In Boston on the Way to Maine

 Bubbling Bus Stop Ad, Boston

19 June 2016

I'm nervous. In about 12 hours, I'll be driving to Bar Harbor, Maine, for four days of job-related training, where I'll be twice as old and twice as stupid as everyone else in the class. I'm trading two weekends with bike nerds for a week with neuroscience nerds.

When I arrive,  I'll have just enough time to take Miss Piggy on a solo ride on the loop road and up Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park, before class begins.

The best part of my trip will be over before class begins.

At the moment, I'm in Boston. Jack and I drove up yesterday. I'm depositing him here for the week so that he can finish the manuscript research he started here two summers ago. This works out well for both of us: he gets his work done, and I have a place to sleep halfway between central Jersey and Down East.

Across from our Kenmore Square hotel is a restored, retro billboard. Its neon tubes from 1965 fell into disrepair. Citgo restored it in 2010 with LEDs.

Last night and today we hung out with my college roommate, Chris. We went to the Museum of Fine Arts, pleasantly empty on a late Sunday morning. The main entrance is flanked by two 10 foot tall, bronze baby heads. I did not take a picture. I can't unsee them already.

We saw a few Picassos, an exhibition on 3D printing in haute couture, and two sculptures by Ai Weiwei.

Ai Weiwei's "Forever" is a sculpture of Chinese commuter bike frames. Jack said I should take pictures "for your biker nerd friends." Here ya go, biker nerds:

We walked through the Fens, and then past Fenway Park, crowded with people at an afternoon game.

(So that's why it's called Fenway Park. I thought it was some dude's name.)

Gooselets!

We took the T to the Charles River and walked around there for a bit.

From last night, this is a bus shelter ad for carbonated water. I made a point not to remember which brand.

That's all for now.  I'll see you again from Acadia National Park.