Boston: A Historical, Charming City Worth the Trip to New England, Part 3

Be sure to check out Part 1 and Part 2 of my Boston travelogue as well.

Day 3: March 10, 2008

My friend had to attend his conference in the morning, so after breakfast at Au Bon Pain we parted ways and I went to the New England Aquarium on the waterfront. In a word, it was alright. I'm not sure if it was worth the $17 admission. The penguin exhibit was closed, so that was a bummer. The main attraction was the 23-foot-deep aquarium in the middle, which had a spiral walkway around it so you could see the varieties of aquatic life at different depth levels. There was some cool stuff in that tank, including a shark, giant tortoise and stingray. The subsidiary exhibits weren't that impressive. The coolest were the electric eels - their tank was hooked up to a sensor that would make a noise whenever they sent out a shock. A few little fish were dumped in while I was watching them, so I got to see them go crazy. There was also a nice special exhibit featuring several kinds of jellyfish. But overall it seemed smaller than I had expected.

I had time to walk over to the Massachusetts State House, which I would've liked to have toured if I would have had the time. As it was you had to go through metal detectors to get in, and I didn't think it was worth the hassle for a quick glance. So I strolled through the quaint Beacon Hill neighborhood before meeting up with my friend for lunch at the Union Oyster House, apparently America's oldest restaurant, served to us by some friendly Bostonians (perhaps about as old as their place of employment). The clam chowdah and corn bread were top-notch. Afterward we caught the subway out to Cambridge to scope out the academic mecca that is Harvard University. Frankly, I wasn't all that impressed. Sure, the old buildings were cool, but the grounds were nothing special, and the facilities weren't exactly gleaming with the riches of the institution with the second largest endowment in the world (behind only the Catholic Church). We ducked inside the Kennedy School of Government to see if we recognized any faculty from our grad school reading materials (a few, vaguely) and checked out the football stadium - admittedly it would be cool to go to the Harvard-Yale game. After shopping for some souvenirs at the bookstore and grabbing a snack, it was time for me to leave for the airport. Luckily I had no trouble getting back to Madison.

I greatly enjoyed my trip to Boston, and would recommend the city to anyone looking to discover America's colonial past with an injection of Old World style and modern, diverse urban living.