The Boston Common is the oldest park in the history of the grand ol' U.S.A. Boston Common's history goes back as far as 1634, when the area was designated a common pasture. It was also used for military purposes and for public hangings. The gallows were removed in 1817 and from 1830 on the grazing of cattle was forbidden.
That last paragraph was from google, maybe I'm irreverant but I think it's funny. =)
This shot was taken in the Central Burying Ground which is in the common. Casualties from the Battle of Bunker Hill in 1775 are buried here. Seeing some of the names on the headstones absolutely blew me away. We were able to walk a large portion of the freedom trail that night and to actually STAND where so much of our nation's history took place was incredible.
Kind of a random shot but it amuses me because Todd was telling me it was a statue of Napoleon and I'm telling him 'No, it's Washington'. Of course he doesn't believe me and has to look for himself and upon finding that I am, of course, correct desires to know the source of my wisdom. Once again, REALLY powerful telephoto lens. Ya think the boy would learn. =)
This is SO a Suzie Wood, a.k.a. my Mom, picture. She has an extensive library of bird and flower shots that she fully intends to paint some day. In her defense she is an amazing artist and she really does paint many of them. In my defense, I thought they were just plain cool. I love the texture of the flower that's in focus against the defocused background. I love my new lens, the bokeh is brilliant!
Just a shot to establish location, I know it's nothing earth-shattering.
One of the problems with photographing a place that you've never been to before is knowing what exactly to take pictures of. The bird boat things were on the map so I figured, what the heck. For all I know they're really famous bird boats or something. I couldn't get the angle I really wanted and husband was getting antsy so . . .
This is the Granary Burying Ground. The name on the obelisk is Franklin and it marks the graves of Benjamin Franklin's parents. Some other Americans of renoun buried there; John Hancock, Paul Revere, James Otis, Samuel Adams, as well as the victims of the Boston Massacre. It was an amazing feeling to be there.
Moving on to the Faneuil Hall Marketplace, another of my savoring the ambience moments. This was June 17th game seven of the NBA Finals, Boston Celtics playing the Lakers. There were people in EVERYWHERE. The atmosphere was electric, I've never seen so much green.
I can't remember what this was, but I'm a sucker for cool lit up buildings at night.
Yes, I took a picture of my chowder. I have this iconic food thing. I had to have clam chowder in Boston, I mean really! We ate at the bar of the Union Oyster House which is the oldest restaurant in America. Before it became a restaurant it was home to The Massachusetts Spy in 1771. This was a revolutionary paper and the oldest paper in the United States. It was also an official pay-station during the Revolution where Federal troups received their war wages.We had a blast eating chowder and fish and crab cake sandwhich's ( I also just had to try Boston cream pie in Boston) while we watched the game with a room full of Celtic fans, plus two guys from London who didn't really follow basketball (they were more into World Cup soccer) but were very nice. We wanted the Celtics to win SO badly. We were hoping to see all sorts of merriment in the streets. It was crazy! All the bars were packed, standing room only, everywhere people were watching the game. There were a TON of police on the streets. They closed the house where we were and people were still watching the game through the windows. The proprietor even stopped and put big barred grates up on the windows at one point. It was such a great scene in the movie of my life. Sadly the Lakers won 83-79 and we all just went home. The subways were crazy, literally packed like sardines. I really wish I had a shot of that, I am so sad I missed it.
