Boston Trip

Boston January 13-18, 2010

Every year two of my coworker friends (AJ and AMM) and I take a small trip in Jan/Feb since that is when we can get off work since summer is a busy time at the library. This year we went to Boston. I have always wanted to go even though I lived so close for 6 ½ years when I lived in Pennsylvania and Maryland but never got around to it. Luckily the weather behaved for us and it was enjoyable.

Some background info you will need to know is that this year American Library Association Midwinter meeting was in Boston. That is when librarians throughout the United States come for training and getting a sneak peek of upcoming title and product releases. We hadn’t realized we would be there the same time when we first scheduled but it ended up being a plus.

And now for my adventure:

Day 1

We start the day off early, my favorite time of the day (yeah right). At the airport we run into our Library Director who is also on our flight because he is attending ALA since he is on the Caldecott committee (those who pick the best picture book for the year). We have a direct flight into Boston Logan Airport and we carried on our luggage since we refuse to pay for luggage. I have to admit I was proud that I could fit my winter clothes in a carry on.

The Boston Logan Airport is literally on the water, which makes sense since where is there room to place it anywhere else. After we arrive we hang around the airport because we have to purchase our Sundance Film Festival tickets (you enter a lottery for a time when you can purchase tickets and my time was ½ hr after we landed). So we got our tickets (8th film choice, but hey we have tickets!) and our adventure begins.

We purchased a subway pass for the week and that is how we moved about the city. If it were not for AJ I would probably still be at the airport. She is amazing navigating the cities and organizing our trips. Our hotel was literally right next to the Celtics Garden. If only Larry Bird was still playing I would have dragged my friends to attend a game.

After we checked in we found dinner (rule of the trip no restaurants that we can eat back in UT) and headed to the Chicago Museum of Art where they had a discount night and we walked around for about 2 hours. Saw an exhibit from Egypt’s Tomb 10A which was cool.

Day 2

Awoke early and headed to the Museum of Science and Technology where they had a special Harry Potter Exhibit. I’m not a fan of the books or films (I have only read the 1st book and seen 2 of the films because of nephews) but it was pretty cool because it was film props and such and I like anything that deals with film. My nephews would have loved it. We then played around with other science exhibits in the museum.

Then we headed to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. I really loved it because the building it as an enclosed garden courtyard that sets the mood. Plus the eccentric founder lady left the museum in her will as long as they never changed how she arranged the pictures and furniture nor add new. It’s funny because a few paintings were stolen a few years back but they have to keep the empty frames up because of the will.

After that we headed back to the Boston Museum of Art to finish up the rest museum. I accidentally broke one of the handles off one of the inner glass doors. Very embrassing and very loud. The security guard came running but said not to worry. Then we toured the Old Trinity Church and then to the Boston Public Library (we're librarians remember). The Boston Public Library is amazing. It has painted murals on the walls and ceilings, statues and marble throughout.

Day 3

We walked the Freedom Trail. Though it is 2.5 miles we started off at 9 in the morning and concluded around 4 pm. We were on our feet the entire time. We toured Massachusetts State capital. They have a wooden fish hanging in the House of Reps chamber called the “Sacred Cod” to help remind them of the fishing industry and they have another fish in the Senate chambers “Holy Mackerel” for the same reason. It was just so silly I had to mention it. Funnier still that in the 50s a few Harvard students stole it as a prank for a week and no bills were passed during that time because they were superstitious.

We walked through the Boston Common, cemeteries of famous people, toured Paul Revere’s home, Old North Church (where Paul Revere’s lanterns hung), and many more interesting stops along the way ending at the USS Constitution (Old Ironsides). We caught the ferry and headed back into the city.

We then headed to ALA exhibit hall. We were able to get some free passes for the exhibit from one of main book vendors for the library (thank you Baker and Taylor) and there we had at it and gathered loads of free ARC (advance reading copies) books that have not been published nor finished being proofed. I must say I am looking forward to reading some of them. So we got all loaded up I alone had four bags of books and we head to the post office section of the exhibit and they are not open. So we had to haul our load back on the subway. It was an adventure. We were sore the next day.

Day 4

Today was AMM birthday and we celebrated by going to Salem.

But first we had to mail all the books we got since there was no way we could take them back on the plane. So we carried them to the post office. Boxing them was an adventure in itself because one box was too heavy and we had reboxed everything. But in the end it was done and I know the post office worker was glad to see us go.

I really wanted to go to Salem so we took the train out there. First went to the Peabody Art Museum. Then we headed to the Salem Witch Museum and got the background to the Salem Witch Trials. Afterwards we ate a local diner and took in the true small town culture (reminded me of PA). Then we toured The House of Seven Gables (the house that inspired the book with the same name by Nathaniel Hawthorne). I loved the house especially because there was a secret passage and they let us go up it to the attic. You know how many tours I have been on and they say cool things like secret passages but don’t let you see and finally I was able to experience it first hand. We ended Salem early so we went back to Boston to go up the Prudential Skywalk were you get a panoramic view of the city. Pretty impressive. Then we headed back to the ALA convention to a Recorded Books event (they produce books on CD) and they brought in one of my favorite narrators Barbara Rosenblatt to speak so that was fun. Then dinner at a restaurant called Firefly. They had really good sweet potato French fries. Oh, on the bus we saw Nancy Pearl (famed librarian that writes books and even has an action figure, I have one if you ever want to see it).

Day 5

Sunday so we headed to the Episcopal Divinity School just outside of Harvard where we attended LDS services. Yes, you heard me correctly. The LDS church burned down a while back and they are still working on it so we had Sacrament meeting in a chapel with a huge cross and stained glass widows. It reminded me when I lived in MD and we attended the Harford Jewish Center for our church services while they remodeled our building.

Afterwards we changed clothes and toured Harvard campus. Quite impressive. They have this archway in one of the building that you can whisper into the wall on one side and the person on the other side can hear you and it sounds like it is coming out of the wall. Way cool.

We then headed to the Institute of Contemporary Art and wandered about. Headed back to the ALA exhibit for more free books and then called it an early day getting back around 7:30 pm tired.

Day 6

Last day. We had a true Boston winter day. It was snowing and cold. Went back to ALA to pick up more free books and mail off our second batch of books.

Then we went to the JFK Library and Museum. I am not a fan of the man nor his family but the museum was still very interesting. We broke the no chain restaurant rule for lunch because we didn’t want to trudge through the snow and went back to our hotel for our luggage and headed off to the airport early. We didn’t want last year’s incident of us running through the airport barely catching our plane.

We ended up hanging out at the airport longer because of delays and then had to wait an hour on the plane before take off for a minor repair. Then we landed in SLC and I had my own big bed to sleep in that night!

So that was my Boston trip. No funny adventures like last years Chicago, but I still had a wonderful time and glad I went. And for next year’s trip----we still have a few places to narrow it down to.