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As I alluded to in a previous post, I enjoy visiting the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum in Boston during our nasty Massachusetts winters.

As a matter of fact, on the recent day that I went to the museum I rode my bike to the commuter rail station on a particularly cold and windy day. But because the wind was from the west and I was heading east I had a helpful tailwind…in addition to the fact that part of the route I took was downhill for a lot of the way and I had a false sense of security that the journey was going to be “smooth sailing” 🙂. The way back, not so good (more on that later) 😖.

Also I missed the 9:25 am train (it was just pulling out when I got to the station and was locking up my bike) so had to wait another two hours for the next one. But luckily there was a handy mega mini-mart (an oxymoron, I know) at a gas station near the station that actually had a sit down Dunkin’ Donuts, and I enjoyed their delicious coffee and a Maple Bacon Egg Sandwich on a croissant that was very tasty and nutritious, well skip the “nutritious” part, but it was tasty! 🙂 I also observed a scene where I saw two cop SUVs escorting a small car into the gas station. When the driver pulled up and stopped outside I saw that it was a somewhat older woman with a handicap card dangling from her rear view mirror, distraught and crying while two officers got out and confronted her. Then I heard one of the Dunkies ladies say that they were three cop cars and sure enough when I turned my head a saw there was indeed a third car! Holy bat-sh*t Batman! What the f*ck was going’ on?! I guessed that probably she had been driving the wrong way on the highway, which of course is dangerous, but give me a break, when they had ascertained her condition, at least send the other two cars away. Maybe this country is turning into a police state!

But true to my nature I soon forgot this unpleasant interlude as I was magically whisked into Boston on a luxury commuter rail coach car replete with plush seating, handy table, and electric plugs which I would have used to charge my phone had I not left my charger at said Dunkin’ Donuts! 😮 More on this later!

Arriving at North Station.

At North Station I did a small detour to snap some photos of Boston Bruins merch and commemorative items since North Station is located in the TD Garden, the home of the famed Bruins and Celtics, for my brother who is a huge Bruins fan.

Then I took the “E” Green Line subway/trolley to the Museum of Fine Arts stop and walked to the Gardner museum. Outwardly the palace itself is not that noteworthy, it totally blends in with the other surrounding buildings which was Isabella’s brilliant insight, that the building is almost inside out (just like the “genius” idea for a nightclub that “Doug Butabi” (played by Chris Kattan) in A Night at the Roxbury comes up with! ), though the new modern wing of the museum is more impressive from the outside.

They always make you check your backpack at the museum, which I did along with my jacket and other winter gear which worked out great since they gave me a free locker to store my stuff in. From there I headed straight into the palace which is like going into a different place and time, since the Courtyard was displaying their Midwinter Tropics display, featuring orchids, white amaryllises, yellow poinsettias, tree ferns, fantail palms, Norfolk pines, amid other tropical and sub-tropical plants. The warmth, humidity, and fragrance of the courtyard instantly transports you to a warmer clime and a wonderfully peaceful and tranquil place.

I then explored the Spanish Cloister/Chinese Loggia Rooms which are just off of the courtyard.

What is neat is that the museum now uses QR codes in each room which you can scan with your phone to get their guide, both textual and audio. Which was great for me since I already had my wireless headphones with me for the train ride.

A Chinese votive stele from the Eastern Wei Dynasty, circa 543 A.D.

This stele shows the Buddha surrounded by Bodhisattvas (a person who is able to reach nirvana but delays doing so out of compassion in order to save suffering beings). According to the inscription on the stele the stone image is in honor of the Emperor and retainers.

I love amaryllises! 🙂 Virgin and Child statue, 14th Century France. In the Spanish Chapel, a Spanish tomb figure of a knight, circa 1500.

I then proceeded to the 2nd floor of the museum.

First stop, the Early Italian Room.

Hercules, Piero Della Francesca, 1470. Hercules is shown wearing the pelt of the Nemean Lion, the spoil of his victory over the beast in his first labor. This was Francesca’s only painting of a pagan subject.

Obviously with the late Middle Ages, early Renaissance period most of the painting subjects were religious in nature.

The Triumphs of Love, Chastity, and Death, Francesco Pesselino, 1450.

The painting depicts five parade floats, forming a grand procession that culminates in a celestial vision of God at the end of time. The imagery derives from Petrarch’s fourteenth-century allegorical poem, “The Triumphs of Love, Chastity, Death, Fame, Time, and Eternity”.

Japanese Roof Tile with Dove; I love these little touches that Isabella has scattered around the palace.

I then proceeded to the Raphael Room, a stunning room with bright red fabric walls.

Tommaso was the Vatican librarian and secretary of the Lateran Council at the time Raphael painted him.

Simply beautiful. 🙂

The Tragedy of Lucretia, Sandro Botticelli, 1500

This magnificent painting by Botticelli depicts the famous story of “The Rape of Lucretia”, or at least famous to ancient Roman historians like Livy and literary giants like Shakespeare. It is based somewhat on a supposedly historical incident that involved Sextus Tarquinius, the son of the last king of Rome, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, forcing himself on the Roman noblewoman, Lucretia and her subsequent suicide.

Darn, I forgot to bring marshmallows! 😁

Midwinter Tropics garden with a good view of the Roman Medusa Mosaic. I love peering out onto the courtyard and visualizing Mrs. Gardner and her family entertaining friends and visitor in the sumptuous surroundings.

The next room is the Little Salon, done in the Rococo style with French paintings, Italian furnishings, and German sculptures. The Rococo style emulated forms in nature and utilized elements like vines and flowers to embellish rooms.

A visual feast! 🙂

I realize that when I visit places like this, I feel like I’m transported to the world that you see in Downtown Abbey, Masterpiece Theater, and other period dramas that you see on TV and the movies. It would be nice if you could actually sit down on the furniture and ask your (imaginary, in my case) servant to bring you a copy of the latest newspaper and a cup of tea! 🙂

Great chandelier!

From the Little Salon, I ventured into a vast space that is the Tapestry Room.

It is a magnificent great hall with a distinct Game of Thrones/House of the Dragon vibe. 10 monumental tapestries that give the room its name hang from the walls.

A banquet table fit for a king and queen! 🙂

You then go through a small space to the Dutch Room, a change from Italy to Northern Europe.

The Dutch Room. As you can see on the far wall, there are two empty picture frames, that once housed Rembrandt’s Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee and Vermeer’s The Concert, that were stolen during the robbery that took place in 1990 (a number of other paintings and objects were taken as well).

Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee is the only seascape that Rembrandt did and The Concert is believed by experts to be the most valuable stolen item in the world; as of 2015 it was valued at $250 million.

Isabella Clara Eugenia was a sovereign of the Spanish Netherlands, one of the most powerful women in 16th and 17th century Europe.

Up another flight of stairs to the third floor and the Titian Room

Christ Carrying the Cross, Giovanni Bellini, 1505

The silver cup with plants was Mrs. Gardner’s small shrine to her deceased husband Jack, a tradition carried on by the museum today.

Then I walked through the Long Gallery.

At the end of the Long Gallery, the Chapel, which was used by the Gardners, devout Anglo-Catholics, to celebrate Mass.

Unfortunately my phone had died by this point and I was unable to take pictures of the Gothic Room, which was a shame because at that time of the day the lighting was perfect.

Then I returned to the modern wing of the museum.

Unfortunately it wasn’t this warm during this visit! 🙂

I bought this mug in the giftshop for my mother, who can’t really make it to the museums anymore, so I bring the museums to her! They had a bunch of these nice mugs, each with a quote from Mrs. Gardner.

I decided to walk to Kenmore Square from the Museum, just to check out all the new buildings that have been put up since I’ve last been in that area of Boston, and also visit the B.U. Bookstore to buy some books. There’s even a new high-rise near the Gardner Museum, but luckily not too close. After passing Fenway Park I had the inevitable shock of seeing just how much had been changed in the space of just a few years. Most jarringly was this new monstrosity, the “Whoop” building at the corner of Commonwealth Ave and Deerfield St. Apparently they are a fitness technology company, but what really irks me is that they had torn down a building with real character, the kind of building from old Boston that I had always liked.

As someone else on the web had commented, people make such a fuss about preserving the Citgo sign (which I do like) and neglect preserving irreplaceble buildings.

Kenmore Square has of course changed quite a bit even in the time that I have known it. I went to Boston University and had remembered and frequented both the famous Rathskeller (“The Rat”) rock club and the Narcissus dance club, both long gone. And both the Axis and Avalon dance clubs on Lansdowne St. are gone, replaced by The House of Blues, which is a great venue of course, it’s just there literally isn’t as many fun places for young people anymore in Boston as when I was in my youth.

As someone else on the web has remarked, BU has cleaned up Kenmore Square the same way that Giuliani cleaned up Times Square in NY, but in doing so both places have lost their raw character and color. The only thing that’s recognizable from the old Kenmore are Cornwall’s Pub and the McDonalds, and even that has been downsized and modernized with a somewhat sleek interior with ordering kiosks.

I ate at McDonalds out of a sense of nostalgia before I remembered that I hate McDonalds for the most part nowadays but ordered one of the only palatable items (to me) which is the reliable Filet O’ Fish. I decided to buck the trend and ordered the “meal” from the friendly dude at the register, but even though I had specified “eat here” they still gave it to me in a “to go” bag. Basically just a simple misunderstanding but I realized that the automated system actually is better than a human cashier in a lot of instances because you can punch in exactly what you want, in this case “Filet O’ Fish Meal-Medium” “For here.” Done.

But even this tasty interlude had a bitter aftertaste. Why is that wherever you go nowadays there’s someone doing something to annoy you?! A young man who looked like he was a BU student had ordered a meal to be brought to his table. The nice McDonalds lady brought him his food with a big smile and she said something like “here you are” and he was still absorbed in his phone and hardly acknowledged her presence. I wanted to smack the privileged self-absorbed f*ck right then and there, but of course I’d probably would have been charged for assault and battery!

And another jolt for me is that the BU Bookstore was no longer in Kenmore! ☹️WTF!!! Since my phone had died I ended up asking one of the staff at the Hunt’s Photo and Video store, but he had only been working there for three months and didn’t know what I was talking about. I’ve later found out that it had been moved to BU’s West Campus area at 910 Commonwealth Ave., again downsized from its former glory (the one in Kenmore was 5 stories with all sorts of ammenities), but at least it’s still there in some form.

Walking west on Comm Ave I then came upon an amazing new shiny and eye-catching building, BU’s new Duan Family Center for Computing and Data Center, a building that actually looks like stacked blocks.

I was able to walk into the downstairs lobby and what a cool and interesting place it is. And all it had replaced, speaking of burger joints, was a Burger King. It actually towers over BU’s Warren Towers dorm building, which itself is rather sizable. It struck me that BU is actually trying to compete with MIT with this puppy since it is similar to the equally architecturally stunning and funky MIT Stata Computer Center, which was designed by the world famous architect Frank Gehry.

And it showcases the fact that BU is able to compete with the big boys nowadays, actually thanks to the efforts of former president John Silber who despite all the bitching from certain faculty members during his tenure did transform BU from a somewhat mediocre university into a world class institution.

After this detour, I made another detour to see the area of the Fenway in which I lived in during my last year at BU. Located on Beacon St. right next to the Mass Pike, it overlooked a big parking lot and Fenway Park is visible from there. Luckily, for me, the building is still there and so is the parking lot, although it is a lot smaller because, you guessed it there are so many new big buildings that have sprung up in that area like so many areas of Boston and Cambridge. I mean, building construction never stops nowadays. And it was a surreal view that I saw from that vantage point, I can tell you.

It was a pretty busy day, almost reminiscent of Holden Caufield’s adventures in NYC in The Catcher in the Rye! 😀

After all that, I finally decided to get my butt back home and took the Green Line back to North Station. But even this was confusing to me at first because at the Kenmore T station I was seeing and hearing announcements for Green Line train arrivals for the Government Center Station but also one called “Union Square”, but none for North Station. Then I finally realized that they had extended the Green Line to Medford and you had to take the Union Square trains to get to North Station!

After this minor kerfuffle I got back to North Station and embarked on the journey west on a nice warm train. The winds had been howling all day and I was hoping that they would have finally wound down during the evening hours. They hadn’t. 😒

So even though part of me was enjoying the nice train ride back, the other part of me was dreading the bike ride back to my house from the station. When I got there I mistakenly thought “this isn’t so bad” and headed back to the mini-mart to see if my charger was still there. When I talked to the Dunkies guy he said that it was there all day and that one of the mini-mart people had probably unplugged it when he was cleaning. He had actually and I was able to collect it. Huzzah! I celebrated this minor victory with a warming cup of coffee and Reeses peanut butter cups. 😁

Then, to quote a line from Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, “welcome to hell.” I had to journey back west on Route 2A fighting a nasty cold headwind the whole way. Compounded to this, part of said route is uphill for quite a ways. It is essentially a nightmare scenario if you are on a bike since you don’t get a rest respite at all, and I was constantly thinking “is this damn hill ever going to end?!” 😖 But despite the cold, the only positive was that since I was exerting myself to the limit, I was able to keep warm from all the extra exercise. And a trick that I’ve learned from a lot of previous exhausting bike trips is that you just keep going, no matter what. I didn’t even stop to take a break, even though I wanted to. And I’ll have to admit, even though I have a lot of experience with winter biking since I used to commute by bike from Newton Corner and Watertown to Boston via bike, this actually had to be the nastiest ride I’ve ever done! 😫

The moral of the story, according to an old saying, is that if you are laughing before breakfast you’ll be crying before supper. 🙁

But overall it was still a great day! 🙂