The Information Super-Frog

I dreamed I was a survivor of the sinking of the Titanic - not the one from 1912, but somehow from another Titanic that met the same tragic fate this year.

I and other survivors were rescued from a small life boat, brought to a large modern airport along the coast, and given some food. Then we were separated and sent to different parts of the airport.

I was on my own in a gate terminal for hours, then a full day; I asked agents at gate desks for information as to what next but none of them had any information. I became worried I'd been forgotten and lost. Then I found someone working at the airport who was an old acquaintance, and at first things to be going better. We talked briefly and pleasantly about events we'd both been to in New Orleans 25 years earlier. He put some effort into making a couple of phone calls to his superiors to try to find out where I should go next, but without luck.
All I had was the clothes I was wearing and a blanket. I'd lost all my paperwork which had gotten waterlogged and disintegrated. So I worried I was in danger because I had no documentation. So I asked the fellow at the desk if he could vouch that when we were in New Orleans I was presumed to be a citizen. He said he couldn't swear that was so. I said I'm not asking you to swear certain knowledge, as you never examined my papers, just that when we were there people were acting like they presumed I was a local. He said "I wouldn't go that far" and his eyes narrowed as he looked at me. I became worried that he was going to turn me in to ICE for a reward since I was undocumented, and I'd be disappeared in some horrible concentration camp.
I backed away from him, and looking around the airport found another acquaintance, a musician from France who often visited New Orleans. I said I survived the sinking of the Titanic, I had nothing and nowhere to go. He said he was about to fly back to Paris, and happened to have a pass for an extra so he could bring me along, and could put me up in his apartment in Paris for a couple of days. I said, yes please, I'd very much appreciate that.
So we flew to Paris, then took the train to where he lived. I was slightly disappointed to find it was in one of the outer arrondissements, far from the historic city center, and the architecture and streets looked to be rather generic modern urbanized suburb. But that was secondary to relief, as I knew at last I was safe.

I'm taking a road trip. I checked that my tires were properly inflated.

Is that a partisan thing now?

Museum of Science, Copley Square, Fenway area

This completes my pix of my New England trip.

( 9 pix )

Downtown, State House

( 11 pix )

Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts

( 9 pix )

Providence concluded: Federal Hill, Miscellany

( 12 pix )

I've been asked to share my photos of my recent New England trip here on my LJ. I'll do so geographically rather than in strict chronology, since we bounced back and forth between places a bit.

Providence Rhode Island, Part One: State House, Downtown

( 12 pix )

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.

Part 1: Downtown Boston
After a light breakfast at our guesthouse, we took the T into town. We saw Boston Common, Beacon Hill, the Massachusetts State House (including the Sacred Cod), the Boston Atheneum (lots of nifty and pretty stuff there), a couple old burial grounds, North Church, and Faniuel Hall before lunch at Drugin Park. Passing through various statuary and the Holocost Memorial, we then took the T to Science Park.

Part 2: Science Museum
We met Tom K from a.r.k. by the Tyrannosaur statue outside the Science Museum. It was an old style Tyrannosaur, the type they had when we were kids, so this obsolete dinosaur was moved outside, with a more modern upgraded model Tyrannosaur taking its place inside.

Inside was brimming with STUFFS: Hands on exhibits! Obsolete computers! Minerals! Bones! Dubious taxidermy! Virtual fish! Live monkeys! Broken exibits! Tesla coils! Shocking demonstrations of the world's largest Van der Graaff generator! Newtonian physics demonstrated by wacky giant moving sculptures! Overuse of exclamation points!

Part 3: MIT
Tom, H & I met Plorkwort near MIT, across from where the Necco Wafer Factory used to be. She toured us around The Institvte, from up in the Pantheonic dome to down in the hidden tunnels, from Ancient Rome to Frank Geary modernist impractial, with various curiosities along the way.

Coda: Dinner
Plorkwort had to head out after the tour; Tom H & I had a good dinner at "Algiers".

We got a lot of Bostoning done.

mshollie has been better about posting about our trip than I, despite the fact she's been busy pagenting, photographing, and webmastering the last 3 evenings.

Our hotel is in an area of modern generic off-Interstate-Highway America, but as it's in an example of such with a Panera rather than just a McDonald's we're not suffering.

Wednesday we had an excellent day in Providence. We drove in the morning to a light rain and drove around town and went into the Rhode Island State House. We met Kerri for lunch at Paragon on Thayer Street. Afterwards to the RISD museum, a teaching museum with some very fine collections. Afterwards we took look around Prospect Park before meeting Jacob at Coffee Exchange. Jacob took us on a walking tour of historic and wacky sights around downtown Providence and some good beer at Trinity Brewhouse.

Thursday we looked around the town of New Bedford, which was the world's busiest whaling port in the early 19th century -- yes, the seaman's church really does have an altar shaped like a ship's prow.

Yesterday back to Providence to eat Italian lunch at Venda Ravioli and look around the Federal Hill District. We got some pastries to go at Pastiche before heading back.

Today Hollie decided to stay at the hotel and "power nap" in the afternoon. I went over to Fall River, where I visited the historic society museum, in an impressive early 19th century mansion. I was interested in the art and architecture. Everyone else taking the tour was conversant with all the details of the Lizzie Borden case. The museum has a room dedicated to the Borden murders, advertised as "The World's Largest Lizzie Borden Exhibit". The Borden fans probably would have spent the rest of the day in the room discussing the case, but the tour guide eventually pushed the group on. (One hundred and ten years from now, will groups of tourists be debating the details of a late 20th century case at an O. J. Simpson museum?) The museum shop had some strange bottled soft drinks; I had a "Dandelion & Burdock" ginger drink which didn't taste as unusual as it sounded.

Hollie is at the big final night of the Miss Mass Pagent now.
Tomorrow we head on to Cambridge.