The Official Start of the Tour

We visited the Museum of Natural Science at Harvard. The photo above is one of the exhibits in The Ware Collection of Glass Models of Plants.  All the many specimens are made entirely of glass.  There are nearly 4400 models. They were made from 1886 through 1936 by glass artisans Leopold and Rudolph Blashka to aid in the teaching of botany. It was really remarkable, although it didn't take me very long to lope through the exhibit. 

We (the entire tour group) boarded our coach this morning for a half day of being driven around Boston, while the tour director, Steve, gave us lessons and nuggets of information about the important events which occurred here at the time of the revolution. It made me wish I had listened and learned more in American History 50 years ago!  

The coach arrived back at the hotel about 1:30. We (Wanda, Carole, Dee and I) then took a taxi to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, where we looked around for a while at the collection amassed by Mrs. Gardner.  The building which houses the eclectic collections was designed by Mrs. Gardner and she decided how the object that fill its galleries should be displayed.  She stipulated in her will that the general arrangement of the galleries cannot be altered.

We had checked in at the museum cafe as soon as we could find it and were told it would be about a 45 minute wait.  So, we wandered through the galleries until  the pager vibrated and then we scurried to the tiny cafe located near the gift shop where we enjoyed a truly outstanding lunch. 

After lunch we continued browsing through that museum until we'd had enough of it. 

We then walked the block or two to the Museum of Fine Arts.  Wanda was the most enthusiastic museum visitor among us by that time. She paid the $18 fee to enter the museum at 3:40. The rest of us parked ourselves in the lobby and waited until 4:00, when it was free. The museum closes at 4:45, so we scattered and took our time but hurried up, managing to see wonderful impressionists as well as many other truly beautiful works of art. It was amazing to me to see the vibrancy of works as much as 500 and  600 years old. 

After our whirlwind tour we called for another cab which took us back to the hotel where we had to make quick work of getting presentable. We had dinner reservations at Prezza, an Italian restaurant touted as the best Italian restaurant in Boston by the concierge.  We took another cab which got us to the restaurant right on time. And it was wonderful!  We shared four appetizers then we ordered pasta dishes and finally shared one dessert; a limoncello cheesecake slice with one scoop of pistachio gelato. We had a nice bottle of wine with our excellent meal. Such fun!  

We've got our luggage ready to put on the motor coach in the morning. We leave here at 8:30 in the morning to start Day 3. We are going to Salem where we'll tour the area, then separate briefly for lunch. After that we continue on, ultimately arriving at Freeport, Maine where we will spend two nights at the Harraseeket Inn. But, more about that next time...maybe.