The land of the bean and the cod: Infinite America, Part 4 - Massachusetts
Part 1: http://www.democraticunderground.com/1018825480
Part 2: http://www.democraticunderground.com/1018825709
Part 3: http://www.democraticunderground.com/1018825986
Infinite America's eastern leg visits Washington, DC; Boston; and New York City. There are many ways to string those three cities together into a coherent whole; the least expensive way is to use the red-eye train between Boston and Washington, which leaves one city in the 10 pm hour and arrives in the other in the 7 am hour.
When I was in school at Fort Devens in 1982, it cost $3 one-way to take Greyhound between Ayer and Boston. The bus went to South Station, which is pictured here. In 1982, South Station was not a nice place to be. Sadly enough, North Station was better and it was old and worn-out. (It had character, though, which the North Station they built in TD Garden does not.) Thirty-three years was plenty of time for them to fix the place up, and they did well.
I hope whoever invented the wedge-shaped building took out a patent on it. I have quite a few of them in my book, and everyone who sees it "knows" exactly where a particular building is. Unfortunately for me, most of the places people "know" are places I have never been. (This particular specimen is two blocks from the Garden.)
Until I did the day before Columbus Day in Boston I didn't know how big a deal it is there. I also didn't know there was a movement afoot to replace it with Indigenous People's Day. Columbus being one of history's more prominent assholes, they've got a point
The Coast Guard has a fairly good-size presence in Boston.
This was pretty slick of one of Boston's previous police chiefs: Convince the state police to pay to patrol the city waterways.
Zoom in on the green sign on the building in the middle, read it out loud, and it becomes clear Bostonians can laugh at themselves.
On to Day 2...
A lot of towns wrap their streetside utility cabinets because ugly-ass grey steel boxes are...well, ugly. Why hasn't anyone else turned one into a Tardis?
This is the old railroad control tower in Salem, and it's one of the reasons I like New England so much. A lot of the country will stick a sign at a Famous Historical Place..."In this place was a dilapidated old house in which George Washington had slept. We tore it down and built a sparkling new McDonald's in which he had slept." New England fixes up the dilapidated old house...and puts the McDonald's in it.
This is about the best shot of the House of the Seven Gables you're going to get if they don't hire you and let you set up a lot of equipment inside another building on the grounds.
It's impossible to forget the "McDonald's" joke because it was only two pictures ago, but here's proof: Whatever this WAS a hundred or 150 years ago when they built it, it's a seafood restaurant now.
This is not a classic ship from the era of sail. It's fifteen years old and was built with the best knowledge and technology as a floating museum...one that's certified by the Coast Guard and is sailed occasionally. Still pretty, though.
I'm pretty sure the boaters of Northeastern Mass were pissed when the Friendship was delivered; this boat launch looks to be in good shape and was probably in heavy use until the National Park Service closed it.
Yes, I had to put a picture of a cemetery in here somewhere.
Salem embraces its maritime heritage. Fortunately, Salem Harbor is too shallow to take a container ship.
Salem also embraces the atrocity that was its witch-trial heritage. So we have this nice little statue of a witch on a broom..."why in hell does the witch look exactly like Elizabeth Montgomery?" Because it IS Elizabeth Montgomery: the statue was donated by the TV Land network, who airs Bewitched.
They embrace their seditious history too...the plaque on the corner of this building explains its role in the Revolution.
Well...off to New York, shall we? Catch ya this time tomorrow!
= new reply since forum marked as read
