The big adventure I’ve been preparing for over the past month has begun! I took a red-eye flight from PDX via Seattle on Tuesday night, arriving into Boston about 6:30 a.m. Eastern time.While working in Cambridge, I’ll be renting a room with private bath in a single family home in Cambridge. Because the family was away until Thursday evening, I stayed at the Charlesmark Hotel in Back Bay my first two nights. I arrived at the hotel around 8:00 a.m., which was way too early for them to have a room ready for me, but they held my luggage for me while I went out for some breakfast and wandered around. I had a bagel and some good tea for breakfast at a little cafe (where I also took advantage of their free Wi-Fi to check my e-mail and my T-Mobile account balance). Then I wandered over to the Esplanade, where I sat and read Unlikely Destinations: The Lonely Planet Story for awhile on a bench along the bank of the Charles River. When the wind started to pick up a bit, and it got a bit chilly, I walked up to Beacon Hill and wandered around. The hotel called me on my cell phone around 10:30 a.m. to let me know my room was ready. Got a little lost (walked south when I needed to go north, but with the help of the T, I made it back to the hotel within abotu 30 minutes. This was very nice because it meant I got a shower and a nap before I headed out for lunch and more sight-seeing in the afternoon.

Refreshed, and with a fully re-charged cell phone battery, I headed out around 2:00 p.m. The Charlesmark is right across the street from the central branch of the Boston Public Library, and I had never been inside the building before, so I headed over there and had lunch in the library’s cafe. I wandered through both the old and new buildings. It was cool to finally see the building inside and out because it is really important from an architectural history perspective, but it was kind of depressing as well. The old “McKim” building is beautiful with lots of marble and frescoes that seem to be well preserved, but the space is still functioning as a working public library more than a museum. This would be fine, except that the library seems old and stale, and largely underutilized, even in the more modern 1970s addition. There is tons of wasted space, but yet not enough stack space. Many books are standing horizontally, with their spines up because there doesn’t appear to be enough shelving to space the shelves so that the books can stand upright. There were a few public access computers in the building, most in the old building in what appeared to be the former “card catalog” room. There were lines and time limits on use enforced by software. The OPAC is Horizon. I didn’t interact with any staff, but they looked pretty surly. Old and tired pretty much sums it up as a public library. Architecturally and historically significant, but not particularly pleasant as either a working or tourist destination.

I spent most of the rest of the afternoon just walking around. I spent some time in Copley Square and photographed the outside of Trinity Church. They charge $6 for tours of the inside, which I will probably be up to paying another day, but I didn’t feel like I would get enough out of the investment today. Walked through the Public Garden and the Common. Walked up and down Beacon Street from the State House down to about Dartmouth Street. Window-shopped along Newbury Street. Walked through Prudential Center Mall, mostly in search of a no-fee ATM, since I’ve been going through my cash pretty quickly. Found out later that there are Credit Union Co-op network ATMs in 7-11 stores, which are all over the place here. Glad I checked online before I knuckled under and used a big bank ATM out of desperation.

In search of some place to eat dinner, I wandered up and down Boylston St., all the way down to Massachusetts Ave. and back. Felt like having something better than generic shopping mall food court food (at Prudential Center mall), but didn’t feel like splurging on something really expensive or in a busy restaurant where I’d feel awkward eating alone. Ended up eating at a Thai restaurant next door to my hotel, which was a little more expensive than I wanted (their prices are much better at lunch), but was quiet and not crowded. The food and service were both good. I even tried some Thai wine. It was okay, nothing special, but at least it was reasonably priced.

Headed back to my room after dinner to catch up with e-mail and transfer the photos I had taken during the day to my computer, so that I could post to Facebook. Also checked up on Powder, Melvil and Kyle on the PowderCam. Saw Kyle come home from work, feed Mel, and take Powder for a walk. He even waved at me. Overall, a pretty good day. I feel somewhat guilty because I haven’t done much in terms of sabbatical research-type work in the past two weeks, but then again, I needed to find housing and otherwise get prepared for my Cambridge trip, and I also needed some downtime this summer, especially since I’m expecting to work pretty hard at this internship for the next three months.

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