The PolyBlog

Day 10 was a Monday, and we weren’t entirely sure what we were going to do for the day (photos 1-2). We were thinking maybe Old Boston plus the shipyards, some other “walking” outings, but my body wasn’t up to it.

I drove Andrea and Jacob to the Charlestown Navy Yard, and I sat in a quiet courtyard while they went off to view the shipyards (photos 3-29). A nice local came rushing up to me while paying for parking to explain in some detail what the “thing was” in terms of how you handled parking i.e., pay at the machine initially for your two hours and then download the app on your phone so you could EXTEND it later without having to come all the way back. And to make sure I did because the local bylaw people were, umm, “extremely aggressive” in watching for parking scofflaws. 🙂

Andrea and Jacob saw the USS Cassin Young, a WWII destroyer. Unfortunately, our luck was still bad for schedules…just as we missed some stuff at the Planetarium for schedule (the shows we wanted weren’t on), and at the Aquarium (the penguin presentation was only M-F, not weekends), the destroyer had one day a week when they didn’t let people on to wander around…yep, Mondays. They still saw the large, steel ship with guns, anti-aircraft, depth charges, and torpedoes. The ship fought in the Pacific theatre back in the day.

They also saw the USS Constitution, built in the 1790s and used in the War of 1812. It was undergoing maintenance so they couldn’t get too close, but it was a long sailing ship with masts and cannons. The shipyards themselves have been in operation since independence, and was very active in WWII with 50,000 full-time workers employed. They also saw dry dock and how it works.

We then walked over to the pier for lunch (Pier 6 restaurant). The restaurant was situated right on the water with good seafood and a nice view of the skyline (photos 30-33).

We then headed back to Needham along the water, taking pics of the skyline as we went (photos 34-36), and then spent time with the cousins at their house. They had plans for dinner with friends, so I helped them with their telescope setup before they left (which reminds me I owe Scott an email), while we went to a restaurant that Dana recommended for seafood (notice a theme here?). We went to Captain Marden’s, not too far away and had a really good meal (as promised).

It was a relatively light day overall, with 63 km driven and 78 photos and videos curated down to 36.

2023-07b July – Day 10 Charlestown Navy Yard

36 photos

Sunday dawned on Day 09, with breakfast at the cousins’. Our goal for the day was simple — penguins!

We drove to the aquarium, including through some tunnels, and although we took the highways, it was pretty slow traffic. We found a parking garage near the Aquarium and used the cousins’ pass to get in. As I said, our big goal was to see the penguins as Jacob loves them, and we met that goal pretty easily since they’re the first thing you see when you walk in the door. They have African and Southern Rockhoppers. We watched them for about 30 minutes, and then started wandering around, with a break for lunch in the cafeteria where I could see planes landing at the nearby airport.

We also saw sea lions, turtles, rays, fish, coral, etc. There’s a big tank in the centre of the aquarium and a spiral walkway goes all the way to the top floor (4 floors of fish plus an open tank at the top). There was a show at the top where you could see them feeding the turtles, but well, the real draw was the penguins.

We watched them feeding both kinds of penguins, and the feeders kept track of which penguins ate what type of fish and how many. There are more African penguins but the rockhoppers were very vocal during and after their feed. You could also see that for both types, there always seemed to be one penguin keeping watch, like a lifeguard.

At the end, we went to the touch tank and Andrea and Jacob touched rays as they swam by — very slimy! (The rays, not Andrea and Jacob hehehe). On the way out, we stopped by the gift shop and picked up a couple of items that will make appearances at Christmas.

The parking was very expensive for the day, but since the Aquarium was free for us, it worked out. We also took some pictures of the tall buildings nearby, which Jacob liked seeing. He isn’t used to much in the way of tall buildings in Ottawa as we rarely go downtown.

We decided to take a drive to the local campuses in Boston, and drove by M.I.T. easily enough. We decided we weren’t smart enough to go to Harvard as we spent way too much time even FINDING the campus so we could visit. Afterwards, we took a long, circuitous route back to Needham, with pizza delivery for dinner. The cousins arrived back home after we had gone to bed.

Obviously, we took a LOT of photos and videos during the day:

• #1-2: maps for the day;
• #3-77: penguins;
• #78-85: sea lions;
• #86-111: aquarium tanks;
• #112-117: penguins;
• #118-159: aquarium tanks;
• #160-185: penguins feeding;
• #186-192: touch tank;
• #193-196: aquarium area and old Boston;
• #197-199: M.I.T.; and,
• #200-204: Harvard.

We ended up with 510 photos and videos for the day, curated down to 204. And only 70 km driving.

2023-07b July – Day 09 New England Aquarium

204 photos

On Day 08, our goal for the day was to make it to Boston / Needham (photos 1-2). But first, we had a nice Saturday morning brunch at Dutchman’s Bagels in Brunswick with Andrea’s cousin Chris. The old mill building has been converted into a restaurant and event space, with a small theatre area. The bagels were gigantic. We had a nice visit for about 90 minutes and then it was time to hit the road.

We drove to Boston (photos 4-7) and rushed, rushed, rushed to get to the Museum of Science. Although to be honest, my real goal was really the Charles Hayden planetarium that is attached. I had hoped to see one of their “Exploring the Universe” videos, but most things were sold out for the day by the time we got there. The schedule wasn’t going to work very well for any of the three days, so we opted to explore the museum (photos 8-11, 14-15) and to catch Destination Mars at 4:30 p.m. (photos 12-13).

We grabbed a fast lunch in their cafeteria and then wandered around for an hour. Despite the museum being fairly busy (not surprising for a Saturday), we saw dinosaurs, an arctic exhibit with icy walls, and an overview of all the planets outside the planetarium. Destination Mars was cool, with 180-degree reclined views. I would have loved to spend some time in the gift shop, but the museum closed at 5:00 p.m.

The drive to Needham where Andrea’s cousins (Scott, Dana and Henry) live was easy to plot in the GPS, but not so easy to drive. A torrential downpour hit as we left the museum. We were avoiding the toll highways (which said they only worked with electronic Easy Pass which we didn’t have installed, so we weren’t sure how that would work!), but many of the side streets were completely flooded (photos 16-19). We made it to the cousins’ house, although they were away for the weekend, and settled in with time to do some laundry! Exciting stuff, I know.

However, we went out to a little Thai restaurant nearby called The Little Spoon, which was excellent. We got another thunderstorm as we were heading back to the house, with a small detour to a 7-11 for some basic groceries.

As you can see, it was a bit of a lighter day. We still drove 243 km, and the rain was no fun, but we only did 29 photos curated down to 19.

2023-07b July – Day 08 To Boston

19 photos