Wake up Call!

Rehearsals in London!  A quick photo from the rest of the Noteworthies reminds me that I should be rehearsing too! Now where are those scores?

The Cape Playhouse Story 

Little did Roger know when he booked tickets for ART, that he was booking into an iconic theatre.  This popular summer theatre has seen the beginning of many an actor's career.  Click to read its history.  

The building and the gardens were just beautiful - a great chance to soak up some sun!

Gosh you could really feel the history of the place... photos of the Kennedy family, and stars from the 20's...full of atmosphere BUT it was freezing.   One woman sat with her coat over her head for the whole performance - would have loved that photo!

A very American play which was perfect!

After such a great day we were really happy to arrive at our B & B... and what a B & B.  The best place we have stayed in so far.  

Amy the owner was fabulous, as was our room  and as we were in the main house we had the sitting area all to ourselves!  Amy recommended a local restaurant that overlooked the Marshes.  By this time we were tired and hungry so almost anything would do, but what a treat was in store.  

The restaurant really was right on the marsh and our table overlooked the bird feeders, so throughout the evening we were entertained by all the different species hopping in to feed.

As the birds fed their seeds fell to the ground and tempted out other small mammals, who munched away contentedly until some small sound sent them scooting!

What a great day!  Spent the rest of the evening reading before scooting off to bed too!

To the Cape - Cod that is

'How about we go to the theatre' says Roger... 'There's a comedy on.' 'Sounds good' I replied not really concentrating.   I should know better.     By the time I had focussed on the conversation and asked where the theatre was,  Roger had booked a ferry trip to Martha's Vineyard and back, a car trip to the Provincetown and tickets for "Art" at the theatre in Dennis half way up the Cape!

 

6.00 ferry from Martha's Vineyard brought back so many memories of travelling with the camper in Canada... Hot tea and then off into the ferry queue.  Magic!

Off through Mashpee, Yarmouth, Hayannis, Orleans and finally on to Provincetown, where we were greeted by the town cryer - pretty traditional quiet town we thought.

Off for breakfast.  First question "What are you drinking?  Unfortunately we were driving!  

Great breakfast though... eggs benedict... yum!   




What a party town - full of great clothes shops and gays everywhere !  

Loved these T-shirts - especially...

"Yes, your Gaydar is working" and "Provincetown where the women are strong and the men are pretty."  Ha! ha!

Martha's Vineyard

Hey ... we are off again and there is nothing quite like an early morning  ferry trip... Car is on board, the sun is shining  and we are off to Martha's vineyard.  Lighthouse cottages await.

First stop a cup of coffee or tea or something... Loved this place a typical diner. My how they could  chat and flip the french toast and sausages... loved it, but tea was enough for us!

Don't you love the vitality of this art... if only I the space... oh yes and the dollars!

Somehow we always seem to be visiting lighthouses... guess we just love the wilderness!  Gayhead just great!

How about  these lighthouse keepers' houses?  Look at those chimneys!

 Everyone kept telling us that we should have cocktails and watch the setting sun from the verandah at the Harbour View Hotel.  

So off we went ... now it's not often we have a cocktail but when we do we like the full deal... Margaritas gently salted around the rim of a delicately shaped glass (spoilt brat or what?)  First disappointment no cocktails on the verandah... second disappointment margarita in a tooth mug!

Off to dinner to taste the famous lobster.  Oh my goodness how big is it?  A much stronger  taste than our lobsters with the claws being the best bit!

A  few lobster facts...

The lobster's anatomy is pretty weird... Its brain is located in its throat, its nervous system in its abdomen, its teeth in its stomach and its kidneys in its head. It also hears using its legs and tastes with its feet. One of the few things lobsters have in common with humans: They tend to favor one front limb, meaning they can be right-clawed or left-clawed.

Check this out

Alternative facts - Battle of Bunker Hill Parade

I know its going to be fun... but its so hot and I just want it to start!

A tradition since 1786, the Bunker Hill Day Parade on June 10, commemorates the Battle of Bunker Hill which was fought on Breed's Hill on June 17, 1775 in Charlestown, Massachusetts. The Battle of Bunker Hill was the first major battle of the American Revolution.  

It feels kind of weird to have a carnival about something where over a thousand people died.  I look over at the hill from our lovely apartment and wonder what they would think if they came back today.

Sombre thought I know.

Some lovely characters, great bands,  Go the Italians, Scottish, Brits et al.

Alternative facts

1  The Harvard Bridge measures 364 Smoots.  

Even the original pranksters had to admit that this was only  accurate to plus or minus an ear or two!  Oliver Smoot repeatedly lay down on the bridge, let his companions mark his new position in chalk or paint, and then got up again, in order to measure the bridge. Eventually, he got tired from all this exercise and was carried thereafter by the fraternity brothers to each new position.

I was amused to read that he eventually became the chairperson of the American Standards Institute. 

2.  It's John Harvard's Statue,  

No its not!   There was no likeness of John and so the artist used a student, Sherman Hoar, as a model.  However, that doesn't stop students and tourists from having their photo taken or indeed from rubbing the toe of "John's" foot to wish them luck in exams.  Its also known as the statue of the 3 lies. 

3.  John Harvard founded Harvard!  
Actually, he didn’t even attend the College. He was the first major benefactor to the University. He donated half of his estate and his library, which consisted of over 400 books.

4  Harvard was founded in 1638 
Well, no!  It was in 1636 which makes it the oldest institution of higher education in the United States.

Phew! after all of that I think I need a Bex, a cuppa tea and a nice lie down, ha! ha!

Singing my way to Harvard!

We decided to walk to Harvard ... well that was the only way I was going to get there under my own steam.  The walk along the Charles River was relaxing.  I got to thinking how many of my friends' children came here to Harvard and probably took the same path.  All boys I now realise, Nicky, Bede, Simeon and Josh just to mention a few!

Everything this trip seems to have a musical flavour.  We came across the Hatch Memorial Shell, so I had to have a sing (much to the horror of everyone around!)  Great acoustics.  Hard to believe this was built in 1940's.  Would have loved to hear a concert here.

Next was this amazing sculpture.   Artist, Ralph Helmick created this gigantic head from 83 sheets of aluminium to commemorate Arthur Fiedler, who conducted the  Boston Pops for over 50 years!  The Summer concerts were so popular, they often attracted crowds of over 400,00.... Roll over Beethoven!

Go Jamie

Just love fresh veggies... Made up Jamie's ravioli and 7 veggie sauce.... yum!

Greenway

There's no better way to get to know a city than walking it.  I love all these new walkways.  This one led us along the river, to the Boston markets and the Italian sector at North.

Mmmm look at the size of those crab claws... and how about the Italian grocery store?  Went a bit crazy at the veggie market!

The Common Wealth

We decided to take a walk down Commonwealth Avenue.  A wonderful stretch of greenery and street art.  Of course it's Boston so there's great architecture always accompanied by the drone and smell of cars.

My favourite set of sculptures was the Boston's Womens' Memorial. (I know you will be surprised by this ha! ha!).

The sculptures depict three womens, Judy Stone, Phillis Wheatley and Abigail Adams.  Judy Stone, an abolitionist and suffragist, was among the first women to graduate from college in Massachusetts. Wheatley, a colonial slave sold from a ship in Boston, published the nation’s first book by an African writer. And Adams, the famous First Lady, who many thought would have made a great president, was known for her political nouse and progressive views on women. 

American street art and memorials are so evocative.  I hated the 911 memorial but Roger loved it ... but that is art I guess.  I love this memorial to the nine firefighters who were killed in 1972, when a section of the Hotel Vendome collapsed.

In Boston there is a real feel of preserving the old and accepting the new.  So there are huge towers that reflect the shining domes and white steepled churches.

  

A city in transition.

Live like a pilgrim

Our first venture out of Boston is to the Pilgrim Village ... allegedly where the Pilgrims landed ... much disputed by Provincetown, who claim they landed there first!

Mainly an educational site for children with people in role models demonstrating the crafts that were needed.  The walk starts indigenous peoples' summer and winter huts.

Fabulous interaction between the role players and the students.   

How did they do it?  It must have been hell on earth in those small houses not knowing if they were going to survive.  The cottages were so basic but surprisingly some had quite good solid furniture.  I hadn't realised that many of them came from Holland.  They left because of the war with England and they feared persecution once more.

Kids loved hauling out the mattresses - great fun in the sun but yet one more task in reality.

Brrrr this cold in June imagine what it was like in December when they arrived!

Don't spoil a good story by telling the truth. (Isabella Stewart Gardner)

I have been too busy living life to write about it... just back from a glorious few days in Martha's Vineyard and Cape Cod (or God as one fellow described it!).  We have had a heatwave and so it is hard to cast myself back to the cold, wet windy days when we first arrived.

Cold and wet it was though and so we sought solace in an amazing museum.  The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.

 An amazing woman of passion and adventure.  She and her husband Jack travelled extensively throughout Europe, Asia and the American West.  Including a year long trip through Japan, China, Cambodia and India... no mean feat in the 1800's.

She created 27 travel albums in that time, which included her own paintings and sketches.  Check them out here.

I think this photo & painting show her metamorphosis from a young woman trying to fit into Boston Society (and failing) to world renowned art collector.

After the death of her father and husband she had the means to create this incredible museum.  She was rich but it was her acumen, knowledge and networks in the worlds of art and music that supported her to make the astute purchases that have resulted in this world class museum. 

At the entrance to the museum, there is an impressive garden from which you can see and feel the character of the museum, which is based on the Venetian Palazzo, where Isabella and Jack used to stay.

The museum is overwhelming... every room full of priceless or quirky  art, carefully placed in position by Isabella herself.   Her will states that no item may be moved... even by an inch or her money goes to Harvard!

Items that have been moved however, are thirteen paintings.  In 1990 a pair of thieves, disguised as police officers broke in, tied up the guards and walked away with over 500 million dollars worth of artworks.    They have never been found and there is currently a reward of over 10 million. The museum now displays empty frames where the artworks once were!

Loved that anyone called Isabella gets free entry!

Couldn't get to see the new extensions and gardens because of the windy, rainy weather.  Will try to get back.

Historical, Hysterical, Horrendous

Salam I'm talking about... We decided to avoid the roads again by taking the ferry to Salem.  Last time I visited was when I was working for ICMS... snow, blizzards, abandoned cars and closed roads!  Somehow I made it between the various universities and ended up in Salem for the afternoon.  I remembered a small quaint town, hardly anything open and no people anywhere... very atmospheric.  I bought Arthur Millar's Crucible and read it back at the  hotel  "Hysteria" is how it's described now but it must have been horrendous.

Today was very different - people everywhere because there was an arts festival... lots of stalls and thank goodness clothing stores.  I bought a thick fleece... perfect for a temperature of nine degrees.

Row, Row Row my boat

Well not quite... As part of our getting to know Boston we decided to use the "free" cruise offered as apart of our trolley ticket.  Boston has an amazing skyline, modern skyscrapers next to old wooden churches.  Have the feeling of a city growing and expanding by the day.

Very funny Irish tour guide who we understood perfectly but who left the Americans shaking their heads in confusion... Loved it!

Trolley, Trolley, Ring my Bell

Bit of a rainy day, but we are keen to explore Boston.... a sortie into the crazy Boston traffic has persuaded us that a Ferry and Trolley is  the way to go.

A five minute walk and we are ready to catch the 10.15 Charlestown to Boston Ferry ... along with half a dozen other people. We all wait outside the unattended ticket office.  

The sun comes out and the ferry sails in. Blithely we set off to  board, only to be told, we have to have tickets.  A disinterested boathand directs us to the ticket office (which we know well).  A dishevelled youth ambles up... opens the door as we all rush to buy tickets...only to see the ferry sail off without us all.  

We buy four tickets and now always have spare pair in our wallets.

We use the half an hour to walk the lovely tree lined streets around the dock, checking out the impressive Commander's House, but making sure we're back in time for the next ferry.

It's a great little trip over though, tourist boats; coastal vessels; impressive bridges and of course the towering skyline of downtown Boston.  

Onto the touristy trolley bus which helps us find our bearings and to decide which places we want to revisit.  Our first driver is hale and hearty and full of enthusiasm but unfortunately we can't understand a word!!!!

We hop off at Faneuil Hall to find this wonderful street art.  A fabulous building 

This was the first place the American protested against the Sugar Act, precursor to the Boston Tea Party.  It's wonderful golden Grasshopper weathervane helped to identify spies in the 1812 war with the question "What is on top of Faneuil Hall" ... a grasshopper wasn't the first choice of answer.  

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What intrigued me though was the statue of Lucy Stone, suffragette, as you can imagine one of only 3 women celebrated.

Also, the public notice board which asked.  "What would make you break the law?"  The most common answer was of course.  "Donald Trump"... Mine too!

The question changes daily and while I found the first question easy, the second caused me some uneasiness.  "What makes you feel patriotic?"  Apparently the most common answer to that one was "a Hamburger."  But I couldn't really answer (maybe I don't like hamburgers!).  Perhaps I'm not patriotic and maybe I blame patriotism for much of the wrongs of this world., Who knows?  But I'm still pondering.

Much of the market place has become fast food and tourist rubbish and so it was back onto the trolley.

This time we hear the guide say "Free music at the Boston Public Library", now as you know we have a weakness for both and in we go.  We are not disappointed ...






What an amazing building... brings back  memories of New York Public Library... Go Jeremy Corbyn... keep those libraries open.