March 20th 2013: Visiting Several Museums in Boston

Today, I had some food truck business to deal with later in the afternoon, so I decided to make a day of visiting several museums in Boston. Before they opened, I visited some places in the West Roxbury area in Boston.

Arabic Evangelical Baptist Church of Boston

VA Health Care System West Roxbury Campus 
Building 1

St. George Orthodox Church

With that, it came time to visit my first museum, being the Warren Anatomical Museum, a small, free gallery of the anatomically obscure within the Harvard Medical School campus area.

Some of the exhibits, which included skeletons of tiny human babies during development and deformed skeletons of Siamese twins and others were pretty gruesome, but unique as well.

My next destination was the free Semitic Museum in Cambridge, which had exhibits not only of Ancient Israel, but also of the Hurrians in Mesopotamia, Egypt and ancient Cyprus.

The next place I decided to go to was the Sports Museum located within the TD Garden, which I have tried to go to several times before, failing each time because there was an event going on that day.

This time around, I called ahead first, and thankfully they were open today. After buying a ticket for $10 from the box office, I waited outside the door to the VIP Suites before someone came out to escort us into the stadium.

We were first escorted to view the main arena, which was currently outfitted for a Boston Bruins ice hockey game.

We were then allowed to roam the corridors of the stadium on our own. Pictures of the exhibits showcasing the ice hockey, baseball, basketball and American football teams of the New England area, including college teams, as well as famous New England boxers like Tony DeMarco, follow.

After my third museum visit today, I decided it was time to use another groupon for lunch at the Sports Grille nearby.

The sports bar, which has pretty interesting sports decorations all around, was pretty empty this time of day, so I had no problem getting a seat. To spend my $40, I had to get a lot of food, namely the Coconutty Shrimp and New England Clam Chowder for appetizers,

and the Maple Leaf Garden's Rib and Tip Combo (Fall off the bone half rack of ribs served with a half pound of juicy sirloin tips)

The shrimp was pretty good, with coconut being a good touch for once, while the rest of the food was at best average. As I still had dessert to go, I was force to box half my food, and get the Hot Molten Chocolate Cake, which came with ice cream as well. This was pretty much my second time getting molten lava cake in a week. It was also nothing fantastic as well, probably because I was already too full.

From here, my next destination was the Boston Athenaeum, passing by a large globe sculpture along the way at 25 New Chardon Street.

The Athenaeum is a small, free library-museum with many sculptures and works of art lining its walls. Some pictures I took here follow. There is also a nice view of the Granary Burying Ground from the back window.

After leaving the Athenaeum, it was time to go deal with my food truck business, which took a surprisingly short time, and then it was on to the Museum of Medical History and Innovation on the grounds of Massachusetts General Hospital. This museum is again free of charge, and talks about the history of the hospital and how medical technology has evolved throughout the years. Pictures I took here follow.

There is also a rooftop garden here, which was unfortunately covered in snow, but with okay views of Boston.

From here, I decided to head to the Vilna Shul nearby, the only historic, free Jewish synagogue-museum in the Beacon Hill part of town.

The lady there showed me around the place, talking at length, how Jewish immigrants came during the late 19th century, eventually replacing the Afro American community there and building several synagogues, with most of them being demolished when they moved further out into the suburbs and the area became more developed.

On the second floor is the main prayer room, most of the walls having been damaged by rainwater due to roof leakages, while other parts were plain because they were painted over.

Fortunately, some of the original murals have been restored, while other parts of the walls are in the process of being restored.

After leaving the synagogue, I decided it was too late to visit any more museums, so I went to visit Everett

Wind Turbine

Amelie Earhart Dam

Alford Street Bridge,
Alford Street near Dexter Street

the Charlestown area instead,

Bunker Hill Community College

First Church in Charlestown

Ansin Youth Center

managing to find Building 114 in the Charlestown Navy Yard this time around.

The views of the Tobin Bridge from the Boston Harborwalk there were pretty good too.

From here, I headed to South Boston, where I was to have dinner at Aura Restaurant, situated within the Seaport Hotel, passing by the Westin Boston Waterfront along the way.

I had to walk through the hotel in order to get to the restaurant, taking pictures of the decor inside.

The restaurant itself felt like it was actually part of the hotel and not a separate entity, with no clear boundaries except that defined by the pillars and table arrangements, hence its high class look was not very convincing.

The food itself was not very impressive either, with me getting the Roasted Squash and Cranberry Souffle (Spinach Salad and Bacon Vinaigrette) for my appetizer,

the Parmesan and Potato Soup (Truffle Oil, Parmesan Tuile) for my soup

and the Lamb Shank (Brussel Sprouts, Fregola Risotto, mushrooms, Bacon) for my entree.

The appetizer was actually pretty huge, but pretty tasteless and boring. My soup was a little too salty at times as well. The only saving grace was the lamb, which wasn't too bad, but not amazing either. Overall, compared to other nicer restaurants in Boston, this would not be one of my top picks.

With that, my day of visiting all sorts of museums in Boston came to an end.