Celebrating the Grand Opening of the New Visitor Center

Last night we attended a very momentous dinner celebration to commemorate the opening of the new Smith visiting center and museum at Monticello. We had dinner in a tent on top of Mount Alto. I sat beside a ninety year old doctor who was still teaching at Georgetown. His name was Karl. He said he was born in Vienna and at one time studied Freud. I wore the same dress I wore to the Boys Engagement party. It was a pretty exclusive group. Everyone gave a big chunk of money except for Rick and me. Rick's clients give money and he is their executor so indirectly he is giving money.

This morning I went to a ribbon cutting for the new center and the unveiling of a statue of TJ right out side the center. It was quite festive with lots of hoopla, bands playing, and speech giving...and old time rally. I wanted to hear Michael Boochla and Annette Gordon Reed who both gave speeches but not very long ones. I did take notes. Annette praised Monticello because the foundation has recreated the mountain and home into the first real southern plantation with slave dwellings that school children and adults will ever see and experience.

I sat beside the director of History and Social Studies for Albemarle County. Her name was Pat Hughes and we discussed lots of history as we waited for the event to begin. I noticed several people left when a black music group began to sing; maybe I read into this but I thought they were snubbing the group.

It has rained all day long. I went to the post office and sent some of the studies I copied to Bradley. I spent yesterday at the Medical School library learning about studies that doctors and medical people are doing to see if yoga reduces stress. I took some pictures but have not yet put them on the computer.

I want to include the pictures we took the road trip to the north shore of Massachusetts. I will try and include two small pictures.

It is Saturday before Easter. Last night we entertained Hilah Francis who was in Charlottesville to bury her ninety seven year old mother. I served Lamb chops and cottage potatoes and asparagus for dinner. She is an interesting
lady but it is quite difficult to get a word in edge wise. She spent the night here. I cooked dinner and Rick cooked breakfast.

I worked today more on albums. We have Rudy until tomorrow;I took him for a walk. Rich is wathicng the Masters. I am just writing the main idea of what is happening in my life. I need to add more details. I hear Rich in the kitchen preparing food. He is stirring and mixing. Rudy is outside in front of the window smelling the grass.
He never strays too far except to go to Chilli's house.

I should have added the pictures earlier but had trouble. I want to see how it goes.

Friday we spent a good part of the day just sightseeing. We took the shuttle to
Copley Square which is in the center of Boston. I read about the city library and wanted to see it. It looks like a European Castle. Huge marble steps greet you as you enter. You walk up the steps to the main reading room I had read all about the murals in the guide book and that is what I wanted to see. The murals which were also on the walls up the steps were religious which surprised me. We did not have time to study them but just gazed and appreciated the beauty. We saw the reading room which seemed to extend a mile; Huge green lamps on every table. The room was packed with people reading or doing research. We wondered around the rest of the library. There was an exhibit on the top floor of Joan of ARC, another surprise to see a saint featured in a public place.

We crossed the square to Trinity Church. We were asked to pay there. At first Rick did not want to go in. I heard them practicing for a concert at noon. The attendant suggested we come back but I thought we will never walk back so we went downstairs to the shop and bought four dollar senior tickets. We also bought a tea shirt for Paul Walker which had Twenty Reasons to be and Episcopalian on the back I have not read all twenty yet.

When we walked outside it was pouring down rain and cold. I was very glad I had on my winter coat. We decided to take the subway but first walked about two blocks to the Christian Science Monitor Complex. This square is the center of Boston and where the famous Boston marathon ends. It is quite beautiful and amazing to see Trinity Church reflected in the John Hancock building.

We walked to the Christian Science monitor complex next. Our driver from the Trolley told us not to miss the Mapararium. We walked in the rain. The church was not yet open when we got there so we walked across the street and went to the library and museum where the mapararium is. We took the tour and saw the maparium which is a globe of the world in 1935. You are inside the world; the geography boundaries are different especially in Africa and Asia but most of the countries are recognizable and it is quite an experience. We learned all about Mary Baker Eddy, the only woman to found a religion from the talk and the exhibits which we went to next.

Tucker met us right at noon. He had picked a restaurant right on the Charles river called Neptune's lobster. It was in a decrepit old building right next to an old iron bridge which was abandoned. The theme was water and boats. We all ate seafood. Rick and I shared a fish fry plate and shrimp with coconut sauce. Tucker told us about his job and we talked about the economy in general. His company still has lots of clients who have lots of money to invest. He goes with a group of people to different cities and advises the clients about what to buying sounds like stocks and bonds.
To get to the restaurant we had to walk across a park that was part of the " Big Dig" which was a redevelopment project that went on for years in Boston and connected many historical buildings and the downtown businesses with the waterfront. Before the project there were many overpasses, lots of concrete everywhere like you see in big cities but now many of the roads are underground. We had driven through the underground roads on are way to downtown.

Boston is very historic so many people want to visit and see the sights both old and new. The architects have done a great job mixing the old and the new and every view around the city is an architectural feast.

After we had lunch with Tucker we got lost trying to find the spot where we were suppose to pick up the trolley. Rick had bought the trolley tickets on the Internet for thirty four dollars. Later we figured we could find the trolley anywhere. The trolley goes to sixteen very famous historical sights. Passengers can get off and on where you spend as much time visiting the sights. We only had until four o'clock and so decided just to spent the rest of the day seeing all the sights so we had an overview of the city. We never got off the trolley. There was a running commentary about what to see and we got ideas for our next day.
We arrived back at the Doubletree about five. We had a swim in the pool and watched the scullers some more and then went over to Tucker's and Liz's apartment. They had prepared appetisers and served us wine and we talked about what was happening in their lives. we got to play with Griffen who has gained alot of weight and see their apartment.

We are back from our long weekend in Boston visiting our son, Tucker, and his fiancee Liz. The weather was cold and rainy but we still enjoyed all our adventures. I took my brown warm winter coat which Tucker had advised and Rick wore his new raincoat. It rained all day Friday. We wondered around with out an umbrella.
We stayed at a Doubletree hotel very close to the Harvard campus where Tucker lives. We had a view of the Charles river and saw teams sculling all weekend. We were amazed at the number of boats since we never see this sport being practiced in Cville although they do practice on the reservoir. They were on the river about six in the morning until late at night. The best part of the hotel (besides the living room) was the shuttle service they provided to the city of Boston. We just had to tell the concierge we were going to take it; and when we were ready to return to the hotel call and tell them we were at the meeting place. It was free. The hotel was sandwiched in right beside a busy highway so it was dangerous when we walked any place. We walked over and back to Tucker's house several times we had to be very cautious since we had to cross several intersections. We were very careful. I guess this is part of living in a big city.
Our plane arrived in Boston at nine. We taxied to the hotel. We talked to the concierge who told us about the shuttle service. I wanted to walk around Beacon Hill which I had never done before, also see more of the downtown. We left the hotel about ten thirty. We were dropped off close to the state house and Beacon Hill. We just walked on the fringes of the Hill but did go inside the state house and saw the dome and also went into the house and senate chambers. In the house chambers a small group of members were just finishing the prayer and then we said the pledge of Allegiance with them. You could tell nothing was going to happen for a long time so we left. We walked more throughout the hall and found the senate chamber which was much smaller and we learned from a press person this room was under the original dome. The members there were also standing around waiting for something to happen. Rick was in touch with Tuck on his cell phone. He told us to be in front of 100 Summer Street at noon. We walked more and found a museum/art/library which we wondered into. We looked at the pictures some artist had taken of modern Boston and what was going on there. We saw they were going to have a recital at noon but we were too busy to come back. That was disappointing. We walked through the cemetery of Old North Church which houses the graves sights of Sam Adams and John Hancock and many more of the famous patriots. I was excited to see this. The tombstones were very old and black. The writing on them was worn thin so it was very difficult to read. Several school groups were walking around. The whole weekend we saw tourists, maybe we noticed them since we were tourists. We did not specifically walk the Freedom Trail but saw many of the sights that are part of this famous trail.
We found Winter Street which led through a mall to Summer Street. We knew Tucker would be in a sky scraper since he is on the thirteenth floor. We found 100; we were there early so we just wondered around the neighborhood and took in the sights and sounds of Boston. We saw several stands selling fruit and vegetables. Next Episode: Lunch with Tucker