Yesterday we did the tourist thing and went out to Lexington/Concord where the "shot heard around the world" was fired.  It was very interesting and I had never been there before, despite living within about 20 miles of the place.  The British fired the first shots at Lexington but it was at the bridge at Concord where the Americans actually engaged them.

Here's the bridge with the famous statue of the Minute Man.

We also stopped at Walden Pond and visited the site where Henry David Thoreau spent two years in a one room cabin.  We hiked through the woods for 20 minutes to find the "site" of the cabin, which is now just a spot on the ground surrounded by stone markers.  After hiking back, we found the "replica" cabin and statue of old Henry himself. 

 

 

I finally got to go sailing at Community Boating Inc. - where I learned to sail 50 years ago (My how time flies!).  I had to take a rigging class but tested out of shore school by demonstrating my exceptional sailing skills on the water.  Below are some additional photos of the club and boats.

 

Here we are at the Boston Public Garden.  World famous for the Swan Boats and, of course,
where Robin Williams sat with Matt Damon sat to discuss life.  The bench where they sat has been turned into a memorial for Robin, with cards, flowers and mementos. 

Here are the swan boats - awaiting their drivers.

 

And here is a ballet company performing Swan Lake on an actual Swan Boat!

 

 

 

 

Her are some other views of the Public Garden...

 

 

 

 

If you are ever strolling there, you must Make Way for Ducklings! 

 

 

 

Make Way for Ducklings is a children's picture book written and illustrated by Robert McCloskey. First published in 1941, the book tells the story of a pair of mallards who decide to raise their family on an island in the lagoon in Boston Public Garden, a park in the center of Boston.  The names of the ducklings mentioned in the story are: Jack, Kack, Lack, Mack, Nack, Oack, Pack and Quack.

As of 2003, the book had sold over two million copies. The book's popularity led to the construction of a statue by Nancy Schön in the Public Garden of the mother duck and her eight ducklings. In 1991, Barbara Bush gave a duplicate of this sculpture to Raisa Gorbachev as part of the START Treaty, and the work is displayed in Moscow's Novodevichy Park^..
The book is the official children's book of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

 

 

On Sunday, we went to a reunion of sorts of my old college crowd.  I don't know what happened but, everyone else but me got OLD!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We made it to Boston on Sunday, August 17 after several hectic days in Newport RI. 

We are getting settled in our new digs.  They are very nice and much more spacious than I thought they would be.  The first night, we went out on the patio to have a glass of wine and locked ourselves out.  Karol rang all the door bells in the building before someone finally let us in.

I have joined the local sailing club on the Charles River but still have to do a test sail before I can take a boat out.  Hopefully that will be today.

We have gotten out every day for an hour walk or bike ride along the river.  It seems it is a lot of work being retired!  Just ask my knees.

Here is our new address on Beacon Street in Boston.  We're on the ground floor.

Here is our first destination - Beacon Street in Back Bay, Boston.