Cambridge/Boston

When I'm traveling I rarely get out of the office before it's getting dark. Which is true for my visit to Cambridge as well. Still, today I got out early enough to leisurely stroll through the MIT campus down to the Charles River Basin.

The campus is huge, some areas have nice walkways like this one near the library, or open spaces with funky sculptures like this one at McDermott Court.

Once I got to the river the sunset was in full swing.

Along Memorial Drive on the banks of the Charles River is this gem of a street sign on the approach to the Longfellows Bridge. There are a couple underpasses with very low clearance so the Boston transportation department helpfully put up huge signs advising that this route is only for cars. However, do you notice how the branches of the tree on the left almost completely obscure the signs? The only good thing is that the branches hang so low that any sane truck driver wouldn't dare to go there anyways in order to avoid hitting the branches.

Surrounded by joggers I crossed the river into Boston. From the Longfellows Bridge I had a nice view of the Cambridge river bank with the remainder of the sunset.

On the Boston side, I hung right and walked into an area called Beacon Hill. Narrow cobblestone streets. Old brick houses. Old-town style street lanterns. A pretty place with surprisingly many people walking the dog, picking up dinner, or chatting with friends. One of the restaurants on Charles Street, the main street of Beacon Hill, has their kitchen out to the front, and one can watch the cooks from the side-walk.

After walking for almost an hour I reached Boston Common, a nice park next to Beacon Hill. The view of the skyline was fantastic.

There is even a small, creaky carussell.

And here is a photo of a little sideyard, off Charles Street. In the back they had a rug, and sofas, and it looked quite comfortable. An outside living room. Who would have thought I'd see that here.