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| Boston Public Library |
Until last week, my short list of American cities (1) that I had never been to at all, or had merely passed through briefly, and (2) that I was anxious to explore in depth, had only two remaining candidates.* Now, after 3½ days in Boston, the list is down to one.
I had visited Boston briefly a couple of times in the past -- once, a day visit, passing through while driving a rental car, and once overnight, while en route to Maine. But I had never arrived in Boston, as I might arrive in a European city, with maps in hand and a plan of action. And yet Boston, with its environs, is one of the iconic cities of American history.
My visit last week, returning on Saturday, was a total success.
My biggest surprise? How small and walkable the city is -- at least the prime tourist portions of the city. I bought an all-day pass on the MBTA (neé MTA, as in Charlie on the MTA) each day for three days. But, if I hadn't been staying in Cambridge, just off the Harvard campus, I could have avoided the subway entirely, other than the ride in from Logan Airport.
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| Marlborough Street Back Bay |
I have read non-fiction and fiction, both historic and contemporary, about Beacon Hill, Charlestown, the North End, Copley Square, the Back Bay, Boston Common, and, of course, downtown Boston. I had assumed that these areas were separated from each other by non-descript residential or commercial areas, as might be similar famous neighborhoods in London or New York. I forgot that Boston has almost exactly the same small population as Seattle, and that, like Seattle, its primary attractions are confined to a fairly small area surrounded by water.
Only a few steps as a pedestrian separate the Back Bay from Beacon Hill, and only a street separates Beacon Hill from Boston Common (Beacon Hill actually begins to rise within the Common.) Only a few steps separate Beacon Hill from the Downtown in one direction and from the West End in the other. Boston Common itself, with all its historical baggage, looks like the equivalent of Manhattan's Central Park on a map -- but is obviously little more than a large playing field when viewed in person.
And Boston -- aside from the unfortunate John Hancock Tower -- is a far more low-rise city than the city Seattle has become in the past twenty years or so.
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| Museum of Fine Arts |
Despite the small distances, however, my phone's pedometer informed me that I had logged 17 miles my first full day in Boston. There's a lot to see.
The weather was terrible -- cold and raining hard the evening I arrived -- although it improved gradually during my time there. But so what? I'm a Seattleite. I had been hoping for sunny days in May on the Common, but I was just happy that it didn't snow.
I had booked a room for three nights at a small inn two or three blocks from the Harvard campus. Tiny single room, shared showers and toilets, but a very satisfactory breakfast included. I was much happier with its atmosphere, and its location, than I would have been staying at a corporate hotel. (What the heck, I'll give them a free plug -- "Irving House," on Irving Street just off Cambridge Street.) The fastest route between my inn and the nearest subway stop took me right through Harvard Yard, so my Boston visit picked up a strong Harvard flavor.
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| Harvard residential halls |
Harvard is one of the few universities I've never attended, so I can say without fear of sounding biased that I really like it. Meaning, I like its architecture and its ambience -- and I've heard rumors that it's not bad academically either.
As I suppose most of us know, its architecture is uniformly -- with a few exceptions -- Georgian or faux Georgian or quasi-Georgian. At first I saw only the buildings around Harvard Yard, and the campus seemed small. But further investigations and excursions took me farther away from this central axis, past partly commercial areas, and eventually down to the rather spectacular residential buildings lined up along the Charles River.
Even if the city were ugly, which it decidedly is not, it would be worth visiting for the fact that virtually every block on every street sports informative signs describing the great events of history that occurred on that spot. The city is a history lesson waiting to be read, just as the Grand Canyon was a geology lesson.
I looked especially for the Great Elm Tree on Boston Common, where public hangings took place for centuries. Unfortunately, that is one of the few historical landmarks that has not survived. It passed away in a storm in 1876, and was much lamented by the population.
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*The remaining city, with some reservations, is New Orleans.
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