Boston Minutemen Campground, Littleton, Massachusetts
In the way of righteousness there is life; along that path is immortality. ~ Proverbs 12:28
We took the subway today, instead of the commuter train and it felt like we were flying between stops! There were no announcements – at least not ones you could hear or understand. This subway system began in 1897 if you can believe it! It now covers 78 miles and because we felt like it was going super fast, I tried to find out the speed, but there’s no information on it.
but then again, it’s only about 8am.
On a holiday. : )
The connection to Fenway Park, our first destination, was standing room only.
We didn’t understand the significance until we were told by our tour guide
that they recruited a Japanese player for their team in 2006.
Surprising. You’d think they’d take better care of it.
Included in our pass, was a tour of Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox and the Green Monster. Here’s a few facts we gleaned from our tour guide (He probably thought I was bored and texting or something, but I was actually taking notes. 😊) :
Built 1912, it is the oldest major league baseball stadium in the US. The first professional game was played on April 20, 1912, five days after the sinking of the Titanic. They won, beating the New York Highlanders (later named the Yankees) by a score of 7-6.
It’s the smallest playing field in the US with 85 square yards? (I put a question mark here because I didn’t catch the first number when he said it. I later tried to research it and came up empty or with really skewed numbers.) Compared to an average of 110 everywhere else. I know the 110 is what he told us.
1846!
Can you believe it?!?
The “Green Monster” left field wall is 37’ tall
The ballpark is in the middle of a neighborhood (hence the huge wall) and there are signs everywhere outside to remind you of that and be respectful
It’s named after the neighborhood where it sits
Babe Ruth hit 29 home runs in his last year with Boston before they traded him to NY. The next highest in the league was 10. After winning the World Series in 1918 (Babe’s last year), the owner sold off most of those players to NY. Guess what? NY became great, while Boston hit the skids.
We sat in the oldest seats in baseball. They were installed in 1936 and are made of oak and iron.
The skyscrapers in this picture feature: The oldest (with the dome top) which was built in 1905, the one on the right is the tallest at 60 stories or 790’. So after double checking the figures – actually I was looking for the height of the tallest one – I’m beginning to wonder how accurate some of these “facts” are. The domed building was constructed in 2002. Maybe it’s not him. Maybe it’s my hearing that’s wrong. You know, the train that runs from my ears to my brain to my fingers, just may be a bit rusty and slow.
We sat in the written press box where Blaine and I were handling USA Today. 😊
Blaine’s chosen career.
The red seat marks the longest homerun in stadium history. 502’ on June 9, 1946 by Ted Williams. Can you believe that’s never been topped in all these years? We happened to see a plaque that marked the second longest, hit by Manny Ramirez after he was traded to Boston by the Indians – in 2002. That’s a long time in between and he still missed Ted Williams’ mark!
We left Fenway and walked over to the Skywalk Observatory for some great views of the city from 750’ up and 360-degree views.
They claim that on a clear day, you can see 100 miles away. Wonder how many of those they have? They also offer free audio for different points along the way. There was a museum of sorts up here too, but we didn’t look at that. We had other places to be.
It’s a story dispenser!
We didn’t try it, but thought it a cute idea. : )
Next stop – – the Museum of Fine Arts.
This was a place I really wanted to see. It was nice and we spent about two hours here and discovered that we didn’t even see everything. We spent too much time in Egypt, as you’ll see by the amount of pictures. 😊 I think we found it so fascinating because of the incredible age of the pieces.
I’ll just let you wander on your own, with little commentary from me. : )
He says this is pretty much like the ones they play today.
Surprised I knew what that’s called?
I cannot lie. I had to look it up. : )
And Sennacherib left them alone after that.
Is it because they don’t have the one by the original artist? Or because it’s a great story? : )
Not a fan of the picture, but hey. It’s a Monet! We’ve heard of Monet!
Unfortunately for him, I wasn’t quite ready to leave yet. . .
We don’t get this one either. : )
and I had my phone turned the wrong way.
It didn’t turn out like I’d envisioned it. This is why I’m not an artist.
I expected more landscapes and there were only 2-3 religious themed paintings, but that was sort of explained once we used the restroom. These people are nuts! At what point did people like Blaine and I lose our rights? And we weren’t the only ones. There were others wondering what in the world they were supposed to do, and who might walk in at any moment. I refused to use the larger restroom, choosing instead to wait for a single one to become available. And I wouldn’t have used it at all if I’d had a choice. Blaine was braver than I.
Thankfully, the subway stop was just outside the museum. We were pretty tired by then! There are lots of weird noises when you ride the subway – – and the subway here is not always underground and we were the oldest commuters – by far!
We got off in town for dinner at an Irish Pub. There was supposed to be live Irish music too, and there was. When we walked in the door . . . and again when we walked out. In between the guy sang a few Elvis songs, a few Cat Stevens-type songs and took a 15-20 minute break. Oh well. The food was really good!
As we waited in the bowels of Boston for the subway to take us back to where we left our trusty Jeep, it started pouring down the rain! And once we got to the parking deck at the station, we witnessed massive amounts of water drenching cars that were parked there, as well as in other areas. Fortunately, our Jeep wasn’t one of them and we were able to enter while staying dry.
But the sky sure dumped a lot of moisture on the way home!
Day three is now complete. I think we won’t move much tomorrow. Seriously. Not even sure I’ll be able to type. We sure have been sleeping well, though!