As I drove toward
Harvard Square, I passed by a few places in Brighton along the way.
Finally in Cambridge, I parked outside the new
BonChon Chicken Restaurant in Harvard Square before heading to
Harvard Yard.
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Winthrop Park,
Winthrop Street and JFK Street |
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Harvard Square,
JFK Street and Brattle Street |
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Brattle Square,
Brattle Square and Mount Auburn Street |
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Sumner Statue, Dawes Island Park,
Massachusetts Avenue and Garden Street |
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| Monument at Harvard Square |
Entering the Harvard Yard at the very center of Harvard University, I started taking pictures of the various buildings on campus while making my way toward the Harvard Museum of Natural History.
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| Harvard Hall |
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| The Gates into Harvard Yard |
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| Widener Library |
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| Boylston Hall |
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| John Harvard Statue |
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| Weld Hall |
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| Sever Hall |
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| Emerson Hall |
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| Harvard Memorial Church |
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| Houghton Library |
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| Four Piece Reclining Figure |
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| Adolphus Busch Hall |
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| Memorial Hall |
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| Naito Laboratory |
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| Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations |
After I finally reached the museum, I realized that I had left my ticket in my car, and the lady would not let me in. After trying to search through my email for it in vain, I finally decided to head back to my car to get it. I took more pictures while heading back.
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| Harvard Museum of Natural History |
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| Old College Pump |
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| Science Center |
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| Malinkrodt Labs |
When I finally got back to the museum, it was already one hour later. When I got back to the girl at the counter, she then told me that for Massachusetts residents, it was free on Sundays. All that time wasted!!!
What follows next are pictures of all the interesting creatures shown in the extremely large museum.
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| Birds' Nests |
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| Ruby Throated Hummingbird |
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| Argus Pheasant |
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| Northern Parula |
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| Common Tailorbird Nest |
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| Canary |
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| Flowers Made of Glass |
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| Extinct Bird Skeletons |
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| Creatures preserved in formaldehyde |
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| Jumping Animals |
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| Insects |
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| Preserved crustaceans |
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| Giant Hairy Scorpion |
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| Colorful birds |
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| Birds and their eggs |
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| Endangered Birds |
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| Hierarchy of eggs |
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| Spots and Stripes |
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| Fossil Glyptodonts and Megalodons |
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| Dyeing Poison Frog |
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| Harvard Mastodon |
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| Giant Freshwater Turtle |
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| Coelacanth |
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| Eryops and Dimetrodon |
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| Kronosaurus |
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| Triceratops Head |
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| Chilean Rose Tarantula |
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| Corythosaurus |
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| Squid and Octopi |
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| Seashells |
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| Teleost Fish |
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| Whale Bones |
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| Baleen whale |
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| Gypsum Desert Rose |
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| Gypsum |
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| Crocoite |
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| Rock Collection |
From here, there is direct access to the
Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, which is free as well with admission to the Natural History Museum.
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| Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology |
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| Bonampak Murals |
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| Mesoamerican Exhibits |
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| Drums Trumpets and drums |
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| Pacific Islands Collection |
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| Creek Council Houses |
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| Witchita Houses |
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| Western Mono (Monache) House Group |
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| Tlingit House Group |
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| Native American Collection |
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| Ceramic Art |
I enjoyed my visit to both museums, but the day was still young and I still had two more tours to go for. I took a few more pictures of campus buildings on the way back to Harvard Square
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| Biological Laboratories |
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| Elephant Engravings on the walls |
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| Rhino Statue |
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| Door to the labs |
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| Converse Memorial Laboratory |
As it would be difficult to find parking today, I decided to leave my car in Cambridge and take the T into Boston from
Harvard T-Station.
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| At Harvard T-Station |
After leaving
Downtown Crossing T-station in Boston, I walked to the
Long Wharf area to take the Beantown Trolley, passing by the
1 India Street building and the
Rings Fountain.
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| 1 India Street |
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| The Rings Fountain |
Arriving at the Long Wharf area, I saw the trolley sitting by the side of the road, ready to go.
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| Beantown Trolley |
The
Boston Harbor Cruises booth was very nearby, but when the conductor told me that the trolley was leaving in 5 minutes, I decided not to go check with the booth as to where to go to board my cruise ship. My second mistake of the day.
Sitting on the trolley to get to the
Charlestown Navy Yard, where I thought I would be able to board the
USS Constitution and actually go out into the Boston Harbor on it, I could not take much pictures of buildings while it was moving. I have to say it is a convenient way to get around Boston quickly, but as it is only one way, it is hard to turn back. It is good that you are allowed to hop on and off at any of the stops if you are interested in looking at the attractions it stops at.
It was here that I found out from the park ranger that the large ship itself did not move at all. Apparently, the cruise I was to go on was to be on a smaller cruise ship owned by Boston Harbor Cruises, located back at Long Wharf, which I had just left in a hurry. The only way back, was to take a ferry, which was a few more bucks, or to walk all the way back. I decided to do the latter, so that I could take more pictures on the way back.
While here, I decided to take some pictures of the ships and the park anyway.
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| USS Constitution |
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| At Charlestown Navy Yard |
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| Commandant, First Naval District |
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| Giant Ship Anchors |
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| Muster House, 31 5th Street |
On the path back, I had to head back over the
Charlestown Bridge, passing by the beautiful
Paul Revere Park along the way.
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| Paul Revere Park |
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| Charlestown Bridge |
Right beside the bridge is also the Colonel Richard Gridley Locks at the end of Beverly Road, which changes the water levels to allow boats to come in from the sea into the
Charles River.
The view of the
TD Garden from here was awesome as well.
After crossing the bridge, I decided to revisit the North End Parks, starting at the beginning on Causeway Street near Haverhill Street, with the great view of the
Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge and making my way back southwards toward Long Wharf.
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| Leonard P Zakim Bridge |
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| Parcel 7 Parking Garage, 136 Blackstone Street |
North End Parks
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| Greenway Carousel, Atlantic Avenue and Cross Street |
After getting my ticket for the USS Constitution Cruise, I still had a lot of time to spare, so I decided to head to
City Hall Plaza to look for something quick to eat.
Today was the
Mayor's Cup here, where tons of people were cycling in the city for the day. It was really crowded here as most people had already finished their cycling, but thankfully there were two food trucks here for me to get food from, namely
Mei Mei Street Kitchen and
Kickass Cupcakes.
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| Kickass Cupcakes |
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| Mei Mei Street Kitchen |
I decided to get the Porky Rice Ball and Beef Dumplings from Mei Mei Street Kitchen, and the Super Chocolate cupcake from Kickass Cupcakes.
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| Porky Rice Ball |
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| Beef Dumplings |
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| Super Chocolate Cupcake |
Although all the stuff I got was really good, the portions were really small in my opinion, and were pretty pricy as well.
Heading back to Long Wharf, I decided to walk around the
Christopher Columbus Waterfront Park at the waterfront for a bit.
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| Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Garden |
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| Christopher Columbus Park |
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| Christopher Columbus Statue |
To get back to the aquarium area for my cruise, I decided to take a shortcut by walking through the
Boston Marriott Long Wharf Hotel.
While waiting in line to board my boat, I was finally able to take pictures of the fast boat
Codzilla, and of the cruise ship Fort Independence I would board for my trip.
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| Codzilla |
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| Fort Independence |
The cruise itself wasn't much, as I have already done similar cruises before. Thankfully it was free for me. I did take some pictures of new things I missed out before, like the
Nantucket Lightship, which is a historically significant moving lighthouse that is being converted to be used for commercial purposes.
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| Nantucket Lightship |
The boat stopped at Charlestown Navy Yard, where I was just hours before. I decided not to get off this time as I had to go to catch the Blue Man Group show.
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| USS Cassin Young |
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| Guns at the harbor |
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| USS Constitution |
On the way back, I took more pictures of the condominiums and the
Old North Church steeple in the North End.
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| Old North Church in the distance |
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| End of Long Wharf |
Finally back on land, I made my way toward the Charles Playhouse, taking more pictures along the way.
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Dolphins Sculpture,
between Milk Street and East India Row |
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Mist Spewing Structure,
Wharf District Parks |
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| Lamppost at Fort Point Channel Parks |
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| Painting at Dewey Square Park |
Unfortunately, it was at this point that all my cameras ran out of battery, so I was unable to take many photos of the Blue Man Group performing, which was an extremely funny, interactive and enjoyable experience.
After the show, as I had nothing to take pictures with, as even my Blackberry had run out of battery as well, I was forced to head back to my car in Cambridge using the subway, where I had another backup camera.
After charging my cameras for a bit, I decided to resume my exploration of Harvard University, visiting the
Harvard Kennedy School, and the buildings near the Charles River.
Taubman Building,
Harvard Kennedy School
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| Weld Boathouse |
Near the
John W. Weeks Bridge, there was a mini choir called the
Revels RiverSing going on on the Cambridge side.
With the sun setting, I managed to visit a few more places in Harvard University before I had to call it a day.
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| Adams House |
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| Lowell House |
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| Rosovsky Hall |
Time for dinner. From my list of Groupons, I decided to use the one at
Shiraz Persian Cuisine in Watertown.
This place is in a pretty quiet part of town, although it was nicely decorated inside.
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| Restaurant Decor |
With $30 to spend, I decided to try the House Doogh, a carbonated yogurt drink. It was a little too sour for my liking though.
For my dinner, I decided to try the Mirza Ghassemi, a hummus like paste made of a mixture of sauteed eggplant, onion, tomato paste, garlic and egg, which went really well with the bread provided. The Shiraz Soltani, consisting of a skewer of marinated ground beef and a skewer of combination of beef tenderloin and marinated chicken tender with basmati rice and roasted tomato, was excellent as well.
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| Mirza Ghassemi |
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| Persian Bread Starter |
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| Shiraz Soltani |
After finishing my dinner, I still had room for dessert. I wanted to get the Zoolbia and Bamieh dessert, but they were out of it, so I was forced to get the cream puffs, which were just ordinary although still good.
With that, my day of mistakes while exploring Harvard University and a bit more of Boston came to an end.
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