Wednesday in Cambridge: Museumopolisapalooza
Last night we went to "Mr. Bartley's Gourmet Burgers", an institution popular for decades across the street from Harvard University. Mr. Bartley's has a couple dozen types of hamburgers named after prominent individuals. H had the "Ted Kennedy" (with cheddar, mushrooms, and fries); I had the "Mitt Romney" (swiss, onions, and onion rings). The burgers were big, and the non-alcoholic raspberry lime rickeys refreshing. Afterwards to John Harvard's Brewpub for some local microbrew; the beer was pretty good but the venue too noisy.
This morning Hollie elected to stay in while I walked over to the Peabody Museum of Antropology, primarily to see what they had on display from their nifty MesoAmerican collection. In the same building complex was the Museum of Natural History, so I looked at the dinosaurs and amazing glass replicas of plants commissioned as reference materials from the 1880s through 1930s. Then the Semetic Museum with ancient near eastern stuff was right across the street.
I persuaded Ms. Hollie to join me to see more pretty stuff. We had been talking about going back into Boston to see the Museum of Fine Arts, but I guess we'll save that for another trip, as we concentrated on the wealth of museums within an easy walk of our guesthouse. We went to the Sackler Museum, with nifty stuff from Classical Antiquity, ancient China, India, and early Islamic art. After a break for ice cream at Herrell's, we went to the Fogg Museum of Art, mostly Rennesaince through 19th century Western, with highlights including paintings by Reubens, Bernini, Degas, Van Gogh, Ingres, the Impressionists, and other luminaries; connected is the Busch-Reisenger Museum of modern European art.
After this we were pretty museum saturated and my feet were tierd, so with detours for the Harvard bookstore then some bubble teas at Doda, we headed back to the guest house. We've been pleased with the Irving House -- comfortable, convenient, and a decent value. And they loan out passes for the museums!
We have to be up at Quarter Til Armpit O'Clock in the morning for our plane back (gotta get a cab-- too early for the T), and back to New Orleans tomorrow.
This morning Hollie elected to stay in while I walked over to the Peabody Museum of Antropology, primarily to see what they had on display from their nifty MesoAmerican collection. In the same building complex was the Museum of Natural History, so I looked at the dinosaurs and amazing glass replicas of plants commissioned as reference materials from the 1880s through 1930s. Then the Semetic Museum with ancient near eastern stuff was right across the street.
I persuaded Ms. Hollie to join me to see more pretty stuff. We had been talking about going back into Boston to see the Museum of Fine Arts, but I guess we'll save that for another trip, as we concentrated on the wealth of museums within an easy walk of our guesthouse. We went to the Sackler Museum, with nifty stuff from Classical Antiquity, ancient China, India, and early Islamic art. After a break for ice cream at Herrell's, we went to the Fogg Museum of Art, mostly Rennesaince through 19th century Western, with highlights including paintings by Reubens, Bernini, Degas, Van Gogh, Ingres, the Impressionists, and other luminaries; connected is the Busch-Reisenger Museum of modern European art.
After this we were pretty museum saturated and my feet were tierd, so with detours for the Harvard bookstore then some bubble teas at Doda, we headed back to the guest house. We've been pleased with the Irving House -- comfortable, convenient, and a decent value. And they loan out passes for the museums!
We have to be up at Quarter Til Armpit O'Clock in the morning for our plane back (gotta get a cab-- too early for the T), and back to New Orleans tomorrow.