JFK Library, State House, Boston, Massachusetts – 3/29/2017

March 29, 2017 (Wednesday)

I guess I must have been excited to see Boston because I sure didn’t sleep well. Good thing I had a nice nap yesterday afternoon. We got up, had our breakfast and coffee, and then headed the 70 or so miles into the Boston area. The weather was overcast, cold, but got better later in the afternoon. We left around 9:00 AM and got into Boston at around 10:30 AM. Nice drive but so many potholes and dips in the road.

Started out looking pretty good, so off we went.

One and one-half blocks from our resort, the church where the Kennedy’s were married.

Took a while to get out of Rhode Island and into Massachusetts.

Our first stop was the John Fitzgerald Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. Lots of construction going on in the area of the Museum, actually lots of construction going on all over the Boston area. They really should work on their roads though. We got to the parking lot (free) and found a spot not too far from the Museum. The Library entrance cost was $12.00 per person (old person discount).

Lovely Museum with rooms which had their own different topic. Most of the rooms had a television playing a different speech or something on Kennedy. Learned a lot, and I thought I knew more about Kennedy than most of the other Presidents. Found out that after his PT boat had been hit and he and his men were shipwrecked, he carved a help message into a coconut and gave the coconut to a native who gave it to some Navy personnel about 6 days later. That’s how they were found. Loved his speeches and loved learning more about him and Jackie. Learned they were married in Newport, Rhode Island! The church is just a block or two away from where we are staying. The Museum is very beautiful architecturally and overlooks the bay that Kennedy loved to sail.

This quote is prominently displayed in several places.

As you approach a motion detector fires up the TV and shows of the day start to play.

His “Profiles in Courage” is given much attention. His Pulitzer Prize winning book that examines 11 politicians that knowingly voted against the wishes of their constituency but in the best interest of the United States.

Brother-in-law Sergeant Shriver taking the helm of the Peace Corps.

I looked at the picture and knew I knew the old guy.

What a wonderful life in the social aspect. Chats with Pearl Buck and Robert Frost.

Pablo Casals played despite his vows to the contrary.

Edie and I especially enjoyed this as we had recently visited Mount Vernon and walked along this way.

His role in space exploration is acknowledged.

Nice sentiment, we are all in this together.

The eloquence of his administration was outstanding.

All the gore and shock are represented in this simple display.

Half the structure is an unfinished emptiness. I suspect a metaphor for his Presidency.

An excellent and touching talk given by Caroline just before the exit.

We left and headed the short distance to the Massachusetts State House (Capitol). Lovely and huge building with absolutely no parking anywhere around.

Fun on the University grounds as we were leaving.

Coming out of our parking garage we ran into the John Adams Federal Courthouse. I was impressed.

Loved the image of the statue of the eagle in the trees with the dome in the background. Walking along I just had to pause and snap it.

If we had time I am sure we could find the Peace Officer’s Memorial.

We were quite surprised at just how crowded it was in the downtown Boston area. Tell those tourists to go home as it’s cold and off season! We ended up parking in a parking lot (something like $30.00 for an hour – ouch!) and walking up to the Capitol. Got through security no problem and then went to the tour desk. The Capitol was quite busy and the tour desk personnel seemed overwhelmed with all that was going on. They told us they didn’t have another tour until 3:30 PM (we were there at around 2:00 PM). They gave us a sheet for a self-guided tour. They also said some big committee from Israel was there and that’s why it was so busy. We noticed lots of goings on from the American Cancer Society and also from something from the Department of Transportation.

Department of Transportation announcement.

The Capitol was lovely, not over the top but quite lovely. It had the grand staircase, lots of marble, quite a few murals, lots of sculptures, and tons of paintings. We got to go into the Memorial Hall, the Doric Hall, and the Nurse’s Hall. We also got to go into the Senate and observed that the table arrangement was different than any others we have seen. We enjoyed the tile mosaic on the floor.

So busy here today, hard to take proper pictures.

They liked the iron railing so much that they had the company destroy the molds for the casting so no one else could copy it.

Stained glass with state seal in center of center pane.

I can see the history which is so very rich here.

Just saw images of his son, Jr, at JFK library. He was Nixon’s running mate in 1960.

House was closed today and I could not charm my way in like pretty woman did on her side.

Edie got into the Senate Chambers even though it was closed. I was elsewhere.

Memorial Hall is also where the dome is located.

We wished we had a tour so we would understand what the murals were about.

We both liked the eagles on the lower rim.

I couldn’t get over to it but it reminded me so much of the statuary dedicated to the women that gave comfort to the injured.

We walked back to the car and observed a Peace Garden for Victims of Homicide. Lovely sculpture of a bird of paradise to honor the victims. Beautiful.

I think it must have been pretty violent here at one time to have a garden of peace built and dedicated to the victims of homicide.

Edie thinks Bird of Paradise, I think just birds.

Once in the car we just drove around and got to see lots of other things – Trinity Church and other churches, statues, fun and unusual buildings.

We enjoyed Boston a lot and look forward to going back. All the traffic and the very narrow streets kinda freaked me out driving. Also, all the police sirens and ambulance lights and sirens didn’t help the situation. I’m afraid I even got a little “testy” with Michael’s navigation skills while in Boston. When we finally got out of Boston, we stopped at a Costco just outside the city limits. We were still looking for our coffee mugs. This one didn’t have them either. We ended up having lunch at the Costco (since we spent so much on the parking in Boston).

I was fascinated by this building. No windows, no obvious doors, interesting.

The drive home was nice, except the potholes kept waking Michael up. He swore I was deliberately hitting them to wake him up. I swore I wasn’t, there was just that many potholes everywhere. We got to see more of Newport, Rhode Island, and realized we need to get out and explore more of this quaint little town.

That was our day. Hope yours was great!