On Friday, July 2, we docked at the Boston Waterboat Marina on Long Wharf at 2 p.m., finding ourselves dwarfed by megayachts. After settling in, we set off to find a restaurant for lunch and walk around. A dockhand recommended the Sail Loft not far away on the waterfront, and we enjoyed great food there. Afterwards, we walked along the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway, where we found arts and crafts vendors, fountains and gardens. We strolled back along the Boston Harborwalk, stopping for Ben and Jerry's ice cream.
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Children (and a dog) playing in the Rings Fountain on the Greenway
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| Mantra nestled in beside Hog Heaven and Big Blue |
Since we had a late lunch, I just fixed a large salad and garlic bread for dinner. Afterwards, we stood on the dock, admired the sunset and then watched fireworks over Boston Harbor. (The view from Mantra was obstructed by Big Blue and Hog Heaven.)
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| Sunset in Boston |
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| Fireworks over Boston Harbor |
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| Fireworks over Boston Harbor |
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| Fireworks over Boston Harbor |
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| Fireworks over Boston Harbor |
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| Fireworks over Boston Harbor |
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| Fireworks over Boston Harbor |
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| Boston skyline at night (the best time to see a city, I think) |
The next morning, July 3, I went out for a walk at 8 a.m. When I returned, Mike and Louise were up and had consumed their morning tea and coffee (respectively), so we were ready to walk the short distance to Mike's Pastry shop on Hanover Street in the North End for cannoli for breakfast. Started in 1946 by Michael Mercogliana, who immigrated with his family from Italy when he was 12 years old, the shop is now internationally famous and is a Boston tradition. There is no seating at Mike's; the delicacies are placed in white boxes with blue lettering and tied with string for take-out. We ate ours across from Paul Revere's House. Male, female and juvenile house sparrows were soon found us, no doubt aided by Mike offering them crumbs.
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| Labyrinth, Armenian Heritage Park |
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| Rose Kennedy Fountain |
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| Mike, Peter and Louise at Mike's Pastry shop |
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| Hungry house sparrow |
Afterward our sweet breakfast, Louise and I got a Lyft ride to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Art Museum. (Peter and Mike worked on things in the engine room. What fun!) We had some time before our timed tickets at noon, so we walked around in the Back Bay Fens and visited the small but lovely James P. Kelleher Rose Garden there.
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| Kelleher Rose Garden |
Then we spent nearly three hours in the museum. This jewel was opened in 1903 by a wealthy collector, Gardner, who acquired much of her artwork during her world travels with her husband. She was particularly fond of Renaissance art and had the building, which she called Fenway Court (now referred to as the Palace), designed in the style of a Venetian palazzo. The glass enclosed courtyard and cloister, surrounded by the four story walls of the palace is glorious, and the rooms are stunning but also eclectic.
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| Courtyard |
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| Courtyard |
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| Courtyard |
Most of the works of art are unlabeled and the rooms are dimly lit just as they were when she used Fenway Court as a place to entertain and host musical events. (Music was another of her passions.) The Palace displays a small portion of the more than 7500 pieces of painting, drawing, sculpture, furniture, textiles, ceramics and metalwork, 1500 rare books, and 7000 archival objects from ancient Rome. Gardner was an avid and well-informed collector and acquired many masterpieces during her life, including works by Giotto, Tintoretto, Fra Angelico, Fra Filippo Lippi, Michaelangelo, Titian, Rembrandt, Raphael, Botticelli, Manet, Degas, Whistler and Sargeant.
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| Yellow Room |
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| Blue Room |
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| Dutch Room |
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| Chinese Loggia |
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| Tapestry Room: Scenes from the Life of Cyrus the Great |
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| Tapestry Room |
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| Little Salon |
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| Portraits of Jack Gardner and of Isabella in Venice in the Short Gallery |
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| Raphael Room |
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| Early Italian Room |
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| Ceiling in the Early Italian Room |
She was actively involved in the design and construction of the building and the interior design and furnishing of the rooms, choosing which works of art to place in juxtaposition with others. Although most rooms have a particular theme, such as the tapestry room, each of them contains a diverse display of objects from different periods of time and different parts of the world, carefully selected by her to complement each other or show a connection across beliefs, times or geographic areas. In her will, she dictated that the rooms remain as she designed and decorated them, so the museum still reflects her tastes and style and vision. Unfortunately, it is now not quite as she envisioned because some of her most prized pieces were stolen in a heist in 1990. The theft of 13 masterpieces remains unsolved and the museum is still offering a $10 million reward for information leading to the recovery of the stolen works, which include pieces by Rembrandt, Degas and Manet. The art was cut from the frames and the empty frames remain on the walls.
Louise and I returned to the marina after 3 p.m. and devoured a late lunch of leftover cheese potato soup. Then Mike and Louise finished packing and we walked the short distance to the subway station where they took a train to Logan International Airport for their flight home to England. After their departure, Peter still remained on Mantra, and I set off for a walk. I stopped at various places along Market Street to admire the historic architecture and be entertained by street performers. (Snap Boogie was particularly impressive.)
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| Snap Boogie performing near Quincy Market |
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| Snap Boogie tap dancing near Quincy Market |
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| Snap Boogie flipping over five people near Quincy Market |
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| Bagpipe playing unicyclist in front of Quincy Market |
In the evening, I tidied up the boat, did two loads of laundry and made a dinner from leftovers and salad greens. It was a long but wonderful day.
This morning, Peter was, of course, awake before me. When I arose, he suggested Mike's Pastry shop for breakfast again, so I ditched my plan for omelets. We ate them in the gardens of the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway.
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| Orchid canna at Rose Kennedy Greenway |
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| Flowers at Rose Kennedy Greenway |
We could see the smoke from the 21-gun salute between the USS Constitution and Fort Independence on Castle Island and then waited for the warship to return to her home port at the mouth of the Charles River. We walked a short distance north on the waterfront, hoping to see the salute at the Coast Guard station in the North End, but we only heard the reports.
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| USS Constitution |
After another late lunch soon, we will get back on land to explore the city and go to the Boston Pops concert on the Esplanade and watch fireworks again.
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