boston and back

I'm gladly back in New York after spending Wednesday through Saturday in Boston. It's a whole lot more interesting than Baltimore but it's very definitely not New York either. It seems pretty conservative overall. Maybe I didn't see the more interesting neighbourhoods, but nobody seemed to stand out or do anything interesting with outfits. Lots of bad jeans, I seem to remember noticing. But I'm very glad I went - it's quite a beautiful city in many parts. There's obviously a real commitment to retaining and making a feature of its architectural history, especially the colonial buildings which are a big part of the city's very proud Patriot involvement in the Independence movement. I met Sam (from Sydney) for dinner in Harvard and he gave me a quick tour of some of the main buildings in the yard, including the library which is astonishing. It's not unlike the public library in New York in scale and grandeur - and this for students! Unfortunately, it was way too cold to be wandering about so my tour was brief. But the Harvard Yard (below) has a movie set feel to it - it's the classic, picturesque US campus setting that features in so many movies, many of which probably use Harvard itself. And sure enough, when I got back to my hotel room, Legally Blonde was on TV and there it was.

My conference was a bit of a dud so I only attended two days. My paper went really well, however. I had a lot of really positive feedback and genuinely engaged questions. Who knows what, if anything, that will produce. But the standard of work at the other sessions I went to was not great, and in some cases terrible. So I decided I wasn't making a good use of my time and hit the city to sight-see instead. Again it was just too bloody cold to be spending too much time outdoors but I saw some great stuff. One clear highlight (thanks to Christina for the tip) was the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum which is the private art collection of Gardner in her home, which she built in the style of a Venetian palazzo. And it is amazing. The building is stunning and the collection is pretty amazing too - a Rembrandt here, and couple of Botticelli there, a few John Singer Sargent, etc. Then another unexpected highlight turned out to be the Boston Public Library which has a number of beautiful murals inside, mostly painted around the turn of the 20th century.

I had planned to see some Boston nightlife on the Friday, my last night, but the bitter cold and the pesky last remnants of my flu made me change my mind. So I went out for a quick Korean meal, then settled into the hotel and ended up watching An Office and a Gentleman on TV which is about as embarrassing as it gets.

I jumped off the plane from Boston on Saturday and wasted no time in getting back into NYC life. Megan's gorgeous girlfriend Lisa arrived from Sydney the weekend before to stay for six months, so the three of us went out for drinks Saturday night to celebrate. The end of the night is probably best forgotten but we had lots of fun until then! And it's wonderful to have Lisa here.