Providence Waterfire festival

Definetly gotta see the Fire Water festival at least once in your life! It is relaxing although as the night progresses it gets crowded. But if you want to escape the crowds, there are restaurants one can pop into to grab a drink or a snack. There are even some right on the river so you can still enjoy somewhat of a view. Although I only saw the water festival, there was a little concert and other street performers there. I was fortunate enough to get a front row seat on the river, so at least for the highlight of the fire water festival (the procession at the beginning), I was not giving that up to walk around!

Main link to Water fire Providence

Video 1
Video at dusk


First torch of the Water Fire festival

First boat of Waterfire!

Salem, MA New England Pirate Museum

The more and more I've been looking around Massachusetts, the more I see pirate themes. First the pirate flag in Rockport. Friday I discovered New England Pirate Museum I began to suspect that New England had a hidden pirate history. Apparently it is such a hidden period of history that most locals do not know about it. But then again, locals and non locals alike, New England is more famous for the revolutionary war, not piracy. As for Salem, it's more known for the witch trials and Halloween than pirates.

Quite a few pirates are on this list of activity along the New England coast. Blackbeard tops the list as one of the most famous per the museum's website.

Providence, RI water fire festival

Ive been wanting to do this since I moved to Boston! Now I will go tonight to Providence for this !

Video: waves of Rockport, MA

Waves-Rockport, MA

I love all waves! Rockport is a beautiful town surrounded by the Atlantic ocean. Will definetely be making more stops here as it's now my favorite place in MA!!!!

Harvard Semitic Museum

Website: Harvard Semitic Museum



I never knew this place existed until the other day. It happens to be that it is a region of the world I am interested in. I was also happy there because there was Arabic writing so I could practice reading:)

I only took a few pictures because you need to see it for yourself. How can you refuse? Admission is free, and in this economy, you need to take advantage of all free things!
I liked the Israeli exhibit and the Egyptian one. I love looking at the tombs, and I decided that it is boring how us Westerners bury our dead. We bury them in a box and then dig a hole and put a rock on top of our hole. No, I'd much rather be buried as an ancient Egyptian:)

I thought I took pictures of the tombs. But I guess you will have to see them for yourself:) But here is a neat teaser of the ancient Egyptian exhibit...


And now for ancient Israel!

This was my favorite thing to look at besides the Egyptian tombs and pyramids and Arabic writing. THis is one of the temples of ancient Israel.

And this is inside the temple.









For the rest, you will have to go there.  The Semitic museum is a short walk from Harvard Square on the red line.  Lately the weather in Boston has been nice, so it is worth the walk!

Its not the end of the world

Great news! May 21, 2011 was NOT the end of the world!! But as I laughed at the few who were panicking as they collected money from people (do you need money in Heaven or Hell?) i was enjoying myself!
Every Tuesday and Friday now til Thanksgiving, there is a farmers market in Copley Square. They even sell homemade pies there!
Saturday I went to Earthfest in Boston. Personally I only went to see Ed Kowalczyk! Met him and had my picture taken with him which was awesome! In my minute or less of being around him, he seemed like a nice guy.
After Earthfest was over, i decided it was too beautiful of a day to just go home so I walked around in Boston Public Garden. I saw a wedding just finishing. They got totally lucky that the weather was gorgeous and the sun was over Boston all day!
Despite the Rapture failure and Sunday being a blah day, it wasnt such a bad weekend. And if the end of the world really is near, dont panic. Just get off your ass and enjoy each day just like many of us did this weekend!

Last minute adventure to Lowell, MA

I've lived in Boston for 5 years, but hardly seen the rest of Massachusetts. Today I had the urge to go to North Station. Whichever train came would be today's adventure. It happened to be Lowell, which is an old industrialized town 45 mins north of Boston.
I pictured it as it was with many buildings with old factory chimneys. As i got out of the train at the Lowell MBTA station, I overheard 3 people talking about going to downtown Lowell. Since I came with no real destination in mind, downtown seemed like a good idea. So I struck up a conversation with them and we walked toward downtown.
Lowell has its own bus system which runs from the commuter rail. But today it was not raining, and we could see the sun trying to peek out so we decided to walk.Thank God for sidewalks as the traffic can be hectic in that area, but there are busses that take you downtown.
We passed the old textile museum on our way, but we did not go in. Once we got downtown, we parted ways and I looked around. THe strets in downtown Lowell are stone, not paved. THe stores are mostly locally owned except CVS and Dunkin Donuts of course. (New England runs on Dunkin:) As usual I had to charge my phone, so I found an electrical outlet at a little pub and had a drink as I waited for it to charge so I can do my new hobby-take pictures! I still did not take enough though today:(

Statue of a man building canals for the Merrimack River

One can never see enough of the river in Lowell I found out:)

It's too bad that the water is so polluted. Well, I guess we have industrialization to thank for that in this city's case. I wonder if there is a way to dissolve pollution from water, similiar to the organisms that ate the oil when the oil spill happened in the Gulf? Too bad I do not have the time for environmental science amongst my academic endeavors:)

Now onto one of the first aspects of the Industrial Revolution....choo choo!

Not that great of a pic thanks to the overcast sky in the background:(

It was obvious that the trains had to be built back then to increase productivity and shipping things faster. (cargo and people)

Although the significance of the Industrial Revolution is still very strong in Lowell, it has become a mix of college students (because of UMass Lowell in the area), locals who were brought up there, and immigrants like the Cambodians who made a home here to escape genocide in their own country. It has its unique personality, and I will go back just to see the history I havent seen yet. I only touched the tip of the iceberg today since it was a last minute trip. But it will be worth another.

Street Performer-Harvard Square

He said his name was John, and he is one of the best street performers I've ever seen at Harvard Square. While many sound like American Idol flunk outs, he is able to sing well known hits with good quality. Here is

Kings of Leon-Use Somebody

Boston Harbor

Of course everyone knows about Boston Harbor! This is where our American ancesters got peeved at the British for their obscene taxes and threw the tea in the water! Since then, we have made up with the British. In fact, much of the towns here are named after locations in the UK.

Long Wharf is a place that is good to sit and read or watch (and listen) to planes coming and going in Logan airport. There is even a big area for people to skateboard or rollerblade there. When I was there, I saw 2 boys skateboarding, but as the weather warms up, I'm sure there will be more.

There are a few seafood restaurants in that area as well. The most famous in Boston is Legal Seafood No, not "Illegal Seafood" as I heard one man call it one time.:) But I went to Chart House Restaurant which is directly to the right of Long Wharf as you are going off of it. It is a brick building, and if it wasn't for the tables sitting outside, you would miss it. I just had a drink and charged my phone, but the courteous and well mannered people who worked there are enough to make me go back and get some oysters or lobster!

One of the boats. I'm not sure if it is from Boston Harbor Tours or one of the ferries that takes you to Salem or Provincetown.

Sailboats!!

This one was going fast!

Over 200 years of pollution......:(

Where to eat in Davis Square

There is a good selection of food in Davis Square! One can see the usual McDonalds, but who wants to eat that anyways? (that one is slow anyways)

Taipei Tokyo
Good sushi and reasonably priced. No all you can eat though which makes me sad just a bit. But the rice that has pineapple in it is very good. THey also have Japanese beer that I love!

Johnny D's
Shows at night and jazza brunch. Brunches are great! THey have lunch specials and the best lunch specials are steak and egg taco and buffalo chicken sandwich. Best dinner is beef stroganoff. Best appetizer is catfish. Don't forget trivia on Monday nights where you can get cheap appetizers! (jalepeno poppers made with cream cheese!!!!!)
ANd lastly but certainly not least, all the people who work here are nice and friendly as well!

Oh yeah! Annas Taqueria for great mexican food! Follow Anna's Taqueria on twitter @annasboston

To be continued....

Davis Square-Somerville, MA

Davis Square is my favorite square in Boston. With the exception of winter, theres always something going on.
Even if it is quiet, the restaurants in Davis Square are always good.

On a day like today, there are many Tufts students and people with kids outside. In front of JP Licks, there is Statue Park. This is where people (and pigeons) can sit and eat ice cream and socialize with friends.

Here is the real people in Statue Park in Davis Square.

Here is an older couple that are a part of an art project to represent people who live (or have lived) in Somerville.

More on the Davis Square statues

Transportation in Boston

Transportation in Boston can be flakey. It is delayed and commuter rail is sporadic. Boston THINKS they are tough for having the Red Sox, but give me the MTA anyday!!!
In the city itself and Cambridge, getting around is very easy (most of the time) because of the subways . The subways are red, green, blue, and orange. (Gee, the colors of the rainbow;) Note: the silver line is a bus, not subway or trains. I do not know why the MBTA has such an inconsistency, but the MBTA workers are not sympathetic that new people may not be aware of this. I know this from experience because I got yelled at by an MBTA employee a few months after moving to Boston.

Sometimes you can see nice scenery from the trains though. This is my favorite scenery from the red line! Sailboats on the Charles River is a sure sign of spring:)