Chi-city, chi-city, I'm coming home again

I'm a wee bit behind on the old blog-o-rama, so here is Boston day 3 and Chicago day 1. It was a beautiful day, so I decided instead of catching the T to Harvard, I would walk. From Boston to Cambridge. With pre-existing blisters. Actually, it wasn't that bad. Certainly on the way there it was a nice walk - about 30 minutes, walking across the bridge and through MIT. And it helped with the tan. So Harvard is obviously a very nice campus, and Cambridge is a quaint little town. First stop was the statue of John Harvard, for a little luck-giving foot rubbing. Interesting fact - this is known as the Statue of 3 Lies, because the inscription says John Harvard Founder 1638 - it isn't John Harvard's image (because no one knows what he actually looked like), he wasn't the founder, and Harvard was founded in 1636. So how on earth can you trust a school that is based on lies?!?
After Harvard, I decided to walk back into town, which was my undoing. I'm sure Mum mentioned something about good walking shoes before I went, maybe I should've listened. I had a nap, and then decided to walk into Boston town, and do the Freedom Trail, which basically stops off at all the places important in the Revolution, like the burying grounds and the massacre site - really uplifting, feel good stuff. My favourite place was Kings Chapel. I'm a sucker for old churches (even if they aren't the right flavour), and this one had some especially cool features. It was the church Louisa May Alcott went to, and her grandfather is in the crypt. The burial ground next door houses Elizabeth Pain, the apparent inspiration for Hester Prynne (from The Scarlett Letter). And the best part was the seating arrangements in the church - no pews, only little sections for each family. They kind of reminded me of the corrals for sheep at the A&P show. Here is me enjoying my corral:

(I thought I was posting too many pictures that didn't include me, and people would start thinking I'm not actually on this trip, so I used the self-timer on the camera - I however refuse to smile for a self-timed portrait.)
There were a few more stops along the Freedom Trail, and I saw Cheers (didn't go in though). And that was it for my time in Boston. I didn't get up to Salem as I had hoped, but maybe next time.

Yesterday at lunchtime, I got on a train headed westward. This morning at 9:30am, I got off that train. It actually didn't feel like it took that long, the worst part was sleeping - I kept getting a sore back. Surprisingly, the guy next to me who drank continuously was actually good company, and he was so excited by my trip, and me going by myself, he was going to tell everyone back in his one horse town about me.

I went for a wander around Chicago this morning - first stop was Millenium Park. I thought the Bean was pretty cool:

And here is me, reflected in the Bean, with Chicago in the background:

I then headed further up Michigan Ave, in search of more touristy/cultural things. I appeared to get lost in clothes stores, and had to spend money to find my way out of them. Oops! I don't think I mentioned this - I made a deal with myself, no clothes shopping until my last 2 days in New York. The next stop after that little mistake was the Art Institute of Chicago. Again, another big column-y building with statues out the front. Again, my favourite section was the Impressionists - they had 4 of Monet's London paintings (Charring Cross Bridge is my favourite):

These photos aren't good, because my camera's batteries ran out, and I had to quickly turn it on to take the photo and couldn't fiddle with the settings. And the other cool section was the American art section, featuring...

Neat huh! Anyway, I have another day in Chicago tomorrow, before my train trip to New Orleans at 8pm.