kindly directed me across the road to the library.

The Boston Central Library is the third largest library by number of items in the United States.  It’s had some massive renovations and houses lots of innovations like a community reading area and a Teen Central zone.  The lobby features the cafe the bell boy told me about and a studio which local radio station WGBH broadcasts from.

One of the simple pleasures of being away is going for a pre-dinner walk through the city I’m visiting.  I like being outside as the sun begins to set and people begin their commutes home or find their way to post work celebrations and activities.  It’s a different phase of a day in the life of a city and I like observing what’s similar and what’s different to home. 

The Boston Public Garden is a ten-minute walk from my hotel and it was picture perfect from every angle.  It is bordered by streets lined with blooming cherry blossom trees.  In its centre is a leak over which weeping willows trail their branches. 

Key buildings of Boston rim the park.  The mix of architectural styles and heights seem in harmony with the trees they share the skyline with.

The swan boats were tied up for the night on the lake.

These are the famous ducklings of Nancy Schon’s 1987 sculpture inspired by the book ‘Make Way for Ducklings’.

The ducks often get dressed up to commemorate various key dates in Boston’s calendar.  
I’ve googled but I still can’t tell you why the ducks are bees right now.
Beacon Street marked the halfway point of my walk.
The flowers, the front doors, the front steps, the windows.

As I walked along the cobbled footpath, I found my mind drifting off as I tried to recall my limited knowledge of Boston’s history.  Thank goodness for Google which is what I’ve been reading tonight as I write this post.

The Massachusetts State House sits on the top of Beacon Hill and is where the government currently sits for the state.  It is also the venue for official visits by the President and foreign heads of state.
The dome was initially coated in copper from the activist and artisan Paul Revere’s copper company.  The dome is now covered in gold plate.
The General Hooker entrance of State House.
I had just enough time to literally take a few steps along the red bricks of The Freedom Trail,

 look up at the sign pointing towards the Park Street Church

before taking a few steps backwards to get a better shot of the church as the sun began to set.
I made my way back home via Boston Common

past the Brewer Fountain with the dome of Massachusetts State House glowing behind it in the evening sky.

Looking over to Beacon Street from Boston Common,

and over to the right where the common’s carousel and the Soldier’s and Sailor’s monument are just visible in my very ordinary iPhone photos.
I couldn’t resist cutting through the park again to say goodnight to the tulips and the swan boats.

The Equestrian statue of George Washington looks out to Commonwealth Avenue.

Before hitting Boylston and getting my bearings with Five Hundred Boylston as a compass.  The building forms part of the High Spine with the John Hancock and Prudential towers.  Five Hundred Boylston was completed in 1989 and is a mixture of retail and office space.  It features in the series Boston Legal.


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