After checking into the hotel and after I picked up my course materials from the conference center, we took the T (what they call the subway here) to Quincy Market. Most of the market resides in Faneuil Hall, an impressive old building that now houses a lot of eateries. We had lobster rolls for lunch and chatted with couple of nice Canadians from Niagara Falls, Ontario, in the common seating area. They, like us, had tickets for the baseball game that night. They had also done the Fenway Park tour, which they said was fabulous.
After lunch, we walked most, but not all, of what is known as the Freedom Trail. A red line, either painted or of bricks, on the sidewalk guides the way through Boston's historic sites. We didn't quite start at the beginning or walk all the way to Bunker Hill, but the highlights of the portion we did incuded:
1) The Old State House - originally the seat of the Royal Governor. The Massachusetts Bay Colony also had a bicameral legislature, although they were by no means equal with the Royal Governor. Inside, we got to see the rooms in which these bodies met and debated the Stamp Act. We also got to see the balcony where Royal pronouncements were made and where, on July 18, 1776, the Declaration of Indpendence was read publicly to the people of Boston, Inside there is also a nice museum. The Boston Massacre occured just outside of the building.
2) Quincy Market
3) Paul Revere's House - The only 17th century house still standing. A tour of the home provides a fascinating portrait of colonial life. They have a great collection of actual Revere furniture and some of his silver pieces.
4) The Old North Church - where Revere arranged for the lantern signal heralding the advance of British troops toward Lexington and Concord.
After the Freedom trail, we took the T to Fenway where we met up with friends (from residency) Dan, Billy, and Amy at a bar near the ballpark. I had a beer from Budweis in the Czech Republic called Burgerbrau and a Vesper martini (from Ian Fleming's novel, Casino Royale: three measures of vodka, one of Gordon's and a half-measure of Kina Lillet...).
We had tickets to the Red Sox game that night, which may have been one of the best baseball experiences of my life. Fenway is a great park. Small, intimate, and still with a manual scoreboard. It was built in 1912 and many great ballplayers, including Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, and Carl Yastrzemksi have called it home. I remember playing wiffle ball as a kid and we'd always refer to the left field fence as the Green Monster, as if we were playing at Fenway... We had great seats on the first base line and saw a great game. Curt Schilling was masterful, pitching seven strong innings and giving up only 2 runs. The Sox took a 4-2 lead into the 9th, but the best part was the A's actually got to Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon. A base hit and a two run blast tied it in the ninth. Then Mike Piazza doubled in the tenth and was knocked in on a base hit to score the go ahead run in the 10th. The Red Sox had David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez due up to start the 10th, but neither got on. With two outs, the Red Sox did ultimately get the winning runs aboard but could not score and the A's won (YES!!!). Coco Crisp made some amazing catches in centerfield for the Red Sox. The atmosphere was electric - a sellout crowd (approximately 37,000) that was excited and pumped. I miss the days when [Oriole Park at] Camden Yards was like that...
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| Fenway Park |
Yesterday I actually took a class (Neurotoxicology) and Tuesday was such a long day that Lisa and I slept late. After a fantastic breakfast accompanied by excellent cafe au lait, we wen't to Boston Commons and the Public Gardens. It was a gorgeous day. Last night, we went to dinner with Dan and Jeff, another friend of ours from residency, at a lovely Italian restaurant called Mama Maria's that was just across from the Revere House. That area of the city (the North End) is now little Italy. In fact, not far from there is an Italian bakery called Mike's that Lisa and stopped at for absolutely incredible raspberry cookies while we were walking the Freedom Trail.
But, today was by far the best day. I did have a class in the afternoon on the history of neurology, but we got an early start today and were able to take the T out to Quincy to see the homes of John Adams and John Quincy Adams. For $5 the National Park Service puts on a nice tour. You pick up a shuttle right near the T station that takes you to two sites. The first is a small house in which John Adams was born. Next door is the house in which Adams lived during the revolution. One room of the house had a separate entrance and served as Adams' law office (although he also maintained an office in Boston). This is where Adams worked on his defense of the soldiers accused in the Boston Massacre and helped write the Massachusetts Constitution. One thing I remembered vividly from David McCullough's biography of Adams was Abigail making shot for the Continental Army. I thought it was awesome to see the kitchen and (at least an example of) the mould she used to make shot from melted pewter.
From there, the bus takes you to what is called the Old House. This house was purchased in 1780 when Adams came back from overseas and before he was Vice President. The house remained in the Adams family until 1946 when it was purchased by the Parks Service and it was occupied by direct descendants of John Adams until the 1920's. Because it has been in the family so long, it has an amazingly intact collection of original Adams pieces and the paintings and wallpaper are all original. In those days, both John Adams and John Quincy Adams bought their own furniture for the embassies they were assigned to and much of that furniture is in the home. There are also paintings of the Adamses as well as one of General Washington. The house was originally seven rooms, but Abigail expanded it and it now has twenty-one rooms. John Adams' study was impressive and we saw the middle bed room where he died on July 4, 1826, exclaiming, "Jefferson lives," (he was unaware that Thomas Jefferson had died that same day, the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, a few hours earlier). The door handle on the front door, Adams attached himself. The only thing you can touch is the railing of the staircase, but putting your hands where John Adams', Abigail Adams', John Quincy Adams', James Monroe's, and the Marquis de Lafayette's have been is impressive. In the garden is a stone structure that looks like a chapel. It's not. It's a library for the books of John Quincy Adams that he asked his wealthier son, Charles Francis (who married money) to build after he died. It has two levels of books in multiple languages. Also, in this first Presidential library, is the desk John Adams used for his law practice and for Presidential business while at Braintree. Waterford crystal candelabras that Abigail Adams brought back when they moved back to the U.S. from England (John Adams had been ambassador to Great Britain) were also impressive. Another interesting fact we learned was that John Quincy Adams' wife is the only foreign born First Lady, having been born in Britain to an English mother and a father from Maryland.
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| The John Adams and John Quincy Adams Presidential Library |
For dinner we took the T out to Brookline and went to an Irish pub called Matt Murphy's. It was a local place, not touristy, and off the beaten path: we had to walk several blocks from the T to get there. As an experience, though, it could not be beat. It is tiny and intimate, so much so that when we got there, we had to stand (there were no bar stools) at the bar to wait for a table. When we were seated, we were seated at a table for four with another couple we did not know. A two-man band was cranking out jigs and reels in one corner and they poured a pint of stout (Murphy's in this case) perfectly. I also tried a Scottish ale, Bellhaven, that they had on draught. And it was excellent. Although a lighter ale, it was also gassed with nitrogen to give it the same kind of frothy head and creamy texture you would usually expect with a pint of Guinness or Murphy's. The food at Matt Murphy's was amazing. I started with potato and leek soup, which was excellent. Then I had a sesame encrusted pork chop that was divine. Perfectly cooked and tender, it was served with cabbage, roast potatoes, and a mustard drizzle. I ate more of it than I should have because it was so good. Lisa had shepherd's pie, but the beef, instead of being shredded or ground, was large chunks of the most succulent and tender pot roast you can imagine. Our waitress and the bar man were Irish and if you sit in Matt Murphy's long enough, you'll forget what side of the pond you're on...
