Boston scheduling

[sildra]

Here is my Boston schedule so far. It's time to fill in the details, especially since the relatives I'm staying with are now ready to schedule their time with me. So chime in if you want to meet up with me at any of my free times

Comments

[q10]

i will be at the eggplant party, and i also have some free time on Monday.

and you should persuade somebody to take you to the Harvard Museum of Natural History, if you haven't already been. mainly for the glass flowers. some of the other parts are also pretty good if you have a high tolerance for the smell of vintage taxidermy in somewhat under-ventilated spaces. swing by the collection of antique scientific instruments too, if you can (it's a distinct operation, but it's in another Harvard building not far away). i'd be happy to accompany such an expedition on Monday, but mainly you should just go there sometime if possible.

[sildra]

That does sound interesting. I haven't ever been there, and would be happy to have you show me around. (In fact, I've been to Boston three times previously. The first time, at age 8, we just passed through and spent a night or two at my mom's friend's house on our way to Maine. The second time, at age 16, I spent a day touring MIT and Harvard with my cousin who went to MIT (the Harvard tour was very short and was mostly about why it was inferior to MIT), and a day touring Wellesley and walking around Walden Pond. The third time, two years ago, I was there for 2 1/2 days (that may have been my longest visit), one of which was fully taken up by my cousin's wedding. So I have never done anything touristy in Boston at all, other than having set foot on the MIT and Harvard campuses once each.)

[q10]

re planning Monday: the hours for historical scientific instruments appear to be 11-4, and the hours for natural history seem to be 9-5. both destinations are reasonably close to the Harvard Square stop on the Red Line (if you're getting there by car, i need to just refer you to the website).

i'm not really good at recommending tourist-y stuff. there's the usual complement of museums, many of which are good. there's a lot of miscellaneous early American history stuff, if you're interested in seeing Paul Revere's house or the location of the Boston Massacre for some reason (there's also some non-revolutionary stuff: for example, in the unlikely event that you've ever wanted to see the former location of the chestnut tree and smithy that Longfellow wrote that poem about, there's a little stone marking the spot not far from the Red Line stop i mentioned above). the glass flowers are the main non-obvious thing that people recommend, as far as i can tell.

[sildra]

I don't know how I'm getting there. I'll have to ask the relatives I'm staying with. Possibly bus? I will have access to a car but I'm not sure if I'm comfortable driving in the area, between Boston's reputation and my unfamiliarity with the local geography. As for timing, my relatives are tentatively busy with other things all afternoon, so that might be a good time for me to meet up with you.

It isn't really that I was asking for recommendations of touristy stuff so much as that I was saying that no matter what you suggest there's just about zero chance that I've already seen it.

[reldnahkram]

My schedule seems remarkably similar to yours, only I'm leaving Monday morning and the wedding I'm going to is an hour north of Portland. I will see you at the eggplant patty and can conceivably do breakfast Friday and/or Monday mornings, depending on how my travel plans congeal.

[sildra]

Looks like Friday is the more open day for breakfast for me now, so let's aim for that. If your travel plans end up such that that doesn't end up working for you, you can probably tag along to my Monday morning breakfast with meanfreepath.