This morning, I had a early morning brunch event at
Neighborhood Restaurant and Bakery in Somerville, so I headed there as the sun came up. Along the way, I passed by the St. Lawrence Church at 774 Boylston Street along Route 9 in Brookline.
I also passed by
Winthrop Square on St. Paul Street and Browne Street. The
last time I visited it, the Minot Rose Garden did not have any flowers in sight, but this time it was so colorful that I had to stop and take pictures even though I was going to be late for the event.
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| Minot Rose Garden |
Thankfully, the others were still waiting for other people to arrive when I finally found parking and walked to the restaurant, where there was actually a line starting to form up.
When we finally got a seat, I decided to try the dish with 3 scrambled eggs, linguica (Portuguese sausage), fried bananas and homefries. On top of that, there was complimentary orange juice, which came in a really small cup, and a bowl of cream of wheat, which was cinammon flavored like most other desserts in America.
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| Orange Juice |
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| Scrambled Eggs, Fried Banana, Linguica, Homefries |
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| Cream of Wheat |
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| Belgian Waffle with the Works |
Even while we were eating, the line waiting outside just kept getting longer. I did not really think my food was that fantastic, but I guess everyone else outside did.
After brunch, I decided to do some sightseeing in Somerville itself, with my ultimate objective of heading into Winchester. A few interesting places in town include
Prospect Hill Park and the
Nathan Tufts Park, which both have beautiful historical structures at the top, even more so at Prospect Hill with the Prospect Hill Tower, with great views of the Boston skyline. Another place, the Draw Seven Park, is situated along the
Mystic River, and was so hard to find as it was situated behind the Assembly Square Mall in an area where no traffic is allowed, and I almost gave up trying to find it.
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Memorial,
Washington Street and Union Square |
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Old Prospect Hill Congregational Church,
17 Bow Street |
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| Old Police Department, 50 Bow Street |
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| Old Community Center, 1 Summer Street |
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| Prospect Hill Tower |
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| Views from Prospect Hill Park |
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| Mystic River from Draw Seven Park |
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Evangelical Haitian Church,
30 Temple Street |
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Missionary Church of the Haitian Community,
100 Temple Street |
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| Old Windmill at Nathan Tufts Park |
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| Small Slide |
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| Field House |
I ended my tour of Somerville by visiting
Tufts University, which is half in Medford as well. The most beautiful buildings here were the Goddard Chapel and the rooftop of the Tisch Library, atop which one can see the Boston skyline.
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| Ellis Oval |
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| Sculpture Outside Arts Center |
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| Aidekman Center |
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| South Hall |
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| Mayer Campus Center |
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| Granoff Music Center |
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| Colossal Acornhead |
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| Elephant Sculpture |
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| Decorated cannon |
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| Tisch Library |
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| Rooftop of Tisch Library |
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| Goddard Chapel |
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| Packard Hall |
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| Jumbo the Elephant |
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| Dana Laboratory |
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| West Hall |
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| Views of Medford |
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| Olin Center |
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| Carmichael Hall |
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| Main Entrance |
Heading into Medford, I visited a few areas before finally heading into Winchester.
Finally in Winchester, I visited several places before doing some hikes.
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| Memorials Outside Town Hall |
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| Wedge Pond from Elliot Park |
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| Borggaard Beach, 4 Palmer Street |
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Judkins Pond,
Skillings Road and Shore Road |
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| Bridge to Sandy's Island |
My first hike of the day was at
Long Pond, located at South Border Road close to where it meets Mystic Valley Parkway, which is part of the larger
Middlesex Fells Reservation. The rough path I took while here is highlighted below in pink.
I first headed to the Indian Lookout on the map, where there are supposed to be good views, but there were only partial views to be had.
I then made my way around the pond, even walking along unmarked trails and somehow found my way back to my car. The pond itself was not that great, though. I've seen better.
The next place I went to was
Davidson Park, located at the end of Brookside Place. This place was hard to find, as the entrance is in between private properties, and for a moment I was worried about trespassing. The path I took here after parking along Forest Street is shown below.
The views of the Aberjona River itself were not that great either, although I managed to catch sight of Canadian geese with their goslings, and they were much larger than the last time that I saw goslings in Norwood a few weeks back. My, do they grow fast.
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| Aberjona River |
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| Footbridge over the river |
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| Canadian Geese and their Goslings |
The next place I hiked at today was at
Mount Pisgah, located at Andrews Road past Agawam Road. The path I took here is shown below in pink.
Unfortunately,
unlike the mountain of the same name in Northborough, there were no views to be had at the top here, the water tower at the top wasn't very impressive either, and to make things worse I almost lost my way here, going around and around the top a few times before finally figuring my way back out.
Finally, I headed to
Smith Pond Conservation Area on Ridge Street near Tania Circle for my last hike of the day. The path I took here to try to see Smith Pond is shown below in pink.
Unfortunately, the pond itself is overgrown with water plants, and it wasn't much to look at.
Disappointed with my hiking experience today, I headed to dinner at
Ruyi Restaurant in Lexington, where I had a Livingsocial deal for $30 of food. I decided to get the French Maki, the Szechuan Lamb, and the Lobster Kaiyaki dishes.
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| French Maki |
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| Szechuan Lamb |
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| Lobster Kaiyaki |
The French Maki was honestly not really good, while the other 2 dishes were just okay. Needless to say, I'm never coming back here again.
