last pleasure-travel for 2008

Although I am obsessed with museums, lookout towers, historical monuments & other touristy things; my favorite thing to do while traveling is simply to walk around town. The architecture, the people, the roads, the street vendors, the animals, the lights, the cars.  Somehow, I feel as if I have taken a part in the culture of the new town.

We recently got back from touring NYC, Boston & Lexington, MA, Dartmouth, NH and Sharon, VT. The art museums that I got to spend hours in made my eyes& heart overjoyed and the airplane ticket worth it (MFA & Gardner in Boston, MET & folk in NYC--Gardner, although smaller, was perhaps my favorite). The historical walking tours in NYC, Boston, and Harvard made it an educational experience as history was made alive and I could be more appreciative and enchanted with the cities around me. The cathedrals, churches, and temples made me want to worship all the days of my life.

... but apart from those fabulous touristy things to do, I will always remember walking in each city.  gobbling up everything I could see, hear, smell, touch...

NYC. I have been here several times and always loved it. this time, it reminded me more and more of Europe with it's smell of smoke, urine, and gorgeous architecture piled together. walking alone down Broadway in the morning, the lights of Times Square, Columbus Circle, the eternal construction, the markets, the vendors. I spent a day with Grams (finishing up her mission there) going to the local markets, running up and down streets through the poring rain, diving through metro stops, exploring danger-zone-convents, and giving away a French Book of Mormon. On our last day there, Peter and I spent a while walking up and down 5th Ave and stopping at the Lindt, NBA, and street vendors.  mmmm.

MA, NH, VT.  One morning while staying in our Lexington B&B, I got up early to walk around for an hour or two.  The peaceful morning was refreshingly sweet with dew... I realized how much I love and miss the greenery in the grass, trees, hills, forests.  California and Utah are a little dry.   Boston is clean, open and inviting for a city.   It was wonderful walking up and down the commons, the gardens, making way for ducklings, and supporting the Friday market (I think we bought 7 cartons of blueberries), and the seafood :) The greenery and the colonial-style architecture was so blatant and different from everywhere I've lived but I loved it.  It has its own charm and unique spin full of history and I would love to come back.  

and Bookstores.  I forgot how much fun it is to curl up in a little nook and read.  and I loved the organization for Harvard's COOP: "Old, Curious & Cool," "Summer pleasure reading," "kids books for adults..."