Boston MA #4

Much of today was spent in Down town Boston at the Museum of Fine Arts - as fine a collection of artefacts as you could ever wish to see. Beautiful musical instruments (notice the Turkish ones at the back of the room in the extras pic); authentic historical room settings to get lost in previous centuries for a while, and of course paintings by any artist you can name. Saw several fav art works for the first time "for real" - very special. 

Eventually hunger drove us to find a late lunch, which we did in the form of Thai curries in a small place found by walking across the park. Thus replenished we made our way to the second destination of the day - The Old State House museum.  Built in 1713, it was the seat of government in colonial Massachusetts and, with the surrounding public square, became the focal point for resistance to British authority, and hence the site of the 'Boston Massacre' on March 5th 1770.  The balcony is where the Declaration of Independence was read to the crowds in July 1776. 

One advantage of walking at least 5-6 miles every day is that I didn't feel guilty when exiting from the museum, we headed to the Dev Nevine bar and over the course of the next couple of hours or so, I sank three pints of Blue Moon wheat beer.  We also had dinner, joined by another colleague (and ex student of mine!!) from Istanbul who also happens to be in Boston this week.