Day: April 8, 2017

As many of the readers of this blog know, this started as an email to keep my mom (now 101 years old) informed about the activities of her baby while he was galavanting over the globe.  Today I had a wonderful reminder of my dear mom.  When I was a little boy in New York I was a big Boston Celtic fan.  I am not sure how that happened but I think it was because of their star guard (Bob Cousy) and I shared the same first name (6 year olds have their reasons, just don’t question it).  My mom, being the marvelous mother that she was (and is), wrote a letter to the Celtics asking if she could buy Celtic gear small enough to fit her son.  My mom was years ahead of her time since kid size gear which now rules the market was not available at that time.  She (and I) got a letter from Celtic Coach Red Auerbach saying that Celtic clothing for kids was not available.  He said to say hello to Robert “Bob Cousy” Reiss and that he was glad I was a Celtic fan.  I never got Celtic gear but I cherished that letter for years.  Auerbach died in 2006 but I got a chance to have my pictured taken with Coach today.

Our meeting with Coach was on our way to Faneuil Hall.  This is a National Historic Landmark known as “The Cradle of Liberty”.  It was first available for use in 1743 and is open to the public to hold meetings and express their opinions.  John Kennedy made his last campaign speech here the night before the 1960 Presidential election.  Barack Obama signed the Affordable Care Act in Faneuil Hall.  Today the Hall is a bit more than the Cradle of Liberty; it is part of a shopping mall.

Adjacent to Faneuil Hall you can find:

After Faneuil Hall I was hungry so we headed to one of our favorites, Neptune Oyster, in the North Side of the city.  They do not take reservations but they will take your cell phone number and call you when it is time for you to be seated.  So we headed over to add our name to the list and we were told it would be one hour before we could expect a call.  Let me tell you it was worth the wait.  James Hook & Company was good but nothing like Neptune Oyster.  See below.

After a rest back at the hotel we walked 2.7 miles (we had to do something to work off those Lobster Rolls) to the Museum of Fine Arts.  The museum has a special exhibit of works owned or created by Henri Matisse.  Unfortunately the Matisse exhibit is only open to Museum members until Sunday (we will be on our way home that day).  Patrice asked a woman at the information desk what we could do in a little over an hour before we head to the symphony.  The guide suggested we view the Matisse collection and then proceeded to escort us to the exhibit and past the guard.  It was an incredible thing for her to do and we got to view an incredible exhibit.  We also got to see a good part of the regular exhibits.  I was thrilled to see John Trumbull’s portrait of Alexander Hamilton and Stewart Gilbert’s portrait of George Washington (it’s on the one dollar bill). My favorite was an oil painting called Museum Epiphany III by Warren Prosperi.  It is a painting of the room in which it is located.

After the museum we headed to the symphony.  The symphony was great but more about that tomorrow.  Bed is calling me.

Lastly thank you for all the comments.  I was getting worried that I was just writing to myself.