Discovering the Esplanade
Publication date: June 19th, 2008
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by Maria Varmazis | Published in:
Local, Photos, Travel | 3 Comments
Tags: biking, charles river, Photos |
It’s been a while, or as we’d say in Japanese, ohisashiburi desu ne. Since last I wrote, the weather in Boston has turned from great to downright fabulous, oh, and I spent a fantastic vacation in Tokyo and Hong Kong. Really I ought to just turn this into a photo blog and post highlights from my trip.
My Journalism 300 professor at UMass Amherst Mary Carey keeps a blog with lots of great photos from around Amherst, Mass., on her aptly-titled blog About Amherst. Every time I visit her blog, I get really nostalgic for my brief time as an undergraduate out in the Pioneer Valley, she captures the spirit of that fabulous area really well on her blog. Not to mention she updates almost daily (no pressure, Mary!) and includes tons of photos with every post. I really need to follow her example. Though I’m not out and about as much as she is, I have been biking about 20 miles a day for a while now as the weather has been great, simply perfect for taking snapshots while I’m making a perimeter around the Charles River.
Just like the Seine in Paris, the Charles is such a psychological boundary for Boston-area residents. Crossing the river, simple as it is on foot/bike/car/train, seems to require much more effort than it really does. It’s so much easier to just stay on your side of the river and not cross over. Cantabridgians stick to their own, Bostonians likewise. And now that the Red Line is crawling snail’s pace over the Longfellow due to repairs, the gap between the two sides seems bigger than ever. If there’s a social event across the river, I know many people who’d rather just stay home than go over the Charles, even if it’s not very far. Such a bizarre phenomenon.
Meantime, I thought I’d provide the latest lame excuse for my delay in updating–one that’s just a tiny bit ironic considering my last posts were liveblogs from the Bastion of Geekery a.k.a. ROFLcon. I b0rked my server, meaning I kind of had a mishap with mySQL database. I wish the reason was something cool, like I was running some fabulous back-end scripts for some nefarious purpose. Sadly, no, nothing even remotely that excusable. All it came down to was that I lost my password. Kind of pathetic, really. Sorry about that.
[edit] Does anyone have a low- to mid-level DSLR recommendation? My very trusty Canon Powershot is on its very last legs, bless its sturdy PCB heart.
June 23rd, 2008at 9:04 am(#)
It’s so true about the Charles. I crossed the river twice this weekend, and it was the first time in months I’d done so. Weird how going like, two extra stops on the T or a rather quick bus ride seems like such a big deal.
July 4th, 2008at 11:06 am(#)
Nice photos. What is the weather like in those parts. I was always under the impression that it was very much like here in the UK. In the last shot it looks like South East England with a dash of Northern France.
July 8th, 2008at 9:23 pm(#)
That’s a great point — Boston does remind me of Northern France quite a bit in terms of climate as well. Perhaps that’s why I felt so at home in Bretagne!