Day 120: Boss-ton

 Today was a special day.  A friend (let's call him "D-money") was in town from NYC -- he's the reason I met D. originally and it's been about three years (!) since I last saw him, so I was particularly excited.  In honor of the occasion, Bruce Springsteen decided to play two concerts in Boston this week (or at least, that's my interpretation).

I only recently became aware of the greatness of the "Boss", so I was hoping to be able to snag some tix to the concert. D-money was to arrive just before the concert would begin, and D. and I had chorus [chorus #2 that is - the group singing with the Mercury Orchestra] until pretty late, so it wasn't clear how all this would play out.  It's been quite the treat singing with the Mercury Chorale, and today's rehearsal brought us again to the Masonic Lodge in Porter Square, for our first combined orchestra + chorus performance.  It was a bit of a bust, unfortunately -- the fans attempting to cool the huge room made so much noise it was difficult to hear anything, much less the three other second sopranos singing in front of me.  But hearing the orchestra for the first time was (unsurprisingly) amazing -- it's at least three times the size of Calliope's orchestra.  Made me realize how desperately we need more strings.

Anyhow, I'm now getting to the important part, which is that after chorus, we bike into Fenway, where the Boss was playing. [And in fact he was actually playing on the field -- only super-awesome people get to do this, I was told, and therefore I decided to use this as further evidence that Bruce Springsteen is great. Though still, I will contend, not as great as the Coug.]

D. and I attempted to score some tickets by asking people coming out for theirs and squeezing in, and I think if I had been a little more upbeat and willing to be chatty with the security guards, we would have made it.  But we were content just chilling outside and listening from behind the ballpark, and we met up with D-Money after.  Veggie burgers at Miracle and then some jamming on the keys were in store for us after, as can be witnessed from the above picture.  I think that was some Billy Joel action going on.

Day 40: 80 Photos in Boston -- Part 3.

Phase 15: The return to the Common.

We thought we were returning to the common life. We really did. But then I noticed that when L had asked me for the clue list in the Beantown Pub, she had marked each remaining clue (over 20, still) with the location (e.g. “BC” for Boston Common, “F” for Fenway, etc.) – and suddenly I realized, she wanted to finish this at least as much as I did.  A slight glance at her and I saw she was raring to go.  We had already decided we might head back to the Common to get a couple of shots we wished we’d gotten when we started out, but that we hadn’t quite decoded yet. So we ventured back to the common… and onto the second “big” Phase-with-a-capital-P of the day. For we were really just beginning (though without a crucial team member – making it even more epically difficult!).

#47: Two Princes having a Semi-Charmed Life.  This is another clue that marked a break-through moment for us.  Near the time I figured out that “cold” meant really, really “cold”, M and I also had a brain-storming session about what “Two Princes” could me – and we realized that Frog Princes almost have a charmed life. We also realized that M had, just for fun, taken a picture of me posing there – but only with one. So the rest of the crew (at this point, just “Jamel-toes”) returned to the princes, and took the shot.

#13: Gangway for goslings. So catchy, and somehow so close to “Make way for ducklings”, that we could only assume they were analogous!

#65: This ugly duckboat grew up. I cannot remember which team member made this break-through, but someone (perhaps L?) recognized that ugly ducklings might grow up to be swans—and reside on very different boats than their duck compatriots. Also, going back to the Public Garden made me realize how very, very beautiful it is (even if swan boats seem super cliché).

Phase 16: From Boston proper to the west!

So far, all of our ventures had been very close to the tiny radius comprising Boston’s downtown. No clues, in fact, had much to do with the slightly sprawling Back Bay which I am much more familiar with, and Fenway had just seemed so, so far.  But I’m glad we made the venture. And our first “destination” was on Mass Ave.

#5: A really long kick line. Though we failed at finding a kickline at the Boston Opera House, we happened upon an organic version (albeit a 3-person-long version) on the way to our next destination, coming out of the Public Garden. Three ladies swinging their toes in line.

#43: A hidden village in the middle of the city. I was lost on this one, and it definitely took some smartphone action to figure it out. Apparently Bay Village, in the epicenter (ish) of Boston, has a population of barely over 1,000.  So, there we hiked!

#28: Reflect upon this church. This was obvious to us – and we were happy to get to the beautiful Christian Science Center’s reflection pool. None of us really knew the beauty that awaited us!  You have to walk behind a building or two to find it, but it’s glorious, and there is also a great view of the Prudential and a certain building with a crown. We took the scenic route through some parks in the South End (an area I know because E. dog-sits there several weeks a year), and everyone was the happier for it.

#36: An artsy photo (no Instagrams/filters!). Originally we had planned to use this shot for #28, but L rightly remarked that it was definitely the artsiest we had (with a close second from a beautiful shot that J took in the common). A reflection of a reflection – where it’s unclear what is real and what is an image of something else, the city behind both us and behind the reflection pool.

#52: A building with a crown. There were so many opportunities to photograph this building on the way back from the South End, but this one (next to the Pru, in front of the reflecting pool) really struck me.

Phase 16: On to Fenway.

Perhaps one of the first locations to come to mind when thinking of Boston, we made it to Fenway pretty late in the game, with several clues on our list in our minds to check off. We wasted no time in getting to Bleacher Bar, where we’d planned to have dinner, but it was a bit too packed.  Not to worry, these scavengers had no problem finding food at the nearby Mexican place down the road.

#21: Holding up theCitgo sign. Perhaps not the best job, but we captured this time the first time we had anywhere near a decent angle to do so. Props to L for holding up something that heavy, and to S for finding the right angle.

#26: At Fenway (bonus points for being in the stadium, super bonus points for being on the field). L’s idea was to be at Bleacher Bar, where a mere mesh net separates the bar from the field. Perhaps we get bonus points because she found a little hole at the bottom of the net and got her fingers to touch Fenway dirt!

#16: Most Bostonian person. We toyed with the idea of faux Sam Adams, but today’s Most Bostonian person clearly needed to be a Red Sox fan in Bleacher Bar near Fenway watching the away Red Sox game. Clearly.

#78: The Sacred Cod. So we looked this up. It was in the State House. The State House was closed. We took a picture. I couldn’t find the picture, and it wasn’t of a cod anyway. We had been pervaded by cod. Codzilla, crazy monkfish-labeled-as-a-cod, etc. So . . . we decided that instead of a sacred cod, we’d submit a sacred Mexican wrestly. Because WHO puts photos of Lucha Libre in the bathroom?  Well, that random Mexican place on Lansdowne (or nearby?) – that’s who.

#22: Most Red Sox paraphernalia. The guy from #16 was also a contender, but S was able to snag this shot of the Red Sox official store.

Phase 17: Smoots.

One of the best clues, in my opinion, was simply labeled, “A Smoot!” Exclamation necessary, explanation not. The so-called “Harvard Bridge” (far from Harvard, close to MIT) is labeled with “Smoots”, a length of measurement which is the actual length of a specific individual, and in which is measured the length of the bridge linking Cambridge’s Mass Ave. to Boston’s Mass Ave. Halfway across from Boston to Cantabrigia is “Halfway to Hell.”

#53: The worst statue. On the way we found this statue. It was pretty horrible

#79: A Smoot!. And there you have L, posing next to one of the many markings on the bridge (we’re on the left-hand side going from Boston to Cambridge, technically the “wrong way”).

Phase 18: Using the “T” for real.

We were tired. We were going back to the North End to rally for one of the hardest photos on the list. And we were in Fenway. The only thing for us was the (shudder) Green Line.

#66c: Photos of your team on all 5 MBTA lines – the Green Line.  This time, the whole team got on at Hynes station and we captured L on the Green Line – with her team joining her for once.

#11: Highest person-to-space ratio (e.g. a lot of people in a small space).  There were other contenders – at some point we thought about the choir M was going to see standing on the stage, the chaos that is Haymarket, etc. – but eventually we decided that the quintessential terribly-packed scene in Boston is the ever-hated Green Line.

#34: A tourist carrying both Mike's and Modern boxes. We caved and pseudo-staged it, I’m not going to lie. But we also had the experience of waiting in line at Mike’s for some pastries (which were so delicious I almost forgot that our primary goal was the box), talking in Boston accents about the Kardashians with some randos in line, and asking a Modern Pastry box holder to take pics with our Mike’s box – and being responded “Oh no, that’s the Antichrist!” The perfect response.

Phase 19: One of the first clues we figured out.

Early in the game we recognized a clever clue as pointing us to Post Office Square – a location quite near to us, as we were still in our starting point at Boston Common. However, the excitement got to us and we ventured on to bigger and better things, forgetting to stop there. But never fret! We made it back, near on 11pm.

#29: A short 4-photo panel comic. First, we stopped for some tomfoolery near Government Center. We had debated what to do for this clue – it seemed something that could be done anywhere, at any time. My initial interpretation was that we were supposed to find a comic to photograph. Other interpretations involved drawing comics (something we wanted to recruit E. for, but my phone was dead). Finally we realized we could just stage our own photo-comic – and that we finally did, once inspired by the insane statue featured at the end. Note: make sure to click through all four pics if viewing from the link here.

#17: USPS * USPS. Obviously: Post Office Square. They don’t call us MIT students for nothing.

Phase 20: The last hurrah.

One more pretty quick trip on the Green Line took us home-ward, and also toward the last few stops on our list. We thought we only had two more items to check off – turns out, it was three.

#6: Reptilian guard of the place where lightning is made. Others on my team figured out this one early on, but it was hard to get to – the closest (well, almost) clue to Cambridge.  The raptor guarding the Science Museum was also guarding some school-age kids who were having a lock-in there!

#54: The Charles River locks.  I’d originally thought a “lock” was a physical object projecting into/out of a river, but in fact it makes more sense – “locks” are small enclosed bodies of water within a larger body of water. We had our closest encounter with the po-po while trying to trespass (though there were no signs) down to get a better view/picture.

#7: You’ll know it when you see it.  And our LAST photo of the night was impromptu/serendipitous – as it absolutely should have been.  We originally took some shots of the strip clubs / porn stores in Boston in Chinatown (you know.. you get it), but we KNEW when we saw disco bikers that they were what we knew when we saw (‘em). DISCO BIKERS!

Phase The-Last-One: Cambridge.

We thought we were done. But then – we took the long way Atwood’s, a pub where my friends were meeting… turns out they were meeting from about 5-7 pm. Eventually this became clear, and after walking for nearly an hour, S. picked us up and brought us more inbound to Cambridge, where, S, L and I (J had already departed MIT-/home-ward) enjoyed some frost libations before the (SO SHORT) prance home.

What. A. Day.