Harvard, MIT and views from atop the Prudential Building

Today was totally sunny and although it started out crisp, it warmed up nicely. As we left our hotel I turned around to take the picture of it (brown on the right) dwarfed by the John Hancock Tower. We headed for the transit station and took the two trains out to Harvard. The train actually surfaces and crossed the Charles River on a bridge which gives a beautiful view in both directions.

Harvard was a walk down memory lane for Ira and Fran. They lived there five years while Ira got his PhD, back when they were newly-weds. Many things looked the same and many have changed. The News Stand which sells newspapers from all over the world to students from all over the world is still there.

Ira remembered the hours spent as he looked up at the library. Fran and Paul discovered that you can't get into the library without a student ID card. Oh well. It was obvious that Harvard is a lovely campus. A stop at the Coop (campus book and everything else store) was in order. Ira had to get some Harvard shirts so he can keep up with his daughter who is attending graduate school at Yale.

The next stop was MIT which sits right on the Charles River. Its campus has a very different look and feel. We mostly walked along the river for the lovely views.

The last official stop on our schedule today was to go up to the Prudential Skywalk Observatory on the 50th floor. On the way in we spotted the Cheesecake Factory and stopped for lunch. Paul and I had never been to one and were pleasantly surprised that there were reasonable selections (calorie wise) on the extensive menu. After eating we went up into the tower and again it paid to be seniors so the Observation Skywalk was only $10 each.

This observation area is glassed in, so on two sides there was a fair glare at the windows, but the views were spectacular. I made a round with my telephoto lens and another with the wide angle. Looking down over the city you can see that all the residential areas are bownstone buildings and the streets have lots of trees.

In the distance is the Kennedy Library, the tall white building sitting on the edge of the bay. When we were there you couldn't even see the towers in downtown because it was raining so hard.

Of course, our baseball fan relatives will recognize Fenway Park, home of the Red Sox. It was empty because they are not in the playoffs.

As you look east from the Prudential Tower, you see the John Hancock in the center. To the left, is the Copley Square with the Trinity Church. The long green street is Commonwealth Ave. which leads to The large green park of the Boston Commons. The Freedom Trail starts at the far end of the Commons and wanders along shown in the upper left side of the picture.

When we were done viewing the city from above, Paul decided to walk back to the Freedom Trail area and walked much of it again while I chose to put my feet up and write this blog. He did take the subway back. We are heading back down there for dinner tonight.

Tomorrow Ira is picking up a car and we will drive out to Lexington and Concord for the morning. They will then bring us back to the hotel and continue on to spend some time with friends. We will have the afternoon to check out things we may have missed, and pack for leaving Sunday morning.

That's it for now. Grace and Paul