To the Azores - via Boston

Saturday February 9

We had started to pack last evening and not much had to be done this morning. It was very civilized since we did not have to leave the house until 10 am. We actually left a little earlier.

Our flight to Boston was with JetBlue at 12:35 or so. We decided to better have lunch before the flight. When the waiter brought James' he mumbled something like mine would come later and put a fruit salad in front of me. He was a strange fellow.

 the fl

JetBlue was on time and efficient. We had perfect flying-weather.

Yup, we were flying over Manhattan and of course I could not resist taking a photo of where we used to live when we first came to America.

At 2:35 pm I took this photo out of our hotel window. We had a good look at the goings-on at Boston Logan International Airport.

We tried to decide what to do but it was just too beastly cold outside. We had been at the Hyatt Regency Boston Harbor before and just stayed there, chilled in the room and had a light dinner downstairs. We each had a soup and then shared an appetizer. They had two versions of calamari and we tried the lesser known. There were veggies mixed into it. Quite nice. A beer went nicely with it.

You could have seen this behind James. The view is really nice.

Sunday February 10

Almost the same view looking across the harbor the next morning.

We decided that we could not be in the hotel room all day. Well, we had to vacate at noon anyway but had to take the shuttle to the airport about 6 pm.

So, we decided to pack up, ask whether we could store our luggage and take an Uber to the Museum of Fine Arts.   OMG, people everywhere. A line outside to get in. A line to pay for the very expensive tickets. Oh well. Yes, we found that everything in Massachusetts seems to be expensive. 

Finding your way around in this museum is not that easy. It's like a rabbit warren. After we had our tickets and "were in" we really would have liked a cup of coffee and something since we didn't have breakfast yet. We finally found a place were we could get a coffee and a muffin ... for a king's ransom.

 

We did not get into the Ansel Adams special exhibition because the line was to the moon and back but there were plenty of things to see. This was in the Monet room. The young lady was very nice to talk to. She explained how the "old masters" would paint. There were special preparations for the canvas and they had to make their pigments or paints. No wonder they can figure out when something was painted and whether it is an original or forgery. 

Weather vanes in the folk art room.

Porcelain and furnishings. Another example that we laid the family silver totally wrong on the table all these years. We found out not too long ago why the family crest was on what we thought was "the wrong side".

So interesting ... especially since we have been to Egypt and the Valley of the (dead) Kings. This room contained pieces of the sarcophagus from Governor Djehutynakht and his wife. The little boats which were part of the grave are all painted wood and from about 2010-1961 BC. I just could have spend the rest of the afternoon looking at all the details.

We came across a cafeteria and had a sandwich each and water. The place was very full but James got the last sandwich with smoked salmon for me and he had something with cheese. It was actually very nice.

There was more to see and admire and when we reached the point of information overload we decided to head back towards the hotel. First we walked a little along and came to an Irish Pub. Had to take steps down from the street into a basement. It was an interesting place. James is at the bar getting beers.

He said his was a really good Guinness. And I thought they were all good. No, some are better!

Almost as much to see as in the museum. In the corner was a Man Cave, a large table surrounded by benches. Way back in Germany we would have called that a "Stammtisch", the place reserved for regular customers who just come in to see who might be there from the circle of friends.

We were at the airport in good time but the counter wasn't open yet and we had to keep our luggage. We were back shortly after 6 pm and found a line and a sign saying that they open at 6:15 pm. That's what they promptly did and the line went fast. We had arrived just at the right time. The line got longer behind us. But we had nice conversations with other travelers. 

Oh dear, more time to waste. I am afraid all this waiting these two days will go to my waist. At least a bloody mary is all about veggies, right?

Finally we boarded the plane. SATA or Azores Airline. 3 seats on either side of the  aisle. It was a full flight but by some miracle our third seat stayed empty so I scooted to the window seat. Thank you, thank you.

Bye bye, Boston! Hopefully bye bye, cold weather!