On Tuesday, January 2, Abby and I visited Boston. We drove from my home to Alewife, a subway station outside the main part of the city. We rode on the T using the new Charlie cards (which haven’t received great reviews) and stopped at Park Street. We walked up to the state house, but didn’t go close because of political protests. Abby’s main purpose in going to Boston was to acquire a Boston hoodie, so I offered to get her one from a disreputable-looking street vendor. She declined. We continued on to the Boston Public Gardens, looking for the statues of the ducklings from Robert McCloskey’s Make Way for Ducklings. The Public Gardens are fairly large, though not enormous, so it took us quite a lot of time in the bitter cold wind. We easily found living ducks and a bronze George Washington, but the bronze ducklings were harder to find. Still, even though it was cold, we still enjoyed the beauty of the Public Gardens. Finally, in the very last corner of the garden to be investigated, we found the statues: in the lead, Mrs. Mallard, and following behind, the seven ducklings (Jack, Kack, Lack, Mack, Nack, Oack, Pack, and Quack), all decked out for Christmas. After paying homage to the great children’s author, illustrator, and two-time winner of the Caldecott Medal, we hurried back to the warmth of the subway.

Our second main stop of the day was the Museum of Fine Arts. We enjoyed seeing all kinds of art, including Greek pottery, Roman statues, American portrait painters such as Stuart and Copley, an ugly statue outside the MFA, French impressionists, Byzantine chapels, and my favorite piece of modern art. Surprisingly, we were allowed to take photos in the museum (without flash), so I took photos of us outside, of us inside, and of Abby posing as an art connoisseur.

After we left the museum, our final stop was at Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market. Unfortunately, the main hall was closed so I couldn’t go complete my pilgrimage to pay respects to the giant painting of Daniel Webster. But there we found reputable dealers where we looked at every type of hoodie offered in Boston. Our task was complicated immeasurably by the fact that Abby didn’t want anything affiliated with the Red Sox, but we finally found the perfect hoodie. After dinner, we made our way back to Groton to return to the family.

All of the photos linked to in this post can be seen in the gallery.