DAY THIRTEEN - END OF PHASE 2!

Oh my God, we are such TOURISTS!!!!! After years of living in the DC area and rolling my eyes at the hoards of people with their cameras and dropped jaws, I have joined the ranks big time.

Did we stay around here today and enjoy the little local fishing villages?????? NOOOOOOOO, we didn't. We hopped on the train to Boston yet again. The guy who owns the inn where we are staying was reduced to asking why we hadn't stayed in Boston!!! He clearly didn't know that he was in the presence of a professional commuter like me.

Now the case could be made that we took the train to Boston so we could flirt with the conductors again. And the case could be made that we took the train to Boston so that we would not waste the $6.60 left on our Charlie cards. And while both of those were probably contributing factors, we really just wanted to see more of Boston. I think I could do this indefinitely. And I LOVE riding a train. And I finished my book!

We took the T to Boston Public gardens and rode in the swan boats! There were movie set type lights set up, and apparently they were shooting promotionals for Wheel of Fortune when it's set in Boston in the near future. I was absolutely sure that when the crew laid eyes on me they would ask me to do multiple takes of walking past the cameras, but alas, that did not happen. Their loss!

We saw the "Make Way For Ducklings" statues and then out on the street passed the Cheers bar. I told you we were tourists! We headed toward the Prudential center and found the Boston Legal building. We ate lunch out side the Globe Bar and Grill and I kept looking around for Denny Crane and Alan Shore. But perhaps they were with Vanna White somewhere. . . . .

One of our themes today was: GO PLACES WHERE PEOPLE TOLD US TO GO (except for the obvious).

So we went to the Christian Science mother church building and saw the Maparium (shout out to Joan for the fantastic recommendation!). You go inside this huge globe and see a presentation. Also, if you stand in the middle under the North Pole and whisper, it sounds like you're using a microphone!!! VERY COOL! Could have stayed at that museum longer, but my friend Ethel had recommended the Fine Arts Museum. We got back on the T and got down there, but it was too late in the day to get our money's worth and we were already pretty tired. I would really like to save that for a day when I'm fresh and can spend a long time. So instead we headed a block away to the Isabel Stewart Gardner museum. This was recommended by one of the cute conductors (although the way he said it was "Isabel Stewaht Gahdnah" and we almost got sidetracked until we realized that he had left out all the R's.) It's a Spanish style mansion with Ms. Gardner's art collection. And the most drop dead gorgeous garden/courtyard I've ever seen. Also, it had the prerequisite cafeteria where we indulged in more Jasmine tea and shared a banana bread pudding. Afternoon tea and desert: it's a good thing.

From there we could take the T right to the train and right home. Upon arriving in Rockport we decided to drive to Manchester-by-the-Sea to check the place out and to be able to tell the Inn owner that we did something local. Stopped by a restaurant and ordered a small veggie pizza to go. We were forced to drink a glass of wine while we waited. Drove home via Gloucester and happened by the famous Gloucester Fisherman statue so I had to dash out and snap a picture. . . .sealing my fate as the tourist-of-the century. We also managed to wolf down the pizza that we were supposed to have back at the Inn.

Tomorrow to Cambridge. Bonnie flies out around 4:00. I'll stay two nights with my friend Jean, and then on to Maine! Stay tuned. . .