Justin Bieber, Trash Pickup, Lost Portrait, Louisa May Alcott and Ducklings

The first sign that yesterday was going to be a little different was, I got tangled up in the crown of people rushing to get in line to buy Justin Bieber tickets to his concert, to be held at the TD BankNorth garden (North Station) in Boston (July 20th, I think). It's been a long time, since I've seen that many people in a line, but they were all happy, and that's a great thing to see first thing in the morning.

The sun was shining, temperature was warm, and I was on my way to the New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS) to use their library, by way of several detours. First was to the Massachusetts State House (aka Capitol), to take additional photos of my ancestor, Simon Bradstreet. Right away, I couldn't locate him, and had to ask an employee. He tried to find the location, but he and nobody knew where it was. Where could he have gone, I was just there a few months ago. I really thought I'd have a quiet day in the building, but no, there were so many people, listening to live Christmas music, and lots of school tours of the building were being given. Hum, I'll go back in January.

Second detour was to tour the Beacon Hill area (super wealthy) of Boston, with all the steep hills and cobblestones. I thought the Christmas decorations on the old townhouses would make for nice pictures. Not so fast...it was trash day. Bags and bags of trash on the sidewalks and every once in a while, I'd see the dump trucks. To make it worse, most doorsteps had the day's newspaper/s on the steps and many had notices from UPS or FedExpress telling the owners that a package was ready to be picked up. My two hour walk to NEHGS left me exhausted to say the least.

Once at the library, I had had it, there wasn't any energy left. I spent a half an hour chatting with three employees, and then left. Can you imagine not having energy to do some simple research? It was a first. I took the subway back to North Station, a television there changed my entire day.

I decided to share some happy photos of yesterday. John Kerry's town house, the house where Louisa May Alcott died, Boston Public Gardens (it looked like spring), some Christmas decorations, and a surprise for your young children, it seems appropriate.

 Massachusetts State House.

 Stately mansion on Mt. Vernon Street.

 John Kerry's house (with flag) taken December 15, 2012.

Home of Louisa May Alcott, this is where she died. John Kerry lives across the street.

 Boston Public Gardens, looks like spring.

 House along the way, decorated for Christmas.

 Acorn Street, Beacon Hill.

 For the children. I have seen them many times, but for some reason, I decided to take the picture.

For fun, a YouTube video of Beautiful Boston by Little Big World.