Mapparium

Today was a good day in Boston. It started with lunch at Darwins with Kristin, who I have known since our days at Forbes Elementary.  It was so fun to catch up, talk about life, and relish in the joy of being with someone who has know you since you were 6.  I hope I get to see her again while I’ here! 

Later in the afternoon the kids and I hopped on our first Boston Bus and headed to the Christian Science Center.  Three kids on one bus seat doth not happy bus riders make.  But, it was soooo much more convenient than taking the T.  The bus stop is about 2 min from our apartment and then we only had to walk about .1 mile to get to our destination.

Our target was the Mapparium at the Mary Baker Eddy Library.  And I have to say, this was just plain cool.  Learning about MBE was really fascinating—you know me, I always love learning about influential women.  And the Mapparium was stunning.  It’s a 3-story stained glass globe inside the library.  It was completed in 1935 and hasn’t been updated since, so you can see how the world has changed since then.  The acoustics are fun to play around with—whisper on one end and it can be heard on the other.  Or stand under the North Pole and hear your voice in surround sound.  The tour only lasts about 20 minutes but it was totally worth a stop.  Pictures are not allowed, so I pulled these off of Google Images.

 

But my very favorite thing was Howard Ben Tré’s fountain in the Hall of Ideas. It “ is a cast glass and bronze sculpture that provides the source from which a state-of-the-art computer program and light projection system displays quotes and ideas from the world’s greatest thinkers,” the website says. 

Letters swirl around in the middle of the fountain and then phrases emerge into the water after which they spill onto the floor in a jumbled mess and make their way over to one of the two projection screens where they are again displayed with their author and date.  I could have stayed here all day.

Once again, thank you google images

The entire Christian Science Plaza is stunning.  The buildings are beautiful neoclassial structures, and the fountain and the reflecting pool are serene and beautiful.  Unless you are with kids. Then it is crazy, wet, and wild.

We rounded out the evening with dinner at Summer Shack, (which did not live up to the hype) and bowling at Kings. 

Steps we took today:

Thank you, Bus, for giving our legs a break.