I was really happy that I was able to take a couple of hours while I was in Boston to explore some of the sights. My two favorite places to visit were Newbury Street and the Mapparium.



Once I settled into UT's hotel room on Friday afternoon (Jodi and Debbie had been there since the day before) we set off to spend an hour on Newbury Street before the convention began. Newbury Street had been recommended to us by many people as a trendy commercial area with lots of quaint little shops. It was a lovely walk, despite being cold, and I wish I had had more time on the weekend to go back and explore the area more. We went into a couple of needlepoint shops, as well as a bead store and a hand-crafted jewelry store. We walked east along the street until we reached a large park and then we turned around and came back to the hotel.

Special thanks to rabidsamfan for being the first person in LJ to recommend the Mapparium to me and thanks, too, to jewelsong for playing native guide and taking Debbie and me to the Mary Baker Eddy Library, which houses the Mapparium, on Saturday morning. The design work in the library displays was as impressive as the content was moving and thoughtful. In the Hall of Ideas, where we waited for the tour of the Mapparium, there was a lovely fountain with laser words and letters that floated in the water until they fell into the basin below, as well as words and phrases that skirled around the floor until they travelled up the wall and formed quotations on the screens.

The Mapparium itself was very impressive, a gigantic globe made of dozens of stained-glass pieces showing the world as it was in the 1930's. You stand on a glass walkway in the middle of the globe to experience a sound and light show talking about how the world has changed in the last century. As awesome as the maps were, just as memorable was the property of sound in the globe. You could whisper to someone on one side of the globe and be heard as if in a microphone by someone on the other side of the globe. Fascinating and cool.

Afterward, Julie, Debbie and I went to see other exhibits in the Quest Gallery. Again, the second floor was a gorgeously designed interactive museum dedicated to the thoughts and writing of Mary Baker Eddy, where one could look at beautiful silk-screen window shades, make computer art and project it onto a wall screen or read displays about Eddy's life. Also, in the library lobby there was an exhibit called "Words to the World", a window collage of letters from children all over Boston about how to make the world a better place.

The Mary Baker Eddy Library was one of the highlights of my trip to Boston and I'm really glad I had a chance to go there.

For my photos of Newbury Street and the Mary Baker Eddy Library go here: http://flickr.com/photos/28955251@N00/sets/131519/

Next up: Eating experiences in Boston.

To come: Boskone