#8 Boston - Everything is Free in Massachusetts - July 29, 2005
Well almost everything is free in this wonderful Commonwealth of ours! The amount of free concerts, movies, and plays during summer time here in Boston is absolutely staggering! Some nights I don't know what to do first!
Last night was a good example, a twofer: first, the WBOS free concert at the fabulous Copley Square, featuring Tracy Bonham (http://www.tracybonham.com/ - you know her song "Something Beautiful", right?) and Aimee Mann (http://www.aimeemann.com/home.html) - both marvelously talented artists - the square was packed to the gills! This of course limited where we could sit, and unfortunately the only spot we found hat serious odor issues (enough said, right?), which tampered our enjoyment somewhat. Event #2 last night was Shakespeare in the Park at the Boston Common - "Hamlet" presented by the Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, a bit of a change of pace. There was lots of yelling, and no matter how often I see Hamlet, it always confuses me - everybody's messin' with everybody. Who knows who's in cohorts with whom! Our little piece of land we plopped ourselves down on was wayyyy in the back, and the whole performance felt a bit like "books on tape" to me.
I have to admit that I did not even make it until intermission, which was partly due to the yelling (and the fact that it was actually pretty nippy out there - 63 degr F), but it can also be attributed to an unfortunate encounter on Cambridge Street earlier that evening. A screaming lunatic who came plowing down the street zeroed in on me for some unknown reason, pinned me against a wall, and started verbally abusing me (I will spare you the words). I was convinced that he would start hitting me at any moment, but some folks on the street stepped in and steered him away. It took me a while to calm down, and fortunately nothing happened, still - it was pretty scary and did not set a good tone for the evening.
More free stuff - Monday night - again in the Boston Common, this time the Boston Landmark Orchestra - performing a selection of Baroque music, including Ottorino Resphighi, Johann Sebastian Bach, and Georg Philipp Telemann's rendition of the Don Quixote Suite. Wednesday nights features free classical music at the Hatch Shell and tonight, same location, the Free Friday Flicks. However, I do not want to see "Scooby Doo 2". As a very classy alternative, the Boston Harbor Hotel features free outdoor "Movies by Moonlight" every Friday (http://www.bhh.com/PR_movies_dates.cfm) and tonight they show "The Big Sleep" , which just happens to be my favorite Humphrey Bogart movie!
And of course, hiking is free here in New England - lots of beautiful mountains to chose from - last weekend I fulfilled one of my New Year's resolutions and joined my friend and neighbor Mike in a quest to hike/climb Mt. Washington. At 6288 feet it is the highest mountain in the Northeast, and my friends, no small accomplishment - this is a HIKE!! AMC book time is 4 hours one way, and I am happy to boast that Mike and I made it up in 3 hours (and down also in 3). I knew I was going to be sore for a couple of days, but this was soooo worth it! Starting out at Pinkham Notch, we hiked up the Tuckerman Ravine Trail - the ravine is a very popular trail, and in winter a favorite destination for skiers who hike up there with an 80-pound backpack, skis and all (http://www.tuckerman.org/tuckerman/history.htm) - check out the photos! Tuckerman Ravine is beautiful, and hiking up we even saw a patch of snow!! We knew that Mt Washington's weather changes on a dime, so we were prepared for the 45 degree weather on top (7 degrees Celsius) and 35 mile per hour winds. Quite a few folks were not, and I am always amazed to see people going up a mountain like this in a tank top and little bitty sneakers! People die on this mountain and in the visitor center up top you can see all 130 of them listed. The view from the mountain is spectacular! The visitor center is chockful of people and of course, I ran into a friend, what else! I could be in a cave somewhere and would meet people I know (oh wait a minute, that did happen to me!). My friend Ken and a gaggle of friends were on their annual "Deathmarch" through the Presidential Range, a whole slew of peaks in the White Mountains, all named after US Presidents (OK, Boston Friends - who can name them all?). http://community.webshots.com/photo/4771056/6125358wnydmLSTio/. The way down the mountain was via the Lion's Head trail, beautiful, but tricky on occasion, and we were glad to make it down the hill with only a couple of bruises.... My friends, if you are into hiking, this is such a worthy endeavor - PT Barnum called the mountain once "The second greatest show on earth"! The hike up (and down) is challenging and exciting, more than half of the hike is above the tree line, the vegetation is similar to sub-arctic areas (I was particularly enticed by the balsam firs) and the views, as mentioned, magnificient.
Needless to say I was sore as can be for a couple of days, but some walking and running got that right out of my system. More hiking is coming up this weekend, with the Welch-Dickey Loop Hike (http://www.summitpost.org/show/mountain_link.pl/mountain_id/835) with my newfound hiking group, followed by a more low-key nature hike on Sunday with Boot, the AMC naturalist. The weather has finally calmed down and cooled off a bit. Wednesday afternoon it was about 100 degrees (38 C) here in Boston, the running group got cancelled due to infernal heat (still 95 degrees at 5PM). Not good!
My friends, have a good weekend, get out there and hike those mountains! When I come to California in September I am going to drag some of you with me!!
pet:)
Last night was a good example, a twofer: first, the WBOS free concert at the fabulous Copley Square, featuring Tracy Bonham (http://www.tracybonham.com/ - you know her song "Something Beautiful", right?) and Aimee Mann (http://www.aimeemann.com/home.html) - both marvelously talented artists - the square was packed to the gills! This of course limited where we could sit, and unfortunately the only spot we found hat serious odor issues (enough said, right?), which tampered our enjoyment somewhat. Event #2 last night was Shakespeare in the Park at the Boston Common - "Hamlet" presented by the Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, a bit of a change of pace. There was lots of yelling, and no matter how often I see Hamlet, it always confuses me - everybody's messin' with everybody. Who knows who's in cohorts with whom! Our little piece of land we plopped ourselves down on was wayyyy in the back, and the whole performance felt a bit like "books on tape" to me.
I have to admit that I did not even make it until intermission, which was partly due to the yelling (and the fact that it was actually pretty nippy out there - 63 degr F), but it can also be attributed to an unfortunate encounter on Cambridge Street earlier that evening. A screaming lunatic who came plowing down the street zeroed in on me for some unknown reason, pinned me against a wall, and started verbally abusing me (I will spare you the words). I was convinced that he would start hitting me at any moment, but some folks on the street stepped in and steered him away. It took me a while to calm down, and fortunately nothing happened, still - it was pretty scary and did not set a good tone for the evening.
More free stuff - Monday night - again in the Boston Common, this time the Boston Landmark Orchestra - performing a selection of Baroque music, including Ottorino Resphighi, Johann Sebastian Bach, and Georg Philipp Telemann's rendition of the Don Quixote Suite. Wednesday nights features free classical music at the Hatch Shell and tonight, same location, the Free Friday Flicks. However, I do not want to see "Scooby Doo 2". As a very classy alternative, the Boston Harbor Hotel features free outdoor "Movies by Moonlight" every Friday (http://www.bhh.com/PR_movies_dates.cfm) and tonight they show "The Big Sleep" , which just happens to be my favorite Humphrey Bogart movie!
And of course, hiking is free here in New England - lots of beautiful mountains to chose from - last weekend I fulfilled one of my New Year's resolutions and joined my friend and neighbor Mike in a quest to hike/climb Mt. Washington. At 6288 feet it is the highest mountain in the Northeast, and my friends, no small accomplishment - this is a HIKE!! AMC book time is 4 hours one way, and I am happy to boast that Mike and I made it up in 3 hours (and down also in 3). I knew I was going to be sore for a couple of days, but this was soooo worth it! Starting out at Pinkham Notch, we hiked up the Tuckerman Ravine Trail - the ravine is a very popular trail, and in winter a favorite destination for skiers who hike up there with an 80-pound backpack, skis and all (http://www.tuckerman.org/tuckerman/history.htm) - check out the photos! Tuckerman Ravine is beautiful, and hiking up we even saw a patch of snow!! We knew that Mt Washington's weather changes on a dime, so we were prepared for the 45 degree weather on top (7 degrees Celsius) and 35 mile per hour winds. Quite a few folks were not, and I am always amazed to see people going up a mountain like this in a tank top and little bitty sneakers! People die on this mountain and in the visitor center up top you can see all 130 of them listed. The view from the mountain is spectacular! The visitor center is chockful of people and of course, I ran into a friend, what else! I could be in a cave somewhere and would meet people I know (oh wait a minute, that did happen to me!). My friend Ken and a gaggle of friends were on their annual "Deathmarch" through the Presidential Range, a whole slew of peaks in the White Mountains, all named after US Presidents (OK, Boston Friends - who can name them all?). http://community.webshots.com/photo/4771056/6125358wnydmLSTio/. The way down the mountain was via the Lion's Head trail, beautiful, but tricky on occasion, and we were glad to make it down the hill with only a couple of bruises.... My friends, if you are into hiking, this is such a worthy endeavor - PT Barnum called the mountain once "The second greatest show on earth"! The hike up (and down) is challenging and exciting, more than half of the hike is above the tree line, the vegetation is similar to sub-arctic areas (I was particularly enticed by the balsam firs) and the views, as mentioned, magnificient.
Needless to say I was sore as can be for a couple of days, but some walking and running got that right out of my system. More hiking is coming up this weekend, with the Welch-Dickey Loop Hike (http://www.summitpost.org/show/mountain_link.pl/mountain_id/835) with my newfound hiking group, followed by a more low-key nature hike on Sunday with Boot, the AMC naturalist. The weather has finally calmed down and cooled off a bit. Wednesday afternoon it was about 100 degrees (38 C) here in Boston, the running group got cancelled due to infernal heat (still 95 degrees at 5PM). Not good!
My friends, have a good weekend, get out there and hike those mountains! When I come to California in September I am going to drag some of you with me!!
pet:)
posted by My Boston at
10:49 AM
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