Boston Trip

We flew out of West Palm Beach on Wednesday evening and arrived in Manchester, NH at 12:30 am. Not wanting to drive in unknown territory in the middle of the night, we stayed overnight in New Hampshire. (One more state I can now say I've been in.) We slept in, quite a luxury you know, picked up our rental car and drove the 45mins to Cambridge. Spur of the moment, we decided to rent a GPS with the car. Thank Heaven for this piece of technology! The way the streets are layed out around Boston, we would have spent more time being lost and frustrated than actually enjoying the trip.



The houses are quite large, and expensive. So most are turned into two-family homes/apartments. Single family home prices for a 3 or 4 bedroom start at over $500,000, similar to California. To rent a single family home is about $4000/mo. So it looks like we will be in an apartment, at least for a couple years.
I didn't take as many pictures as I thought I had, but above are a couple examples of what the typical neighborhood houses look like.

However, here are a couple little videos of some. I didn't know the camera recorded sound or I would have narrated. In one of the videos you can hear the GPS system keeping us on route. The first video is in Arlington, which is the city just east of Cambridge. The 2nd is Belmont, just south of Arlington and east of Cambridge. The 3rd is the incredible building that is Belmont's town hall.


Victor's appointment at Harvard wasn't until 2pm so we had lots of time to walk around Harvard square. My first impression of the area was how green everything is! Of course we came at the perfect season: Springtime. My second impression was impression was how beautiful and old the buildings are.


There are so many bookstores just in this square. Dallin's going to love it! One really fun store is the Curious George children's bookstore. It is 2 levels with lots of fun books and toys. Quite a unique little place. I can't wait to take the kids there.

Harvard! Can you believe it?! What a place to be!

The city was crowded with families of graduating students and campus was gearing up for the big day.


Touching the foot of the statute of John Harvard is supposed to bring you good luck.


History is everywhere. All over the greater metro area we saw these blue signs or other signs that told the history of different places.

Below is the Old Burying Ground and a typical headstone. Many of the stones had been so worn with time they were blank or at least unreadable. It is a beautiful, peaceful place and to me, seemed quiet and reverent despite the traffic all around.


Of course, the most beautiful building is one of the newest to the area:

The temple is in the City of Belmont, only 3 miles away from Cambridge. Victor & I were able to spend a good part of Saturday in the Boston temple. It is a beautiful, medium sized temple with a very small distribution center in the basement. It is set up high on a hill. Going west on the highway towards the temple, you can see it head on right until the curve. Very nice. The stake center is just down the hill in back of the temple. The neighborhood reminds me of Whitehill Lakes, only more hilly.

Sunday we attended the meetings of all 3 wards that meet here. Since we aren't sure which one we will be in, we wanted to meet as many people as possible and get a feel for each ward. And we did meet and make many contacts. The members are so open and friendly. They gave us lots of advice and ideas about jobs and housing. There are so many kids! And with 5+ universities in the area, many student families. Which ever ward we end up in, I know we will enjoy it.

One evening, we went into downtown Boston to eat at a restaurant on a pier overlooking the Boston Harbor (where the Tea Party happened). The city is very clean and feels safe.

We went to Boston Common, the city's central park. I was excited to see the Children's museum. We drove, but have learned that Boston truly is a walking city. Parking is expensive and hard to find and with so much public transportation, there is really no need for a car.
This is the South Station for the subway/buses/trains.

Victor and I both really enjoyed the area. It has the busy-ness and culture of the big city that it is (which we both miss from living in the LA area) and the beautiful seasons of nature and educated people and feeling of Michigan and MSU.