Make Way for Ducklings!

When the children were younger, one of their favourite books was Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey, published in 1941.  A mother duck takes her brood from the Charles River to the Boston Public Gardens.  Little did we know this book is the official children's book of Massachusetts or that there was a statue of the ducklings in the park.  I loved the duckling's names of Jack, Kack, Lack, Mack, Nack, Ouack, Pack, and Quack.

It was a misty morning on Sunday, a great day for ducks, when we began our walk to Boston Common and the nearby Public Gardens.  Boston Common, created in 1634, is the oldest city park in the United States.  The British camped there before marching to Lexington (see Paul Revere's Ride in the previous post) and until 1830 was often a cow pasture.

We headed north on Summer Street making a detour at the South Station.  This Amtrak depot had an ornate exterior (opened in 1898) which promised an equally antique look inside.  No such luck.  The building suffered several demolitions over the decades as train travel decreased.  It wasn't until the 1970s that it was finally named an historic site.  In 1984 (the year Samuel Adams beer was created--see previous post) renovations began.  It now houses Amtrak, subway, and bus stations.

As we left the station, it began to rain.  We continued on our way, passing along the edge of Chinatown and into an area called Downtown Crossing.  Just before the Common, Summer Street became Winter Street for some unknown reason other than whimsey.  Despite the wet weather, the Common was a popular spot for Bostonians on a Sunday.  We basically cut through the park on the way to the Public Gardens, pausing for a moment at the Central Burying Ground where William Billings is buried.  Billings is considered to be America's first choral composer although he wasn't inducted into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame until 1970.

The Public Gardens, created in 1837, were the first botanical public gardens in the United States.   Once a salt marsh, it now has many stately trees and flower gardens.  And of course, lots of ducks and swans.  The famous Swan Boats (see photo) have been plying the pond since 1877.  Inspired by the opera, Lohengrin by Wagner, they are flat-bottomed boats that appear to be powered by elegant swans.

We'd walked for about an hour in the rain so decided not to linger in the gardens.  We retraced our steps, crossing Tremont Street at Edgar Allan Poe square which was really just an intersection.  Poe, best known for his macabre stories and the poem The Raven, was born in Boston in 1809.

We had spotted a pub on Chauncy Street but as it was only 11:30 on a Sunday, it was closed.  We continued down Summer Street to check out what was available in the train station.  Here, we had our cheapest meal at Tavern in the Square.  We drank pints of Yeungling bee and enjoyed a hearty lunch: a Cuban sandwich (Glen) and Chicken Quesadillas (me).  The restaurant is a local success story that began as an attempt to create a sports bar that appealed to those who wanted a place with good food and friendly staff.  Despite being in the centre of the railway station, we enjoyed a quiet meal where we could watch golf if we wanted.  Twice the manager asked if we were enjoying ourselves.

Back at the hotel, we registered for the meeting and attended the first lecture, an interesting study in how E. coli  O157:H7 was discovered in lettuce in Britain.  Surprising to no one, mostly older women (probably dieting) showed signs of infection.  Afterwards we had a lovely buffet dinner of clams, mussels (from Prince Edward Island), chicken and biscuits, chowder, corn bread, and salads.  To drink was a beer from the local Harpoon Brewery called Octoberfest.  Founded a couple of years after the Samuel Adams brewery opened, three friends wanted to create beer such as they had had in Europe.  It was the beginning of the craft beer trend when they opened their Boston brewery in 1986. I could see the brewery from the window of our hotel room, that's how local it was.