A Morning in Boston - Part 2

Faneuil Hall is actually part of a four-building shopping complex called the Faneuil Hall Marketplace. Once one steps out at the rear of the hall, one will immediately see the other three buildings that make up the complex: the Quincy Market, the North Market, and the South Market. The photo below shows the Quincy and South Market buildings. I took this photo a few moments after I stepped out of Faneuil Hall.


The complex has more or less 100 stores within its four buildings. Aside from the small souvenir shops and food stalls that cater to tourists, the complex also houses big name stores such as Crate & Barrel, the Sunglass Hut, Victoria's Secret, Nine West, and Urban Outfitters, to name a few.

The complex also has a few restaurants in it. The following photo is of a bar called Cheers that was named after a hugely popular television sitcom that ran on American television from 1982 to 1993. Too bad that I did this trip in the morning for if I had done it either in the late afternoon or evening, I would have gone in to enjoy a few rounds of drinks.


The following shows the patio between Quincy Market and the South Market building. It has a few park benches where people can sit and hang out. The patio also has a few stands selling snacks, souvenirs and various other knickknacks.


Another shot of the patio and the South Market building.


This semi-circular part of the shopping complex marks its Eastern end. About two or three blocks beyond its exit lies historic Boston Harbor. However, noon was approaching at this point and yours truly was getting rather famished. Plus, my flight back to New York was only a few hours away. Thus, I decided to skip the trip to Boston Harbor and just hang out in this area for a few more minutes to take a few more pictures.


The following is a shot of the North Market building, the fourth building within the Faneuil Hall Marketplace complex.


Another shot of the North Market building with Quincy Market on the left. I ended up buying a little souvenir at one of the shops within this building.


From Faneuil Hall, a colleague and I decided to have lunch at a Boston landmark called The Union Oyster House. Located on Union Street, this restaurant was only a block away from Faneuil Hall. The place specializes in seafood dishes and was highly recommended by another colleague of ours who lived in Boston for two years. The following is a shot of the front of the restaurant.


The photo below shows a plaque that was posted by one of the restaurant's windows. It shows that this place has been designated as a historical landmark as one of the oldest continually operated restaurants in the United States.

The following photo shows the corner of Union Street (the street where cars were parked) and Marsh Lane. The red brick building at the center of this photo houses another Boston landmark called the Bell In The Hand Tavern.


The following photo shows the Bell In The Hand Tavern's proximity to the Union Oyster House (foreground).


Below is a plaque that's posted by the tavern's main doors. It commemorates the Bell In The Hand tavern's significance to local Boston history.


The following photo was taken from the other end of Marsh Lane. This small, cobble-stoned street was preserved to show the way it looked back in the late 18th century. From this vantage point, one sees Union Oyster House at the far end of the street on the left side while the Bell In The Hand Tavern is on the right.


After taking the photo above, my colleague and I walked into the Union Oyster House to finally have our lunch. I had shrimp scampi served over a bed of linguine. I also had their New England clam chowder which I enjoyed very much. I was quite hungry by that time that I was no longer in the mood to take more photographs. My apologies for that. But you can find more information about this restaurant here.

The following was the last shot I took before leaving for the airport. It shows the rooftop of the North Market building and was taken from the 6th floor of a parking garage.


Boston is a city that has a lot to offer in terms of history and culture. Too bad that I only had a few hours to spend that Friday morning. If I wasn't pressed for time, I would have visited other historic sites as well such as Paul Revere's House and historic Boston Harbor. Maybe next time.

A Morning in Boston - Part 1

I was in Boston a month ago for a two-week assignment. I haven't been to Boston in a long while. Prior to this trip, the last time I was in this historic city was back in the early 90s when I spent Thanksgiving weekend there with some friends. It was a bit cold and rainy that time. It was mid-autumn and winter was just around the corner. Thus, due to the cold and wet weather, I didn't get to enjoy the place that much.

Thus, I was quite elated when I learned a couple of months ago that Boston was where my next assignment was going to be. It was August and it was summer. I felt that it would be great to finally tour this historic city since I expected to have quite a bit of time in my hands after work. Thus, I drew up a list of places to visit and I made sure that I brought my camera with me.

But to paraphrase what Robert Burns wrote in his classic poem To A Mouse, the best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry. Well, go awry my plans certainly did. Cold rain and wind greeted me as soon as my plane landed in Boston and both unfortunately stayed with me through the rest of my two-week stay. It wasn't until our last day in the area when the rains finally stopped and I finally got to enjoy a fairly decent amount of sunshine. It was a good thing that I had completed my work on Thursday of that second week. Since my return flight wasn't scheduled until early Friday afternoon, I had the entire morning to myself and that's when I finally got to make my long-awaited trip to downtown Boston.

Faneuil Hall was at the top of my places to visit. I first read about this place back in 1983, in the days after former Senator Benigno Aquino's assassination. I saw that famous picture of him, smiling and dressed in a pin-striped suit with Faneuil Hall in the background. The picture was taken earlier that year when he and his family still lived in the city of Newton in the Boston suburbs. That particular photograph was used as a cover on one of those Mr. and Ms. Special Edition magazine issues that came out right after his death.

Faneuil Hall was originally built in 1742 and housed a market and an assembly room. This Hall was where the doctrine of "no taxation without representation" was established when colonists protested the Sugar Act of 1764. The law, passed by the British Parliament, aimed to increase taxes on molasses produced by the New England colonies, as the Northeastern part of the United States was then called. Revenues from the tax were supposed to fund the British defense of the colonies. However, the imposition of the tax came at a time when the colonies were in the middle of an economic depression. Thus, the tax became unpopular and was one of those events that gradually led the colonists to revolt against the British a decade later.

The following photo shows the front of Faneuil Hall. In the square in front of it stands a monument to Samuel Adams,fourth governor of Massachusetts and one of the country's Founding Fathers.


The following is a shot of Faneuil Hall from the rear.


I walked through one of those doors and up the stairs to the second floor where the assembly room/meeting hall was located. The following is a shot of the assembly room taken from its main entry doors.


The picture below will show that front and center on the stage is a painting called Webster's Reply to Hayne done by the American painter, George P.A. Healy (1813-1894). The Mr. Webster who was the subject of the painting was the great American orator and senator Daniel Webster (1782-1852) who represented the state of Massachusetts in the U.S Senate from 1827 to 1841. One of the stands at the foot of the stage shows a diagram that identifies each person whose face is shown on the painting.


The following two photographs shows the left and right sides of this meeting hall. They show balconies on the upper sections to allow for more seating and better viewing.


The photo above and the one below show that the place has abundant natural lighting judging from the number of large windows we see on both sides of this hall.


The following is a shot of the rear section and it also shows a balcony section on the upper floor. The lady sitting by the door is a security person who works for the National Parks Office, a federal agency tasked with managing national parks and monuments.


This last shot shows Faneuil Hall's staircase. I took this photo on my way out of the building.


More recently, Faneuil Hall was the site where Senator John Kerry made his concession speech in 2004 after losing the presidential election to George W. Bush.

This meeting hall was my first stop that Friday morning. My next piece will show the marketplace and shops around this building.

Castaway in Burbank

Thanks to a hectic work schedule this past week, I was not able to take presentable pictures of the mountains and hills around Sylmar, California. The end of each workday saw me exhausted and drained of energy that I was not able to drive around the area to do some "tourist" stuff. :-)

Our red eye flight was scheduled for 9 p.m. Thursday night but we didn't get to leave the office until close to 6 in the evening of that day. Since we had to be at Bob Hope Airport in Burbank at least an hour and a half before departure time, we were all in a rush for we still had to stop somewhere for dinner.

Thus, we decided to eat at a place a few miles from the airport. The restaurant we picked was called The Castaway and is located right in the city of Burbank. The restaurant is nestled in the Burbank Hills and Harvard Road, the road Castaway is on, winds up the hills past some nice homes and a golf course.

The following view of the Burbank Hills greeted us as we pulled into the restaurant's parking lot.


One can enjoy some spectacular views of the Los Angeles city skyline from this restaurant's windows and patio. While waiting for our food to arrive, a colleague and I decided to step outside to enjoy the views and take a few pictures.

The photo below shows the restaurant's patio.


From this patio, one can enjoy the breeze and views of both the skyline and the surrounding hills. However, this area is reserved only for customers who are out to enjoy a few drinks. Here's another shot of the patio this time taken facing the west. The sun was setting at this point.


I took the following picture from one end of the patio. It shows more of the surrounding hills and in the foreground, it provides one with a view of part of the neighboring De Bell Golf Course.


Another shot of the golf course but this time, with part of the Los Angeles skyline in the background. It was quite a hazy day and as a result of that, I was not able to take a much clearer picture of the skyline.


Here's one more shot of the golf course and the skyline taken from a different spot on the restaurant's patio.


And of course, no photo of the Los Angeles area would be complete without a shot of these palm trees on the patio.


I had to get back in for my dinner moments after the above shot was taken. There was a cool and pleasant breeze coming in from the west and a few people had started hanging around the patio.

I have an aunt who lives near Burbank and from the airport, I called her to say goodbye and also to let her know where I had stopped for dinner. She said Castaway is quite popular in the area. It is a popular place for wedding receptions, baptismal parties, and Mother's Day lunches. In fact, one of her husband's nieces had her wedding reception there. There was indeed a decent size crowd while we were there and we even saw a group of people who were engaged in discussions with the restaurant's manager regarding plans and arrangements for a coming wedding reception.

I also enjoyed my dinner which was shrimp scampi served on a bed of steamed rice and steamed vegetables. I like this place and will definitely come back to it the next time I find myself in the area.

An Afternoon By The Waterfront

Frank Sinatra Drive. Situated on the eastern side of the small city of Hoboken in New Jersey, this road is only less than half a mile long but provides one with impressive views of the Manhattan skyline.

The following is a map of Hoboken and it shows Frank Sinatra Drive running along the city's eastern coast line by the Hudson River. (Source: Wikipedia)


The following is a shot of the walkway by the Hudson. This walkway is one of the features and attractions of the Frank Sinatra Park complex. This small park, built and opened in 1998, was dedicated to the memory of the late crooner who the citizens of Hoboken consider as one of their city's "greatest gifts to the world".


I was facing south when I took the following shot and from this vantage point, one can see parts of both the skylines of downtown Manhattan (buildings to the left of the Hudson River) and of Jersey City (buildings to the right). In the distance you will also see a suspension bridge quite similar in style to San Francisco's famed Golden Gate Bridge. That bridge is called the Verrazano Narrows Bridge that connects the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn and Staten Island.


The photo below shows one of the best attractions of the park. This gazebo sits right on the water and is quite a popular spot because it gives one a closer view of the Manhattan skyline. In addition, it is also a popular spot for recreational fishers such as the gentlemen shown on the photo. On one end of the pier, one can clearly see their fishing rods extending out into the waters.


I walked up the walkway and past the above gazebo to take the following shot of Manhattan:


The following two photos show more shots of Manhattan this time taken from the gazebo I showed two pictures up.



Oh look! There's a little buoy in the water! (Pardon this lame attempt at humor.)


Unfortunately, this photo shoot ended on quite a sad note. I got so caught up taking pictures of the scenery that I didn't realize I had bumped into some of the park's railings and as a result, I inadvertently caused quite a bit of damage. As you can see from the following photo, my carelessness caused some sections of the railings to collapse with one of them hanging precariously by the water.


Luckily, there were no witnesses and thus I was able to hop back into my car and make a quick escape from the scene. Hehehe

Seriously, the above photo shows a section of the park that remains closed to the public. A portion of the park was used as a parking lot by the faculty and staff of the Stevens Institute of Technology whose campus is located across the street. An accident occurred in October 2007 when a portion of the parking lot collapsed causing one car to fall into the water.

Hoboken, like its neighboring city to the south, Jersey City, was a rough-and-tumble town for most of the 20th Century. While New York City was predominantly white collar, New Jersey's cities by the Hudson were blue collar towns and home to longshoremen and factory workers, mostly European immigrants from Eastern and Southern Europe. For many years, Hoboken, like the other cities on the New Jersey side, was not a safe city to be in. That period included Mr. Sinatra's years there. Bar brawls, crime, mob activity and prostitution were rampant. The 1954 movie "On The Waterfront" that starred Marlon Brando was filmed on location in Hoboken and showed the rough life of dock workers.

Redevelopment and gentrification started some time in the 1980s and picked up steam during the early 1990s. Its proximity to Manhattan and convenient access to subway stations and buses made it attractive to young, urban professionals who worked for Wall Street firms. Thus, in contrast to its previous reputation as an unsavory town, Hoboken is now what one would call a "hip" place to be. Jersey City now boasts of a modern skyline and Hoboken is following suit.

A close friend first took me to this city back in early 1995. The city's main drag, Washington Street, is home to a number of fine restaurants and shops. What I love about this place is that since it is quite a small city, one can pretty much walk to any spot or place within it. One can live in the town without ever having the need for a car. Although a few blocks within the city are not that desirable to live in, Hoboken, for the most part, is a pretty safe place.

Many five-story brownstones that used to be home to the longshoremen and factory workers are still there. However, a great number of them have been renovated and are now home to the urban professionals who have helped revive the town. Though these brownstones may look old from the outside, their interiors boast of the latest technological conveniences.

But Frank Sinatra Park and the stretch of road named after him have clearly become my favorite spots in this city. There are park benches where one can just sit and relax, read a good book, enjoy the view, and be alone with one's thoughts. It is a quiet stretch of road popular to walkers, joggers, and skateboarders. There's always a nice breeze coming in from the Atlantic that makes the experience quite enjoyable.

So if you ever find yourself by this neck of the woods someday, consider stopping by Hoboken to enjoy not just the park above but also the other attractions (restaurants and shops) this little city has to offer. (I feel like a realtor doing a sales pitch with this closing sentence. Sigh.)

A Day in Las Vegas

I was in Las Vegas, Nevada recently to attend to some matters that required my personal attention. There were quite a number of matters to attend to that I had to stay in town for a few days.

Anyway, I ended up staying in a hotel/casino that was right next to Steve Wynn's Wynn Las Vegas Casino.

The following is a photograph I took from my hotel room windown. It shows the Wynn and its sister casino, the Encore. The latter is nearing completion and is scheduled to open its doors to the public later this year.


While I was in town, the management at Encore announced that it was looking at filling up 5,300 positions in preparation for the casino's opening. Quite a hefty number of employment opportunities for one casino building. But everything has always been grand and ambitious in Las Vegas and the Encore is no exception.

Below is a photo of the same two buildings that I took from street level.


The following photo shows the swimming pools behind the Wynn Casino.


The following photo shows the 18-hole golf course run by the Wynn Casinos. Quite a piece of property. One can just imagine the amount of money that went and continues to go into the development of the entire Wynn casino and resort complex.


The last photo shows a shot of the mountains east of the city. This vantage point offered a beautiful view of the sunrise. Luckily, I'm an early riser and was able to admire the beauty of the sunrise every morning.


But being an early riser doesn't mean that my mental faculties rise with me for as you can see, I have no pictures of such sunrise to show you. :D

I love going to places like Las Vegas and Atlantic City in New Jersey. Although I do not consider myself a gambler, I enjoy watching people gamble and I also enjoy the various forms of entertainment that both places provide. I hate noise and crowds but a casino is one place where I don't mind hearing a lot of noise and seeing a lot of people having fun.

I used to frequent Atlantic City with my late uncle. He was an excellent three-card poker player and I remember the hours I used to spend just watching him play, hours that often extended into the wee hours of the morning. Plus, we always drank and ate well whenever we were at a casino. But now that he's gone, I don't think I'll be going back to such places anytime soon. It just won't be the same without him.

As for Mr. Wynn, you can read more about this casino developer here.

An Afternoon By The Potomac

The hotel I stayed in at Alexandria, Virginia a few weeks ago happened to be very close to the Potomac River. I was lucky in that the city had a small park by the river called Tide Lock Park and my hotel was just a block away from it. So one weekday afternoon after work, I decided to take a walk in the park to enjoy the sites and to take in some fresh air. The park had some park benches near the water where one could sit and relax to enjoy a nice, lazy afternoon.


The photo below shows the banks of the river and a walkway next to it. The walkway is quite long and stretches for at least eight miles along the banks of the Potomac River.


A shot of one section of the walkway. The area at the other side of the river is Washington, D.C.


A shot of another part of the same walkway. This time, in the background, one can see the faint outline of the Washington Monument at the left. One could also see towards the right the dome of the US Capitol.


Another shot of the river's banks.


On the way back to the hotel, I walked by these nice colonial-style townhomes. They were in a great spot for they had a clear, unobstructed view of the river.


The townhomes were on a rise or hill and I walked a bit towards them to take a closer shot.


I took another shot of the townhomes as soon as I got back to my hotel room. The following picture is a shot of those homes from my hotel window. The picture shows how close those homes are to the river.


The bridge you see in the background is the Woodrow Wilson Bridge which links Alexandria, Virginia to Washington, D.C.

I enjoyed my brief walk in Tide Lock Park that afternoon. The views and the fresh air helped me destress that afternoon.