Dolan Family Bed and Breakfast

We just recently took a trip to the Boston Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA). The building is a beautiful structural design that houses several floors of exhibits as well as a media lab where you can surf through ICAs multimedia library. The museum over looks a picturesque Boston harbor. It is great to peruse through the art and then meander along the bay for a brisk walk in the sea air.

For information on current exhibitions visit www.icaboston.org

image originally posted by megelizabeth

Halloween was originally a festival held on the eve of the day marking the end of the lighter half of the year and the beginning of the darker half, the winter months. Both British and Gaelic tribes held similar festivities. The Gaelic tribes believed that the border between this world and the world of spirits was thin on the eve of the darker half of the year. So they creating rituals around interactions with the spirit world. There was fortune telling and huge bonfires to ward off the harmful spirits. And they disguise themselves as a evil spirit to avoid harm.

If you are looking for a halloween themed Boston excursion this month, look no further than the most famous dead center of Boston town, Granary Burying Ground. This cemetary is the resting place of some very prestegiuos indivuals in US history. “Along with Massachusetts governors, mayors and clergymen, visitors will find the graves of three signers of the Declaration of Independence: Samuel Adams, John Hancock, and Robert Treat Paine; Peter Faneuil, benefactor of the famed downtown Boston landmark; patriot and craftsman Paul Revere; James Otis, Revolutionary orator and lawyer; and five victims of the Boston Massacre. Near the center of the ground, a 25-foot-tall obelisk commemorates the tomb of Benjamin Franklin’s parents.”
The Graveyard was established in 1660 and was originally part of the Boston Common. Granary Burying Ground holds graves of approximately 5,000 people but there are only 2,345 gravestones.

The cemetary is located on Tremont Street (between Park and School Sreets)

This is an opportunity to see some amazing works of art in an atypical beautiful museum setting.

In 1898 Isabella Stewart Gardner purchased a plot of land in the Fenway on which to build a Museum to house her growing art collection. She worked closely with the architect and builders to achieve the effect she sought for the presence of the space. Gardner disliked the cold, mausoleum-like spaces of most American museums of the period. She designed Fenway Court to have a unique warm feel, almost a home like setting, and she did in fact live in the space on the 4th floor for many years.  The museum is built around a central courtyard filled with flowers. Light enters the galleries from the courtyard and from exterior windows, creating an atmospheric setting for works of art.

“Love of art, not knowledge about the history of art, was her aim. Her friends noted that the entire museum was a work of art in itself. Individual objects became part of a rich, complex and intensely personal setting.” (gardnermuseum.org)

Isabella Stewart Gardner began collecting Dutch and Italian pictures in the 1890s. Her collection includes Botticelli’s Lucretia, Titian’s Europa, Vermeer’s The Concert and Rembrandt’s Self-Portrait.

The museum was the victim of the largest art heist in world history. In 1990 two men dressed as Boston police officers conned their way into the museum and stole a Rembrandt, Vermeer, Degas, and Manet, now valued at $500 million. Here is a recent article from the Boson Globe about the theft >

This is one of my favorite museums in the city. Highly Recommended!

286 Congress St, Suite 403, Boston, MA
Tel: (617) 426-1885
The Historic Neighborhoods Foundation holds weekend tours that are sure to please children and adults alike. This tour follows in the footsteps of Mr. & Mrs. Mallard from the children’s book Make Way for Ducklings. The tour guide leads the group through a Beacon Hill treasure hunt in such places as the State House and the Public Garden. Call ahead to reserve a spot. Cash only. Admission: $8 adults; $6 child.

One of my favorite walks in Boston is along the Charles river.
You can start at the Mass Ave bridge, where there is a ramp down to the riverbank sidewalk. On a beautiful summer day this parkway is bustling with pedestrians, rollerbladers, fisherman and ducks. Sailboats fill the river. Here is an informative website about the charles http://www.crwa.org/