There be whales here (aka we went whale watching)

I suspect that no self-respecting Boston-area resident would do something so tourist-y as go on a whale watching tour (or one of those hop-on, hop-off trollys, which we've also done), but that's what Andrew and I did on Saturday afternoon. I don't quite remember when the discussion first came up, although I'm pretty sure it was Andrew who expressed the initial interest in going. We went with the New England Aquarium Whale Watch tour, which leaves from the Long Wharf in Boston, and takes passengers to the Stellwagen Bank Marine Sanctuary, (close to the tip of Cape Cod). Although it's billed as a 3 hours tour, we were out for closer to 4.

On the bow of the boat, waiting for our tour to depart.

Saturday was a lovely day in Boston, not super hot (low 20sC for those of us who prefer metric), although fairly breezy. The breeze was pleasant while we were inland, but it translated into fairly choppy water. It was recommended to us that if we went on the tour, it would be smart to bring warm clothing (long sleeves and a jacket) even if it was a nice day, since it would be much colder on the ocean. Plus, if you wanted to hang out on the bow while the ship powered through the water, you'd be much happier with a few extra layers.

On the cruise out to the Sanctuary.

It took us over an hour (close to an hour and a half, maybe) to reach the Sanctuary. We took it slow for the first few minutes to navigate the traffic in the harbour, but once we were through the densest area, the captain punched it. I have no idea how fast we were travelling, they might have said something over the loud speaker, but the rumble of the motor was such that Andrew and I had shout to talk to each other. What I can tell you is we were moving fast enough that I felt like my nostrils were being pushed open as wide as they would go--it was fast. With the water being choppy is made for an almost roller-coaster like ride, which didn't suit some people's stomachs.

It took us a while to find any whales once we reached the Sanctuary. I think the tour operators allot a certain amount of time for searching for whales (they communicate with other ships in the area to figure out where they might be feeding at the surface), and they offer rain checks to all passengers if no sightings are made during your tour. We lucked out, though. First we found a single humpback, then we moved on to find a group of four humpbacks feeding together (apparently not common, since they're typically solitary creatures). Three of the whales in this group were adults, and one was a calve.

I shot pictures like mad, trying to catch whatever I could of the whales.

I'm not sure how long we stayed at the Sanctuary, maybe about an hour given the length of time we were out. For the ride back Andrew and I stayed back at the stern of the boat. I was feeling overly wind-blown (although thankfully not sea sick) at this point and didn't much feel like hanging around at the front for more crashing through the waves.

All-in-all, if you know you a reasonably stable stomach when it comes to the rocking motions of a boat, I'd recommend going on a whale watching tour. It's pretty cool to see these animals at a reasonably close proximity. If you get motion sick, however, I wouldn't recommended. There were a lot of people on the tour that spent the bulk of it throwing up, in which case it might turn into 3-4 hours of torture.

Ciao,

Andrea

Staycation 2014: Yes we did, and it worked pretty well

For some time Andrew and I felt that we were in desperate need of a vacation. I kept throwing out: "Why don't we go away for Christmas?" But Andrew wouldn't go for it. Personally, I have no problem with the idea of palm trees and no snow at Christmas time, but Andrew (probably rightly) felt we were better off to go home and visit family and friends.

At any rate, and as is often the case, when we got back from the holidays, the feeling of exhaustion only continued to mount (I never sleep, nor eat well when we stay at either of our parents homes). Eventually we agreed we had to take some kind of proper vacation, but we couldn't decide on what. Being a port city, lots of cruises go out of Boston, so that was one option. We could go for a packaged beach deal (something we've never done before), I was even toying with the idea of flying to England or Scotland for a week.

There was one teensy, weensy problem. Aerials classes. I know, we could have just missed a week, except I'm already going to miss a week when I go to NECCA mid-February, so that left us trying to cram something in between Thursday of one week to Tuesday of the next. That's not really enough for a relaxing vacation. After much discussion (and probably a lot of moaning from me) we decided we could do a staycation. Sleep in, visit museums, eat out or do take out, take things slow and do whatever we want, and I'd say for the most part, it worked.

I'm not going to give an in depth recounting of our activities. That would be long and boring for everyone, but I'll give a brief overview of what we saw and did. Most of the places we went didn't allow pictures, and the weather was generally cold, which isn't conducive to outdoor photography either. So...

Saturday, Salem: Phillips House, this was great, we pretty much got a personal tour (January isn't exactly the height of tourist season in Salem). In the afternoon we went to the Peabody Essex Museum and saw an interesting exhibit on Japanese Haute Culture.

Sunday, Normal Day: Sunday was aerials practice and class, which was standard order for Sunday.

Monday, Boston: We were going to go for breakfast at the Neighborhood Family Restaurant, it's very popular around here, but as it was actually a holiday in the US on Monday, there was a sizable line by the time we arrived. Instead we went to S&S Restaurant, in Inman Square. We spent the afternoon in the Museum of Science, which was pretty fun and we also went to the planetarium. I haven't been to a planetarium show in ages, and it was awesome (all about moons)!

Tuesday, Cambridge: Tuesday was MIT day. We took a tour of MIT, which was interesting, but not quite as historical as we might have liked. It was also pretty cold that day, so the outside bits were kind of uncomfortable. In the afternoon we went to the MIT museum. It had a collection of cool robots and interesting art exhibits.

Wednesday, Boston: We went to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, which is a super cool art museum, created by well,...Isabella Steward Gardner. She collected all kinds of art (wide ranges of ages, styles, etc), built a building to show her art, and arranged it as she wished (she was very rich).

Thursday, Our Apartment, and Boston: We were going to go to the Boston Symphony on Thursday, but we were getting kind of pooped out from the walking and appreciating culture by this point. Instead, Andrew slept in, while I watched the Lizzie Bennet Diaries and knit--he joined me once he got up (all told, we watched, roughly, episodes 35-100). Afterwards (around 2:30 pm) we went to the Museum of Fine Art, which was enormous. We saw maybe a quarter of the museum.

Friday, Cambridge: Friday was kind of wonky. I had an appointment at 12:30, which made it difficult to make plans. Instead we went shopping for the afternoon (and both got trench coats from Banana Republic--they were half price).

Saturday, Revere, Cambridge: We decided to go to a movie matinee to see Frozen. Probably due to my on going health questions (see previous post) I was extra emotional throughout, but I think we both really enjoyed the movie. In the evening we went to a beach themed party (and a got to whip out my trusty Hawaiian shirt from high school).

Sunday, Normal Day: The last day of our holiday, was pretty much a normal day, except we went for a big expensive dinner in the evening. Unfortunately, I ended up super sick to my stomach in the middle of the night, which was something of a damper.

I think our staycation was fairly successful. Andrew and I both felt pretty rested, and by Sunday we were both feeling that we were ready to get back to normal life.

Ciao,

Andrea

The one place we did take pictures was the Boston Museum of Science. This is kind of the 'back' window, looking out at the Charles River.

The front window, with a kind of nifty art installation, where the pink things actually changed colour.

Us playing around in the math discovery area. This one was looking at fractions and multiples, as each of the 3 chairs were replicas of each other, but different dimensions.

Tiny chair.

Big chair.